Tiger Softball Heads to Big 12 Tournament
5/9/2000 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 9, 2000
Ahh, the bittersweet irony of the Big 12 Tournament. What could be a more suitable way for the Tigers (31-25) to start the post-season than to have to face their most hated rival on the play-in day of the conference tournament? Will the Tigers ever get through a Big 12 Tournament without having to face the Jayhawks? The answer to this question, at least for this year, is a resounding no. (Okay so they've only played each other the past two years, but that's still quite a few times.) The No. 8 seed Tigers and the No. 9 seed Jayhawks will meet for the third time this season. The winner of the game will face No. 1 seed, Oklahoma in the first round of the double-elimination tournament.
The Tigers have lost eight of their last 10 games, but won two of the last three. The Jayhawks started the Tigers end-of-the-season, downward spiral when they beat Missouri in Lawrence 2-1 in 10 innings. Missouri went on an eight-game losing streak after that, but recovered with a win over Southern Illinois in Columbia. They split their final conference series with Baylor. Baylor won the first game 2-1, and Missouri won the second 3-2
The Jayhawks, on the other hand, have had no significant winning or losing streaks. They probably had the toughest finish of any of the other conference schools however. For their last four games, the Jayhawks had to travel to Norman and Lincoln to face the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the league. Kansas was swept by the Sooners and the Huskers.
Missouri is batting .281 overall and .270 in conference games. The teams leading hitters also change quite a bit between othe overall statistics and the conference-only stats.
The Tiger pitchers have a 1.66 overall ERA and a 1. 96 ERA in conference games. They are holding opposing batters to a .209 average overall and .239 in conference games.
To see more information on specific players please see the individual player capsules or the updated bios on the following pages.
How to get Big 12
Tournament Info
Members of the media can get updates by calling the Hall of Fame Stadium Press Box. The number is (405)425-3466. Parents and fans can access tournament updates on the Internet at www.soonersports.com or www.big12sports.com.
The Low Down on the Opposition
Prior to Friday's double-header against Nebraska, the Kansas Jayhawkshad a .233 batting average in all games and a .186 average in conference games. Senior Christy McPhail is seventh in the conference in triples and sophomore Shelly Musser is ninth. Megan Urquhart is fifth in doubles, and Shelly Musser is second in stolen bases.
The Jayhawk pitchers have a .257 ERA overall and a 3.45 ERA in conference games. Sophomore Kelly Campbell is 11th in the Big 12 by ERA with a 2.24 ERA is 18 games. Senior Sarah Clopton is not far behind with a 2.29 ERA in 32 games. Clopton is eighth in the conference in wins and sixth in innings pitched and strikeouts.
Last Time Against Kansas
Missouri and Kansas last met April 10 in Lawrence. Missouri dropped a 2-1 10-inning decision to its conference rival.
Missouri scored first in the top of the first inning. Stacy Gemeinhardt hit a single with two outs in the inning. Erin Erickson drove her home with a RBI-double deep into center field.
Kansas tied the game in the bottom of the fifth. Christy McPhail hit her second home run of the season over the Jayhawk Field left field fence to tie the game at 1-1. The pitchers for both teams, backed by smart defensive play, worked their way out of some sticky situations in the following innings. The game was full of close calls and the final run was no exception. With the bases loaded in the bottom of the tenth, Shannon Stanwix hit a slow gournd ball toward first base. Tiger first baseman Christy Skouby cleanly fielded the ball, but the throw was just half a second too late. Shelly Musser was safe on the ball and scored the Jayhawk winning run.
Melanie DeWinter got the win for Kansas, while Stephanie Falk took the loss for Missouri.
Gemeinhardt Gets On
It's a rare game when senior center fielder Stacy Gemeinhardt doesn't get on base. She leads the Tigers with a .400 on base percentage.
Gemeinhardt has a .316 batting average and leads the team in at bats, runs, triples, walks and stolen bases. Fourteen of her 56 hits are extra base hits, six doubles and eight triples.
Gemeinhardt is in the top 10 all- time in every Missouri batting category, and the top five in most. In the April 5 game against Kansas she moved up to second on the all-time hits list. She is also just two triples away from tying the record. To see the details of Gemeinhardt's other records, check out the "Records Watch" section on page five.
