Feb. 27, 2003

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The Mizzou softball team heads to Los Angeles this weekend for the UCLA Tournament. The Tigers are 8-6 on the season heading into the weekend after going 3-1 at last week's Troy Cox Invitational in Las Cruces, N.M. Among this weekend's opponents is the nation's top team, UCLA. The Bruins enter the weekend with 14-1 record. Joining the Tigers and Bruins this week is Boston College. The Eagles are 3-5 heading into the tournament. This will mark the fourth consecutive weekend that MU has been on the road participating in a tournament. The Tigers have taken part in the Auburn Invitational, the Stanford Invitational and the Troy Cox Invitational to open the year and will compete in Houston Tournament later in March.

A LOOK AT THE BRUINS
UCLA is the host school for this weekend's tournament and is the No. 1 ranked team in the nation. The Bruins advanced to the Women's College World Series last year and finished with a 55-9 overall record. This year, UCLA is 14-1, with its only loss coming to Cal State-Fullerton on Feb. 1. UCLA has won the UNLV Classic and the FAU Tournament and is coming off a doubleheader sweep over UC-Santa Barbara on Wednesday. Sue Enquist is in her 15th season leading the Bruins, compiling a 610-130-1 record.

A LOOK AT THE EAGLES
Boston College is 3-5 on the season heading into the UCLA Tournament. The Eagles went 1-3 at the season opening Gamecock Invitational, picking up a 3-2 win over South Carolina. They then went 2-2 at the Georgia Round Robin in Athens, with wins over Maryland and Drexel. BC is led by Jen Finley, who is in her eighth season with the Eagles and has compiled a 194-131-1 record.

MU vs. THE OPPOSITION
The Tigers have faced UCLA five times prior to this weekend with the Bruins winning all five matchups. MU and Boston College have never faced each other. The Eagles are one of six schools that Missouri will face for the first time this year.

TOURNEY TIME
MU has opened the 2003 season by participating in the Auburn Invitational, the Stanford Invitational and the Troy Cox Invitational. MU is 8-6 following the first three weeks of play and have two more tournaments on the schedule. Following this weekend's tournament, MU will take part in 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
Missouri went 3-1 at last weekend's Troy Cox Invitational in Las Cruces, N.M. The Tigers opened with a 1-0 win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in eight innings on Friday. Erin Kalka picked up her fourth victory of the year with the extra inning win. Later, despite leading over Colorado State 4-0 heading into the sixth inning, MU fell to CSU 8-4. The Rams put together an eight run sixth inning to take the victory away from Mizzou. Missouri began day two with a 1-0 win over Western Illinois. Kalka picked up another win, pitching a complete game four hitter. The Tigers found their offense in their final game of the weekend against New Mexico State. Five Tigers (Heather Kunkel, Rachael McGinnis, Daisy Mettlach, Kendra Power and Kristen Burke) connected for homeruns in a 17-4 win. MU also had four doubles and one triple against the Aggies. Missouri finished the tournament 3-1 and McGinnis was named to the All-Tournament Team.

HOME RUN DERBY
Mizzou's game against New Mexico State last Saturday turned into a home run derby for MU. Five Tigers connected on homeruns in MU's 17-4 win. Rachael McGinnis got Mizzou on the board first with a two-run homerun in the first inning. Then in the second inning, Kendra Power led off with a homer and two batters later, Heather Kunkel hit a solo homerun of her own. In the fifth inning, Daisy Mettlach led off the inning with a homerun to give the Tigers a 7-4 lead. Then in the seventh inning Kristen Burke connected for a three-run homerun, as the Tigers scored ten runs in the inning.

TEN SPOT
Mizzou entered the seventh inning against New Mexico State last Saturday with a 7-4 lead. By the end of the inning, Missouri had a 17-4 lead. In the inning, Kristen Burke had a three run homerun and a triple, driving in four runs in the inning. Heather Kunkel, Samantha Fleeman and Alisha Nelson each reached on doubles. Three other Tigers had singles as MU sent 13 batters to the plate in the seventh. Mizzou did most of the damage with one out, scoring nine runs in between the first and second outs of the inning.

BATTERS FLEE FROM PLATE
Freshman Samantha Fleeman has quickly stepped into the Tiger pitching rotation and made an immediate impact. In just over 37 innings pitched heading into the UCLA Tournament, Fleeman has struck out 28 batters while only walking four. She has a 2-3 record and a 2.63 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 .419 batting average. She also leads MU in doubles (5), triples (2), slugging percentage (.698), hits (18), and total bases (30) She is tied for the team lead in runs scored with nine. McGinnis is also second in stolen bases (4) and RBI (8).

NOW APPEARING
Erin Kalka has sure made her appearance known for MU this year. In the Tigers first 14 games, Kalka has pitched in 11. She has eight starts for Mizzou and three relief appearances. Of her eight starts, she has six 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 three weekends of play, he is following through on that promise. After three tournaments, Missouri has stolen 22 bases on 38 attempts. Its opponents, on the other hand, have only stolen 11 bases on 17 attempts. Daisy Mettlach leads MU in both steal attempts and stolen bases, swiping six bases on eight attempts. Rachael McGinnis has stolen four bases on six attempts, while Joanne Loethen has three stolen bases in five attempts. Heather Kunkel, Morgan LeCluyse and Kendra Power each have two steals on the season.

EXTRA, EXTRA
Of Missouri's 100 hits in its first 14 games, 31 have gone for extra bases. Rachael McGinnis leads the team with eight extra base hits and Heather Kunkel has had seven hits go for extra bases. Daisy Mettlach and Morgan LeCluyse each have three extra base hits (one double, one triple, and one homerun each).

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.

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. Seven of the Tigers' 2003 opponents are ranked in the latest USA Today/NFCA Top 25, including the top three teams in the nation. This week, MU will face the No. 1 team in the nation, UCLA. Mizzou will take on the Bruins at least two times, possible three times at this weekend's UCLA Tournament. Two Big 12 teams hold the next two spots in the top 25. Texas and Nebraska are second and third, respectively. The Tigers have already faced No. 10 Stanford. MU fell to the Cardinal 5-2 at the Stanford Invitational. The Tigers will also face No. 11 Oklahoma, No 20 Texas A&M and No. 23 Oklahoma State 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 Columbia.

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 .330 mark. Vassmer is also moving up the career stolen bases list at Mizzou. She has swiped 45 bases, placing her 12th all-time in Tiger softball history. Ingrid Werner is eighth in career strikeouts with 228 heading into the weekend. She is also in 10th place in innings pitched with 428.1 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
After opening the year with four consecutive weekend tournament, Mizzou will have some time off coming up. Following this weekend's tournament, the Tigers will not play until its first home action of the season 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 five games for MU already this season and has won two. She has struck out 28 batters while only giving up four walks. Fleeman's battery mate is another freshman, Morgan Kent. Kent hit a three run homerun against Colorado State last weekend. Joanne Loethen has started every game at first base this season and has 13 hits and has scored eight runs. Kendra Power has stepped into the second base position and has five hits, and five RBI, including a homerun in MU's win over New Mexico State at last weekend's Troy Cox Invitational.