April 4, 2003
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After picking up two 9-0 victories over Southeast Missouri State on Wednesday, including a no-hitter in game one, Mizzou will return to Big 12 Conference play this weekend as Texas visits Columbia for a two-game series. The Tigers are 21-13 on the year and 4-2 in the Big 12 Conference. They will face the No. 5 ranked Longhorns, who enter the series with a 29-6 overall record and a 6-1 conference mark. Mizzou coach Ty Singleton will be taking on his former employer this weekend. Singleton was an assistant coach at UT from 1997-2000. Following the weekend, Missouri will travel to Springfield, Mo. for a non-conference doubleheader with Southwest Missouri State on Tuesday.
A LOOK AT THE LONGHORNS
Texas enters this weekend's doubleheader with a 29-6 record and a No. 5 ranking in the latest polls.
The Longhorns are 6-1 in Big 12 Conference play and are coming off a sweep of Texas Tech on Wednesday.
Sophomore pitcher Cat Osterman leads UT in the pitcher's circle. She has a 16-3 record and an ERA of .045. She has three times been named the Big 12 Conference Pitcher of the Week already this season.
Osterman has struck out 267 batters and walked only 17 in 124.1 innings pitched.
Amy Bradford is 8-2 with a 0.81 ERA and four shutouts. She has struck out 82 batters and given up only 16 walks.
Four Longhorns are hitting over .300 on the year, led by Tamara Poppe with a .324 mark.
Chez Sievers is hitting .318, followed by Lindsay Gardner who has a .317 batting average and leads the team with 32 hits.
Tina Boutelle is hitting .315 and has a team-leading 10 stolen bases.
Texas is the defending Big 12 Champions after finishing the 2002 season with a 17-1 conference record.
Connie Clark is in her seventh season at Texas and has compiled a 257-132-1 record.
The Tigers and Longhorns have split the 12 previous meetings between the two teams. Texas swept the series last year in Ausitn.
ON TAP
Mizzou will again step out of the Big 12 Conference on Tuesday, traveling to Springfield, Mo. for a doubleheader with Southwest Missouri State.
Game one against the Bears will start at 3 p.m. with the second game following.
The Tigers will then host Iowa State in a doubleheader on Thursday, before traveling to Stillwater for a weekend series with Oklahoma State on April 12-13.
LAST TIME OUT
The Tigers picked up two dominating victories over Southeast Missouri State on Wednesday. MU won both games of the doubleheader 9-0 behind solid pitching and a powerful offence.
Samantha Fleeman pitched a no-hitter in the first game as she struck out 10 batters in the game, which ended in five innings due to the mercy rule.
Ingrid Werner was nearly as sharp in game two, finishing with a three-hit shutout for her fifth win of the season.
Rachael McGinnis, Melanie Fisher and Jeni Schellert each hit home runs in the opening game.
McGinnis was 5-for-7 in the two games with four RBI and three runs scored. Fisher was 4-for-6 win two RBI and two runs scored in the doubleheader.
A FAMILIAR FACE
Missouri Head Coach Ty Singleton is more that a little familiar with the Texas Softball program.
From 1997-2000, Singleton was an assistant on Connie Clark's coaching staff at UT.
While at Texas, Singleton worked primarily with the infielders and hitters where he helped produce seven All-Americans, three Verizon Academic All-Americans ad a dozen All-Big 12 Conference selections.
In his four years on the Longhorn staff, UT compiled a record of 154-84-1.
FLEE BATTERS, FLEE
Samantha Fleeman struck out ten batters as she no-hit Southeast Missouri State in the opening game of a doubleheader last Wednesday.
Fleeman picked up her fifth victory of the season with the win. She walked four, which were the only baserunners to reach base for the Otakians.
The last no-hitter at MU was thrown by Ingrid Werner last season. Werner actually recorded a perfect game against Rhode Island on Feb. 17, 2002.
After winning in her first two starts of her collegiate career, Fleeman did not pick up win number three until she threw a complete game one hitter against Pittsburg State on March 12, striking out ten in that game also.
For the season, Fleeman has two shutouts and has struck out 59 batters while walking just 21.
She is second on the team with 67.2 innings pitched, allowing only 18 earned runs. Opposing batters have hit just .217 against her this season.
GONE FISHING
Well actually Melanie Fisher was not gone fishing for the first 30 games of the season.
Fisher, also a member of the Mizzou's women's basketball team, did not join the Tigers softball team until the basketball season concluded on March 27.
She averaged 5.8 points and 6.0 rebounds per game with the basketball team helping the Tigers reach the quarterfinals of the WNIT.
