Feb. 20, 2003

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The Tiger softball team heads to Las Cruces, New Mexico this weekend for the Troy Cox Invitational. Missouri is 5-5 on the season after going 1-4 at last weekend's Stanford Invitational. Mizzou will open tournament play against Colorado State on Friday morning before facing Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. On Saturday, the Tigers will face Western Illinois and New Mexico State. MU will close out the weekend against Indiana-Purdue at Fort Wayne on Sunday.

THE OPPOSITION
The Tigers will face five teams this weekend as part of the Troy Cox Invitational in Las Cruces, N.M. On Friday, MU will take on Colorado State. The Rams are 2-5 on the season and have lost their last three. CSU is coached by Mary Yori, who needs just ten more victories to reach 500 career wins. She has compiled a 490-233 record in 14 seasons as a head coach and is in her third year with the Rams. The Tigers will face Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Friday afternoon. The Islanders are 6-4 heading into this weekend's tournament. They were 4-1 at last weekend's Fastpitch Express College Classic, with their only loss coming to No. 12 Texas. On Saturday, Mizzou will take on Western Illinois and New Mexico State. Western Illinois enters the Troy Cox Invitational with a 2-4 record. Kathy Veroni is in her 32nd year as the Westerwinds head coach and has a 772-511-2 record. New Mexico State, the host school for this weekend's tournament, is 2-11 on the year. The Aggies are coming off a split in a doubleheader with Eastern New Mexico on Wednesday. NMSU is led by Lee Ann Jarvis who is in her fourth year with the Aggies and has a 74-132 record. Indiana-Purdue at Fort Wayne will by Mizzou's final opponent of the weekend. IPFW opened the season by taking one of four against Purdue. After falling to Purdue in the first three games, the Mastodons won the final game of the series by a 9-1 score.

TOURNEY TIME
MU is 5-5 following the Auburn Invitational and the Stanford Invitational. Three more tournaments are on MU's schedule this season. Following this weekend's tournament, MU will travel to the UCLA Tournament and the Houston Tournament. Last season, MU participated in six tournaments, including three at home. The Tigers were 16-16 in tournament play in 2002 and won the Missouri Invitational.

A LOOK BACK
Mizzou went 1-4 at last week's Stanford Invitational in Stanford, Calif. The Tigers opened play by defeating Penn State 3-1. Erin Kalka picked up her third win of the season pitching a complete game five hitter. MU then fell to Kentucky, 5-4 in eight innings. UK scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning. Missouri battled back to send the game to extra innings. The Tigers scored one run in the top of the eighth, but gave up two in the bottom of the inning. On day two of the tournament, Mizzou fell to No. 14 Stanford 5-2. The Tigers were within one run until the Cardinal scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Mizzou then fell again to Kentucky 4-1, with all of the Wildcat runs coming in the first inning. Joanne Loethen was 2-for-3 for MU against UK. On Sunday, in the final game of the weekend, the Tigers fell to Penn State 3-2. Missouri held a 2-1 lead heading into the final inning, but PSU scored two runs in the top of the seventh inning to hand MU the loss. Mizzou finished 1-4 at the tournament taking their overall record to 5-5 for the season.

BATTERS FLEE FROM PLATE
Freshman Samantha Fleeman has quickly stepped into the Tiger pitching rotation and made an immediate impact. In just over 32 innings pitched heading into the Troy Cox Invitational, Fleeman has struck out 25 batters while only walking two. She has a 2-2 record and a 1.95 ERA. Fleeman opened the season by recording two wins at the Auburn Invitational. She picked up a 4-2 win over Mercer and then pitched a complete game shutout against Chattanooga.

THE MAC ATTACK
Mizzou junior Rachael McGinnis is once again at or near the top of nearly all of the offensive categories for MU. McGinnis leads the team with a .355 batting average. She also leads MU in runs scored (7), doubles (4), slugging percentage (.548), hits (11) and on base percentage (.429). She is tied for the team lead in total bases with 17, and triples with one. McGinnis is also second in stolen bases (2) and third in RBI (4).

NOW APPEARING
Erin Kalka has sure made her appearance known for MU this year. In the Tigers first ten games, Kalka has pitched in eight. She has six starts for Mizzou and two relief appearances. Of her six starts, she has five complete games. At the season opening Auburn Invitational, Kalka recorded two wins and one save. For her efforts, she was named to the All-Tournament team.

