March 24, 2000

It's hard to believe it, but the Tigers (24-10) have already played 34 games. Their regular season is more than half over, but it is the most important part of the season that remains.

The Tigers had a rough week at home last week and are now prepared to take on some tough competition on a six-day road trip to Nebraska and Iowa to begin Big 12 Conference play against Nebraska and Iowa State and to play a non-conference doubleheader against No. 16 Iowa. The Tigers leave Columbia Friday at 2 p.m. They will play Nebraska in Lincoln at 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday's game will be televised on Fox Sports Net. Fox Sports Midwest, Fox Sports Southwest and Fox Sports Rocky Mountain are all showing the game live at 1 p.m. CT. The game will be on AT&T Cable Channel 30. in Columbia. It will also be on DirectTV Channels 647 and 645. Following Sunday's game the team will head to Ames, Iowa for a Tuesdaydoubleheader against Iowa State. The trip wraps up with a Wednesday doubleheader against Iowa in Iowa City.

The Tigers are currently hitting .295 as a team, while the Tiger pitchers have held opponents to just a .189 average. Missouri has racked up 56 extra-base hits, already more than half of the total from last season.

The Low Down on the Opposition

Nebraska enters Saturday's game with a 18-15 record. They have won their last five straight. Their last game was Wednesday night against Creighton. The Huskers swept the Jays in a doubleheader.

The Huskers batting leader is senior second baseman Jennifer Lizama with a .385 average. She leads the team in every hitting category except triples, and is second in that.

The Huskers have been using their top three pitchers fairly evenly this seaon. Sophomore Leigh Ann Walker has a 2.14 ERA with a 7-4 record. She leads all Husker pitchers in strikeouts with 85.

Junior Penny Cope has a 2.53 ERA and a 4-5 record with one save in 16 appearances. Senior Jenny Voss has a 3.11 ERA and a 5-6 record in fifteEn appearances.

The Huskers are receiving votes in the USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll.

The Iowa State Cyclones hold a 11-8 record. Their leading hitter is Cinnamon Gooding with a .429 average, but she has only played in five games. Senior outfielder Lisa Frank has played and started in all 19 games. She is batting .365 and leads the Cyclones in at bats, runs and hits. Senior Michelle Junod is not far behind with a .333 average.

The Cyclones' leading pitcher is Erica Martinez. She has a 0.89 ERA and a 2-1 record in four appearances. Jen Bice has pitched the most innings for Iowa State. In 52.2 innings she has a 2.39 ERA and a 6-2 record.

The Iowa Hawkeyes currently have a 14-7 record. They have lost six of their last seven games. Four of their losses were to top 25 teams.

The Hawkeyes are led by Erin Doud with a .400 average. Kristin Johnson is one of the Hawkeyes most consistent hitters. She has played and started in all 21 games and leads the team in at bats, runs and hits. She currently has a .292 average.

Both Hawkeye pitchers have made 14 appearances. Kelly Zeilstra has a 0.96 ERA and an 8-3 record. Kristi Hanks has a 1.48 ERA and a 6-4 record.

The Coaches

Missouri is led by head coach Jay Miller. Miller has a 639-537 overall record and a 486-231 record in 13 years at Missouri.

Nebraska's head coach is Rhonda Revelle. She has a 251-171 record in eight seasons at Nebraska.

Iowa State is led by Ruth Crowe. Crowe is in her fourth year at the helm of the Cyclones. She has a 169-192 overall record and a 67-89 record at Iowa State.

At the helm of the Hawkeye program is Gayle Blevins. She has an impressive 814-401-5 record in her 20 years of coaching and a 513-245-3 record at Iowa. She is one of the winningest active coaches and one of the winningest all-time.

Last Time Against the Huskers

Mixed emotions characterized Missouri's last meeting with Nebraska on May 2, 1999 at University Field. Tears flowed as Missouri said a bittersweet fairwell to seniors Jamie Lowry, Kim Slover, Shayna Snarr and Ashley Woodall. But elation reigned as the Tigers, behind two shut outs from Stepanie Falk, swept the Huskers, 1-0 and 1-0.

In the first game, both teams played tremendous defense to keep each other scoreless down to the wire. The Tigers turned two double plays. Neither team got a hit until the fourth inning when Kim Slover drove a double into center field. Nebraska had one hit in the fifth and one in the sixth. They had a chance to score in the sixth, but Tiger shortstop Shawna Robinson threw Cindy Rothemeyer out at home.

Husker pitcher Jenny Voss walked the first two Tiger batters in the bottom of the seventh. Linda Swarts sacrificed, advancing Slover and Wendy Harrison to second and third. Jamie Lowry hit a hard ground ball to the shortstop and Harrison beat the throw home to score,ending the game 1-0.

Missouri got off to a faster start in the second game. In the third, Harrison singled to left center and advanced on the throw. She advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on a Linda Swarts sacrifice fly to center.

The Tigers' Stephanie Falk held the lead for the Tigers. Falk struck out five batters in the final four innings to give her eight strikeouts for the game and twelve on the day.

Nebraska mounted a final effort in the top of the seventh. With two outs, Ellen Middleton and Jenifer Williams singled to give the Huskers some momentum, but it dwindled quickly as two Tiger seniors made the final play of the day.

Last Time Against the Cyclones

The Tigers split a Big 12 doubleheader with Iowa State May 1, 1999 at University Field.