Fisher joined the softball Tigers in time for their series with Texas A&M and saw action in both of the game against the Aggies.
She picked up her first hit in a big way as she connected for a two-run home run in the top of the second inning in the opening game of the doubleheader against Southeast Missouri State last Wednesday.
Fisher finished 4-for-6 with one home run, two RBI, two runs scored in the two games against SEMO.
UNLUCKY 13 FOR LECLUYSE
MU junior Morgan LeCluyse's double in the Tigers' first games against Southeast Missouri on Wednesday, extended her hitting streak to 13 games.
Unfortunately 13 turned out to be unlucky. LeCluyse had to leave the game after she dove back to the third base bag on a pick-off attempt and jammed her hand into the base.
For the season, LeCluyse had been hitting .337, which is ninth best in the Big 12 Conference, and has four home runs and 18 RBI. She is tied or the Big 12 Conference lead in triples with three and her slugging percentage of .605 is 10th best in the conference.
LET'S PLAY TWO
Erin Kalka has taken Ernie Banks' famous quote, "Let's play two" to heart.
Two times this season Kalka has stepped into the pitcher's circle in back-to-back games against some of the best teams in the nation and has been dominate.
Kalka took the ball in the first of two games on the final day of the UCLA Tournament, and was still in the circle when the second game ended.
Kalka pitched back-to-back complete games, striking out 16 batters and giving up no earned runs in 13 innings of work on the day.
She picked up a win in a four hit shutout against Boston College to start the day.
Then, against the No. 1 ranked UCLA Bruins, Kalka gave up no earned runs and struck out 10.
Last Wednesday, Kalka again took the start in both games of a doubleheader, this time against No. 4 Oklahoma. Like she did in Los Angeles, Kalka was 1-1, pitching a three-hit shutout in the first game, as she struck out six Sooners and walked only one.
She then held OU to only four hits and one run through four innings in the nightcap, before OU's Leah Gulla connected on a three-run home run, the first big hit for Oklahoma on the day against Kalka.
Kalka is 11-7 on the season with a 2.23 ERA. She has 136 strikeouts in 122.2 inning pitched, which is 1.11 strikeouts per inning.
THE VOTES ARE IN
Missouri received nine votes in the latest ESPN.com/USA Softball poll. The nine votes place the Tigers 29th in the rankings.
This is the first time that MU has received votes in either the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll or the USA Today/NFCA poll this season.
HITS KEEP COMING FOR KUNKEL
Of Heather Kunkel's 31 hits this season, 12 have gone for extra base hits and her 20 RBI is tied for the team lead
She opened the season with a five-game hitting streak and currently has a 10-game hitting streak on the line.
Kunkel is tied for the team lead in doubles with eight on the season and has three home runs and one triple.
She is hitting .292 heading into the weekend. Kunkel is also a perfect 3-for-3 in stolen base attempts on the season.
THE MAC ATTACK
Mizzou junior Rachael McGinnis' name can be found among the leaders in the Big 12 Conference statistical categories.
She is currently fifth in the conference in batting with a .379 mark. McGinnis is fourth in on base percentage (.453) and fourth in the Big 12 in slugging percentage (.699).
McGinnis leads the team with a .379 batting average. She also leads MU in hits (39), homeruns (8) and runs scored (25). She is second on the team in triples (2) and RBI (24) and is third in stolen bases (6) and doubles (5).
J-LO
Freshman Joanne Loethen has been arguably the Tigers' most consistent player this season.
The freshman is hitting .303 heading into this weekend. She is tied for the team lead in doubles with eight and has stolen six bases on eight attempts.
She has had a hit in 23 of Mizzou's 34 games this season and at one point had a seven game hitting streak. She has also had nine multiple-hit games this year.
RUN AND SHOOT OFFENSE
Ty Singleton has promised that the Tigers will be an aggressive team this season and so far he is following through on that promise.
Missouri has stolen 49 bases on 71 attempts. Its opponents, on the other hand, have only stolen 25 bases on 35 attempts.
Daisy Mettlach leads the team with 10 stolen bases on 14 attempts, which is tied for fifth best in the Big 12 Conference. Morgan LeCluyse has nine, followed by Joanne Loethen and Rachael McGinnis with six.
EXTRA, EXTRA
Over 32 percent of Missouri's 237 hits have gone for extra bases, as the Tigers have recorded 74 extra base hits, including 24 homeruns.
Rachael McGinnis leads the team with 15 extra base hits, while Heather Kunkel and Morgan LeCluyse have 12.
McGinnis leads the team in homeruns with eight. LeCluyse has four homers, followed by Kunkel and Daisy Mettlach who each have three homeruns on the year.