RUN AND SHOOT OFFENSE
Ty Singleton has promised that the Tigers will be an aggressive team this season and following the first two weekends of play, he is following through on that promise. After two tournaments, Missouri has stolen twenty bases on thirty attempts. Its opponents, on the other hand, have only stolen eight bases on eleven attempts. Daisy Mettlach leads MU in both steal attempts and stolen bases, swiping six bases on eight attempts. Rachael McGinnis has stolen three bases on five attempts. Morgan LeCluyse, Heather Kunkel, Joanne Loethen and Kristen Burke each have two stolen bases on the season. Three other Tigers have stolen one base.

TIGERS DOMINATE AUBURN ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Five Tigers were named to the Auburn Invitational All-Tournament team, giving Mizzou the most team members of the four participating schools. Rachael McGinnis went 8-for-16 on the weekend with five of her eight hits going for extra bases. She was also 2-for-3 in stolen base attempts. Erin Kalka recorded two wins and one save in Missouri's five games. She took a no-hitter into the sixth inning in the Tigers' first game against Auburn. Samantha Fleeman was 2-0 in her first two starts for Missouri. She struck out 14 batters and only walked one in 14.0 innings of work. Fleeman only allowed one earned run in the two games. Heather Kunkel was 6-for-14 in the tournament including a homerun which not only cleared the fence in left field, but sailed over the scoreboard above the wall. Kunkel also had one double, one triple and seven RBI in Auburn. Daisy Mettlach was also 6-for-14 on the weekend and led MU with four stolen bases in five attempts. Among her six hits was a double against Auburn.

MAKING THE GRADE
The student-athletes at the University of Missouri have excelled not just on the field, but also off the field. This past fall semester the overall GPA for Missouri student-athletes was an all-time high 2.90. The softball team had a 2.85 GPA and had 10 players with a 3.0 GPA or higher. Mizzou also had six players make the Dean's List. The graduation rate among MU student-athletes is also at an all-time high of 72%, which is the best in the Big 12 Conference.

EXTRA, EXTRA
Of Missouri's 62 hits in its first ten games, 15 have gone for extra bases. Rachael McGinnis and Heather Kunkel lead the Tigers with five extra base hits a piece. McGinnis has four doubles and one triple. Kunkel has three doubles, one triple and one homerun. Morgan LeCluyse has had three hits that have gone for extra base hits (one double, one triple and one homerun).

SINGLETON GUIDES MIZZOU
Ty Singleton was named the sixth head coach in Mizzou softball history last June. Singleton spent the last two seasons as the head coach at Northwestern State (La.) University, compiling a 75-45 record with the Demons. He is no stranger to the Big 12 Conference, after spending four season as an assistant coach at the University of Texas. Singleton brings an aggressive approach of softball to Mizzou. His teams have been known for being aggressive at the plate, on the bases and in the field. The first hire that Singleton made at MU was Tom Royder as the Tiger pitching coach. Royder was also an assistant for Singleton at Northwestern State. Karrie Rider completes the Mizzou staff. She was an assistant coach at Harvard last season and serves as the Tigers' fielding coach, as well as assisting in other areas.

SIZING UP THE COMPETITION
The strength of the Big 12 Conference along with the non-conference opponents of Mizzou, makes the 2003 Tiger schedule one of the toughest in the nation. Six of the Tigers' 2003 opponents are ranked in the USA Today/NFCA Preseason Top 25. Three of those teams are in the top 10 and three Big 12 teams are among the top 25. The Tigers have already faced No. 14 Stanford. MU fell to the Cardinal 5-2 at last weekend's Stanford Invitational. Missouri will face the top team in the country, UCLA, later this month at the UCLA Tournament. The Tigers will also face No. 4 Nebraska, No. 8 Oklahoma, No 12 Texas and No. 24 Texas A&M this season. The Tigers begin the 2003 campaign with a four-tournament, 20-game road trip. The first home contest for MU will be on March 12, when Pittsburg State will take on the Tigers in a doubleheader. Following the set with PSU, Mizzou is back on the road for four games at the Houston Tournament. Big 12 Conference play begins on March 20 when rival Kansas visits University Field.

CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Two MU seniors are moving up the charts in the career record books at Mizzou. Sara Vassmer is currently seventh in career batting average at MU, with a .332 mark. Vassmer is also moving up the career stolen bases list at Mizzou. Vassmer has swiped 45 bases, placing her 12th all-time in Tiger softball history. Ingrid Werner is eighth in career strikeouts with 222 heading into the weekend. She is also in 10th place in innings pitched with 420.2 innings pitched prior to this weekend's tournament. Werner also has 10 career shutouts, placing her 10th all-time at Missouri. She is also 11th in both complete games (31) and wins (29).

ON TAP
Up next for Mizzou is a trip to Los Angeles, Calif. for the UCLA Tournament. Joining the Tigers are Boston College and the host team, UCLA. The Tigers will open play in the tournament by facing Boston College at 9 a.m. (11 a.m. CST) on Friday. Missouri's first home game will be on March 12, a doubleheader against Pittsburg State. The Tigers will open Big 12 Conference play on March 20, when they host Kansas.

WELCOME BACK...
Among those returning to the Tigers from last year's squad are the team leaders in nearly all major categories. Rachael McGinnis led MU in hits (67), batting average (.379), slugging percentage (.610), RBI (47), doubles (10), triples (5), homeruns (7), total bases (108) and walks (25). The leading base stealer for the Tigers last year was Sara Vassmer, who stole 20 bases in 31 attempts and returns in 2003. The top two pitchers for the 2002 Tigers are back this season. Erin Kalka led Mizzou in innings pitched (171.2), strikeouts (137), ERA (1.88), wins (14) and appearances (41). Ingrid Werner was the team leader in games started (31) and complete games (11).

...AND WELCOME ABOARD
Joining the Tiger veterans is a strong group of freshman. Several freshman are quickly becoming contributors for Mizzou. On the mound, Samantha Fleeman has started four games for MU already this season and has won two. She has struck out 25 batters while only giving up one walk. Fleeman's battery mate is another freshman, Morgan Kent. Kent has thrown out three base runners on four stolen base attempts. Joanne Loethen has started every game at first base this season and has eight hits and scored five runs. Kendra Power has stepped into the second base position and has two hits, two RBI and scored four runs.

BIG 12 CONFERENCE COACHES PICK MU NINTH
The Big 12 Conference preseason coaches poll has the Tigers ranked ninth in the league. Mizzou finished ninth in the Big 12 last year. Nebraska received the No. 1 spot with 77 points and five first place votes. Texas, Oklahoma and Baylor also received first place votes.

SIZING UP THE COMPETITION
The strength of the Big 12 Conference along with the non-conference opponents of Mizzou, makes the 2003 Tiger schedule one of the toughest in the nation. Six of the Tigers' 2003 opponents are ranked in the USA Today/NFCA Preseason Top 25. Three of those teams are in the top 10 and three Big 12 teams are among the top 25. The Tigers have already faced No. 14 Stanford. MU fell to the Cardinal 5-2 at last weekend's Stanford Invitational. Missouri will face the top team in the country, UCLA, later this month at the UCLA Tournament. The Tigers will also face No. 4 Nebraska, No. 8 Oklahoma, No 12 Texas and No. 24 Texas A&M this season. The Tigers begin the 2003 campaign with a four-tournament, 20-game road trip. The first home contest for MU will be on March 12, when Pittsburg State will take on the Tigers in a doubleheader. Following the set with PSU, Mizzou is back on the road for four games at the Houston Tournament. Big 12 Conference play begins on March 20 when rival Kansas visits University Field.

CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Two MU seniors are moving up the charts in the career record books at Mizzou. Sara Vassmer is currently seventh in career batting average at MU, with a .332 mark. Vassmer is also moving up the career stolen bases list at Mizzou. Vassmer has swiped 45 bases, placing her 12th all-time in Tiger softball history. Ingrid Werner is eighth in career strikeouts with 222 heading into the weekend. She is also in 10th place in innings pitched with 420.2 innings pitched prior to this weekend's tournament. Werner also has 10 career shutouts, placing her 10th all-time at Missouri. She is also 11th in both complete games (31) and wins (29).

ON TAP
Up next for Mizzou is a trip to Los Angeles, Calif. for the UCLA Tournament. Joining the Tigers are Boston College and the host team, UCLA. The Tigers will open play in the tournament by facing Boston College at 9 a.m. (11 a.m. CST) on Friday. Missouri's first home game will be on March 12, a doubleheader against Pittsburg State. The Tigers will open Big 12 Conference play on March 20, when they host Kansas.