She also ranks very high in the Big 12 in many categories. To see where she ranks, read "Tigers in the Big 12" on page six. As of April 30, Gemeinhardt was also 19th nationally in triples. She has been ranked as high as 11th earlier in the season.
Gemeinhardt was honored for a stellar performance against Pacific by being named Big 12 Player of the Week for the week of March 5.
Falk Fires Away
Despite being inconsistent at times, Stephanie Falk is still the driving force behind the Tigers from the mound. And when she is on, she is really on. In 215 innings, she has recorded 247 strikeouts. Falk's 237 strikeouts as of April 23 put her 20th nationally in strikeouts per seven innings, with 8.1. Falk currently has a 1.63 ERA and a 16-15 record.
Earlier in the season, Falk had an EXTREMELY hot streak where she had four consecutive games with double figures in strikeouts. One of those was an eight inning, 19 strikeout loss against Southern Illinois. Eighteen of her strikeouts were in the first seven innings. That week, in 27 innings, Falk recorded 52 strikeouts and only one walk. She was awarded Big 12 Co-Pitcher-of-the-Week honors for her performance.
Jacoby is Jumping
Sophomore second baseman Lindsey Jacoby has come into her own since the conference season began. Jacoby is the Tigers second leading batter in Big 12 games with a .333 average. In the 18 conference games she tallied 18 hits in 54 at bats and has scored four runs. She is in the top five in nearly every hitting category in this season's Big 12 games.
After a rocky start to her season, its seems all Jacoby needed was some really tough competition to give her her game.
Speedy Little Sara
Sara Vassmer is defeinitely a speedy little thing. She is just over five feet tall, but is probably the fastest athelte on the Tiger squad. There have been several throws she has beat out this season, just from pure speed.
Vassmer has the second best on base percentage on the team at .377. She is tied with Karen Williams for second in stolen bases with 10. Not to mention the fact that Vassmer is also the team hitting leader with a .343 batting average, which is probably enhanced by her speed.
Swarts Is Swingin'
It has taken a few years, but senior short stop 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 .337, which gives her the second highest percentage on the team. She also leads the team in home runs and RBI. Her latest home run came in the seventh inning of the April 23 loss to Texas Tech.
Werner's Winning Ways
Just as Stephanie Falk was Missouri's shining star in her freshman campaign, so Ingrid Werner is in hers. Of course, she has a more experienced 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 pitched the Tigers only win on their spring break trip. Werner is just ahead of Falk with a 1.36 ERA. Werner has an 12-9 record in 30 appearances. Her more laid back style, which allows the Tiger 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. The starters in the outfield are the Tigers leading hitters. Vassmer and Gemeinhardt are two of the top three hitters, while Karen Williams is fourth with a .303 average. The three outfielders also have the top three on base percentages and are the three leading base stealers on the team, accounting for 42 of Missouri's 76 stolen bases.
In addition to their stellar hitting and running abilities, the players in the outfield are top defensive players. They have 105 putouts, 13 assists and only three errors between them. They are some of the teams fastest players and can cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time. Not to mention the fact that all three of them are willing to sacrifice their bodies to make a catch.
Seniors Are Supreme
All four Tiger seniors who bat are in the top half of Missouri's batters. Collectively, the seniors are hitting .291 for the season.
At least one of the seniors leads the Tigers in at bats, runs, hits, doubles, triples, home runs, RBI, walks, stolen bases, and put outs. The seniors have close to half of Missouri's hits and have scored 85 runs this season, over a third of Tiger runs scored. Recently pitcher Christy Caccavo has gotten in on the action as well. Caccavo has served as a pinch runner several times this season. The first time, she scored her first career run.
A Little Math
The last two notes together mean:
outfielder+senior=one heck of a softball player. That player equals senior center fielder Stacy Gemeinhardt.
Underclassmen Making
the Grade
Besides the achievements of the aforementioned Sara Vassmer and Lindsey Jacoby, several other underclassmen play a big part in the success of this year's team.
Erin Erickson has done a tremendous job at third base for the Tigers this season. Erickson is a power hitter who drives in runs for the Tigers at crucial times. She leads the team in RBI in conference games with nine. In addition, prior to the conference season the trend was that Erickson would either get a hit or strikeout. That trend has all but disappeared in Big 12 games, as she has become one of the Tigers most consistent hitters, and has only struck out eight times in the 18 conference games.