Missouri won the first game 3-2. With runners at the corners in the bottom of the fifth, Kim Slover hit a sacrifice fly that scored Shawna Robinson.

The Cyclones scored both their runs in the top of the sixth on a Jessica Polo double to center field.

In the top of the sixth, Linda Swarts scored on a Jamie Lowry double, but the go-ahead run was thrown out at third. The next play Lindsey Jacoby, pinch running for Amy Farmer, scored on an error by the Cyclones' Jessica Polo, clinching the Tigers eventual 3-2 win.

Last Time Against the Hawkeyes

The Tigers last faced off against Iowa in the Speedline Classic in Tampa, Florida. Iowa won the game 5-1. Missouri was No. 9 in the country and Iowa was No. 16 at the time.

Iowa took advantage of a rocky Tiger start, grabbing a 4-0 lead in the first two innings of the game on their way to a 5-1 victory in the quarterfinals of the Speedline Classic.

Everything that could have gone wrong did for Missouri. Iowa scored four runs in the first two innings off just one hit, five walks and three MU errors. The Tigers, over the course of the game, out-hit the Hawkeyes 10-4, but stranded nine base runners on their way to the worse loss of the year to that point.

Then freshman Stephanie Falk pitched the loss for the Tigers. Tonya Winberry relieved her in the third inning.

Knowing the Competition

If there is any trip where the Tigers will have stron knowledge of their competition, this is the one. The 2000 Tigers have many ties to the teams they are playing this week.

Nebraska pitcher Penny Cope was a fromer teammate of Christy Caccavo's at Alabama. Pitcher Jenny Voss is from Ankeny, Iowa, the home town of Amy Farmer. Also, Nebraska assistant coach Terry Schweikert was formerly an assistant coach at Missouri.

There are not as many familiar people on Iowa State's roster, but one of Amy Farmer's best friends is senior infielder Michelle Junod.

Falk Fires Away

Junior pitcher Stephanie Falk had a rough start this season, but she has come back with a vengeance and shown that she is one of the top pitchers in the country.

Falk's theme lately has been strikeouts. She recently recorded a career-high 19 against Southern Illinois. While there was one extra inning, 18 of Falk's strikeouts came in the first seven innings. Unfortuneately, despite Falk's career best, the Tigers lost.

That same week Falk pitched three consecutive games with double figures in strikeouts. She tallied 52 in 27 innings work and only walked one. She was given Big 12 Pichter-of-the-Week honors for her performance.

The following week Falk added a fourth consecutive double-figure strikeout game.

Falk has already pitched two one hitters this season, giving her five for her career. One was on March 8 against Loyola and the other on March 17 against Western Michigan. She's also recorded three shutouts this season.

Falk leads the Big 12 in strikeouts per seven innings with 9.62 and opponents batting average with .179.

Gemeinhardt Gets On

It's a rare game when senior center fielder Stacy Gemeinhardt doesn't get on base. She leads all Tigers with a .442 on base percentage.

Gemeinhardt has a .358 batting average with 39 hits in 109 at bats. Twelve of her hits are extra base hits and she leads the team in triples on the season with seven.

Gemeinhardt is in the top 10 all-time in nearly every Missouri batting category, and the top five in most. To see the details, check out the "Records Watch" section on page five.

Gemeinhardt was honored for a stellar performance against Pacific by being named Big 12 Player of the Week for the week of March 5.

Gemeinhardt leads all Big 12 players in triples and walks.

Swarts is Swingin'

It has taken a few years, but senior shortstop Linda Swarts has developed into one of the Tigers' top hitters. Swarts has gone from playing in only 16 games her freshman season to starting all but one game for the Tigers this season.

Swarts is hitting well above her career average, .266. Currently she is batting .346, which gives her the third highest percentage on the team. She also leads the team in home runs and RBI.

Werner's Winning Ways

Just as Stephanie Falk was a shining star for the Tigers in her freshman campaign, so Ingrid Werner is in hers. Of course, Werner has a more expereinced and talented pitcher in front of her than Falk did, but this California kid can hold her own.

Werner shows extreme maturity on the mound, and has proven able to hold the Tigers together in some sticky situations. She leads all pitchers with a 1.35 ERA and a 10-4 record. Her more laid back style, which allows the defense to work, compliments Falk's intense strikeout focused pitching.

Despite her youth, Werner helps make Missouri's pitching staff one of the top in the country. She was recognized for this earlier in the season when she was named Big 12 Pitcher of the Week for her performance in the Mizzou Round Robin.

Outstanding Outfield

The outfield seems to be where it's at for the Tigers this season. Three of the Tigers' top four hitters are starters in the outfield. Sara Vassmer leads all batters with a .379 average. She is followed by Gemeinhardt. Karen Williams is the Tigers fourth leading hitter with a .342 average. They also have the top three on-base percentages on the team.

In addition to their stellar abilities to get on base the players in the Tiger outfield have a perfect fielding percentage.

Seniors are Supreme

All four Tiger senior who bat are in the top half of Missouri's batters. Collectively the Tiger seniors are hitting .319 for the season.

The seniors have scored over a third of the Tigers runs, just under half of the RBI and just under half of Missouri's hits.

The last two notes together mean: outfielder+senior=one heck of a softball player. That player equals senior center fielder Stacy Gemeinhardt.