April 7, 2003

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Missouri will travel to Springfield, Mo. on Tuesday for an out of conference doubleheader against Southwest Missouri State. Game one will start at 3 p.m. with the second game to follow. The Tigers enter the doubleheader with a 22-13 record after defeating No. 5 Texas 1-0 on Saturday. SMS is 18-16 on the year heading into Tuesday's games. Missouri holds a commanding lead in the all-time series with the Bears, having won 24 of the 32 previous meetings. MU returns to Big 12 play on Thursday for a doubleheader with Iowa State at University Field beginning at 3 p.m.

A LOOK AT THE BEARS
Southwest Missouri State is 18-16 entering Tuesday's doubleheader. The Bears have won their last three games, including taking two from Northern Iowa on Saturday. After dropping the first five games of its season, SMS then won 10 of its next 11 games. Currently, the Bears are in fourth place in the Missouri Valley Conference with a 7-6 conference mark. Amanda Bean leads the Bears at the plate with a .324 batting average. She has 34 hits and five RBI on the year. She has also stolen a team-high 17 bases in 20 attempts. Deanna Keim is hitting .283 and leads the team with 21 RBI. She also leads the Bears in home runs with four, and doubles with ten. Sarah Nemlowill leads the SMS pitching staff with a 1.97 ERA in 67.2 innings pitched. Shannon Buslepp has an ERA of 1.98 and leads the team in wins with six on the year. Holly Hesse is in her 15th year as the head coach of the Bears. She has compiled a record of 374-370 at SMS Missouri leads the all-time series with SMS 24-8.

ON TAP
The Tigers will return to Big 12 Conference play on Thursday as they host Iowa State in a doubleheader at University Field. Mizzou will then travel to Stillwater for a weekend series with Oklahoma State before returning home for back-to-back doubleheaders against UMKC on April 15 and Saint Louis University on April 16. MU also has trips to Baylor and Kansas left on the schedule, as well as a home series with Nebraska.

LAST TIME OUT
Missouri recorded its third win over a ranked opponent in the past two weeks by defeating No. 5 Texas, 1-0, on Saturday. The Tigers scored the game's only run when Ashley Hays drove in Daisy Mettlach with a single in the bottom of the sixth inning off Longhorn pitcher Cat Osterman. Erin Kalka pitched a three-hit shutout and struck out eight for her 12th victory of the season. The Tigers defeated No. 4 Oklahoma on March 26 and No. 20 Texas A&M on March 30 and have yet to lose a Big 12 series this season. Sunday's game against UT was rained out and will not be rescheduled.

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 baserunner 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 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.

GONE FISHING
Well actually Melaine 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.

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.

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 .371 mark. McGinnis is fourth in on base percentage (.445) and fourth in the Big 12 in slugging percentage (.686). McGinnis leads the team with a .371 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).

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. Kalka again took the start in both games of a doubleheader, this time against No. 4 Oklahoma. Like she did in Los Angeles, on March 26. 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 recorded another shutout over a top five team last Saturday as she pitched a three-hit shutout against No. 5 Texas. Kalka is 12-7 on the season with a 2.11 ERA. She has 144 strikeouts in 129.2 inning pitched, which is 1.11 strikeouts per inning.

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 had a 10-game hitting streak snapped last Saturday. 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 .287 heading intoTuesday. Kunkel is also a perfect 3-for-3 in stolen base attempts on the season.

J-LO
Freshman Joanne Loethen has been arguably the Tigers' most consistent player this season. The freshman is hitting .295 heading into Tuesday's doubleheader. 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 50 bases on 72 attempts. Its opponents, on the other hand, have only stolen 27 bases on 37 attempts. Daisy Mettlach leads the team with 11 stolen bases on 15 attempts, which is tied for fifth best in the Big 12 Conference.