Sophomore catcher Mary McGrane has been splitting time behind the plate with Amy Farmer. She calls a great game and works well with all the Tiger pitchers. She is third on the team in putouts with 177 on the season and has a perfect fielding percentage.
Freshman Kristen Burke is a God send off the bench for Missouri. Burke has only had three conference at bats, but they have been huge. Burke is batting .571 in conference games. She has four hits, four runs and two RBI in seven at bats. One of her hits was a triple against Oklahoma State.
Head Coach Jay Miller
Missouri head coach Jay Miller is one of the most respected and winningest active coaches in Division I softball. In addition to 13 seasons at Missouri, Miller coached on the international level as well. Most recently he coached USA Blue, the Olympic alternate team, this summer in a series against the Olympic team. Miller has a 644-352 record overall and a 493-246 record at Missouri. If the Tigers win a few games in the Big 12 Tournament and are able to continue their post-season play in NCAA Regionals, Miller could notch his 500th at Missouri. He is assisted by Mindy Johnson, a former All-Big 12 right fielder for Oklahoma, and Annie Smith.
The Tigers Are On the Air
The KCOU Radio crew is traveling with the Missouri softball team to Oklahoma City for the Big 12 Softball Tournament. Missouri Softball fans from around the globle can listen to all of Missouri's games in the tounrament on 88.1 FM in Columbia or on the Internet at http://kcou.missouri.edu.
This season all home conference games and many home non-conference games were broadcast live on KCOU Radio 88.1 FM. See the schedule on the front page of these notes for a listing of all the broadcast games. With the start of the conference season, all games broadcast on KCOU could be heard world-wide via the Internet on KCOU's web page, http://kcou.missouri.edu.
Head Coach Jay Miller also has a weekly radio show with Tex Little on 1580 KTGR, every Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. Little, Miller and an occasional guest from the team talk about the Tigers, the last weeks' games and what is coming up on the Tigers' schedule.
The Tigers had three chances to be on television during the regular season. The Tigers are 1-2 in televised games. The first time was on FoxSports March 25 at Nebraska. The Tigers didn't fare so well in that first game, but they redeemed themselves in Wednesday's game against Kansas on College Sports Southwest. The network is available to cable systems in Texas, Kansas, New Mexico, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Colorado and Iowa. So far the only affliates are MetroSports in Kansas City, Cox Cable in Bryan, Texas and Time Warner Cable in Austin, Texas. Missouri's final definite TV game will be April 11 in Lawrence. It will be televised by Lawrence Sunflower Cablevision.
The entire Big 12 Tournament will be shown on College Sports Southwest. The championship game will be on FoxSportsNet. As always, check your local listings for specific information.
All-Tournament
Freshman short stop Dara Throneburg, junior pitcher Stephanie Falk and senior centerfielder Stacy Gemeinhardt were named to the Morning News/ Lady Back Invitational All-Tournament Team. Junior right fielder Karen Williams and freshman pitcher Ingrid Werner were named to the Metrodome Classic all-tournament team. Williams also made the all-tournament team her freshman season.
POWs
The Tigers have three players who have received Big 12 Conference Player- or Pitcher-of-the-Week honors this season.
Junior Stephanie Falk was named co-Big 12 Pitcher of the Week for the week of March 12. Falk posted 52 strikeouts in 27 innings work with a 3-1 record. She posted a career high 19 strikeouts in the Tigers 2-1 loss to Southern Illinois, 18 of her strikeouts came in the first seven innings. Additionally, Falk allowed only one walk. It was the fourth time in her career Falk had received the honor.
Senior Stacy Gemeinhardt was named Big 12 Player of the Week for the week of March 5. Gemeinahrdt hit .500 over three games, including a 3-4 effort with three RBI in a 7-2 win over Pacific. Gemeinhardt was 6-for-12 for the week with two doubles, including the game-tying RBI-double against Pacific. It was the second time in her career Gemeinhardt was named Player of the Week.
Freshman Ingrid Werner received Pitcher-of-the-Week honors on Feb. 22 for her performance in the Mizzou Round Robin. Werner posted nine strikeouts in 14 innings and allowed one run and no walk. Six of Werner's nine strikeouts were in the championship game against Northern Iowa.
