May 13, 2003
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NCAA Championships Information and Brackets
The Missouri Softball team will make its ninth regional appearance in school history and its first since 1999, as it travels to Ann Arbor, Mich. to participate in Region 7 of the NCAA Tournament this week. The Tigers have a 31-18 record heading into the NCAA Regional after finishing third in the Big 12 Conference with a 12-5 conference mark. Fifth-seeded Mizzou will open play in the regional against Big East Champions Notre Dame (36-15), the fourth seed in the region. The last appearance for MU in a regional came in 1999, when it entered as a No. 2 seed. Three times Mizzou has won the regional championship and advanced to the College World Series.
A LOOK AT REGION 7
Missouri will travel to Ann Arbor, Mich. this week, opening play in Region 7 on Thursday.
The Tigers are the fifth seed in the region and will take on fourth-seeded Notre Dame in the first round.
Notre Dame finished the 2003 season with a 36-15 record and won the Big East Championship, giving it an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.
The Fighting Irish are lead by Big East Player of the Year Andrea Loman, who gave her team the conference title with a walk-off game-winning home run last Saturday against Villanova.
Also participating in Region 7 is DePaul, the top seed in the region, who has a record of 46-5-1 heading into the NCAA Tournament. DePaul's first round opponent will be Wright State (15-35).
The host school for this regional, Michigan (40-14), will take on Western Michigan (30-22).
California is the defending national champion and is the No. 2 seed in Region 7. It enters the tournament with a 41-18 record and will open up play on Thursday against Oakland (33-23).
The winner of the regional will join the seven other regional champions at the College World Series on May 22-26.
MIZZOU'S REGIONAL HISTORY
This week marks the ninth regional appearance for Missouri in its 29 year history.
The Tigers first qualified for a regional in 1981, when they finished second in the AIAW Region 6 Championship.
The last time MU advanced to a NCAA Regional was in 1999, when it traveled to Los Angeles as the No. 2 seed in its region which included UCLA.
The Tigers were 3-2 in that regional and was eliminated after suffering a loss to the Bruins.
Along with the 1981 and 1999 appearances, Mizzou also took part in regionals in 1982, 1983, 1991, 1994, 1995 and 1997.
Missouri has claimed Regional Championships three times, advancing to the Women's College World Series in 1983, 1991, and 1994.
LAST TIME OUT
The Tigers took a No. 3 seed into the Big 12 Conference Tournament in Oklahoma City, Okla. after finishing with a 12-5 conference record during the regular season.
Mizzou struggled in Oklahoma City, as it went 0-2 with losses to Nebraska and Baylor knocking it out of the tournament.
In the opening game, MU and Nebraska had their pitchers in control early as both the Tigers' Erin Kalka and NU's Peaches James had no-hitters going through four innings.
The first hit of the game for either team came in the top of the fifth when Nebraska's Sheena Lawrick connected for a solo home run.
The Huskers put two more runs in the fifth before adding another two in the seventh.
The Tigers again had trouble in the second game of their tournament, falling to Baylor 5-4 in 11 innings.
The Bears built a 4-0 lead before MU was able to mount a comeback. The Tigers scored their first run of the tournament in the bottom of the sixth inning before staging a final inning rally.
Just two outs away from elimination, Mizzou was able to put three runs on the board in the bottom of the seventh highlighted by a two-run triple by Kendra Power, who later scored the tying run.
The Tigers tried to get something going in extra innings, twice having runners on second. But both times they were unable to plate any runs.
The game-winning hit for the Bears came on the first pitch from Kalka in the top of the 11th, as Stephanie Pomes sent a fly ball just over the right field wall.
THE HONOR ROLL
Several Mizzou coaches and players were honored at the Big 12 Conference Tournament Luncheon.
The highlight came when Head Coach Ty Singleton was named the conference Coach of the Year after leading Mizzou to a third place finish in the Big 12 with a 12-5 league mark.
The All-Big 12 Conference teams were announced as well, with six Tigers earning recognition.
Rachael McGinnis was named to the First Team for the second consecutive year. She is second in the Big 12 with a .379 batting average and leads Mizzou in just about every offensive category.
Morgan LeCluyse, Daisy Mettlach, Erin Kalka, Heather Kunkel and Joanne Loethen were second team selections.
LeCluyse had at least one hit in each of the six Big 12 games she play in before an injury forced her out of the lineup. She had a 13-game hitting streak in tact when the injury occurred.
Mettlach is hitting .268 on the season and had a .324 batting average in Big 12 play. She leads the Tigers with 13 stolen bases and is tied for second on the team with five home runs.
Kalka has been dominating in the pitcher's circle for MU this season. She has recorded 22 complete games and 10 shutouts this year and has 11 complete games with six shutouts in Big 12 Conference games.
Kunkel has a .295 batting average and is hitting .333 in conference play. She is tied for second on the team with five home runs to go along with nine doubles and two triples.
Loethen is hitting .293 for the year and leads the team with 10 doubles. She has had a seven-game hitting streak, a six-game hitting streak and two four-game hitting streaks during the season.
MU also had three players named to the Academic All-Big 12 Team.
Ingrid Werner and Jeni Schellert were first team selections and Heather Kunkel was named to the second team.
Werner was also named to the Verizon Academic All-District Team for the second time.
THE MAC ATTACK
Mizzou junior Rachael McGinnis' is currently fourth on the all-time home runs list at Mizzou, with 19 for her career.
McGinnis was named to the All-Big 12 First Team this season for the second consecutive season.
She is currently second in the conference in batting with a .379 mark. McGinnis is fourth in on base percentage (.452) and is second in the Big 12 in slugging percentage (.683).
McGinnis leads the team with a .379 batting average. She also leads MU in hits (55), home runs (10), RBI (35) and runs scored (35). She is tied for the team lead in triples (3), is second in stolen bases (10) and tied for third in doubles (8).
CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Several MU stars are moving up the charts in the career record books at Mizzou.
Rachael McGinnis is fourth in career home runs at Mizzou with 19 for her career.
McGinnis could become the all-time batting average leader if she were to keep up her current pace. She currently has a .361 mark for her career. The old record was .352 set by Stacey Bailey (1994-97).
McGinnis is also sixth in triples (13), fourth in RBI (111) and ninth in hits (181)
Morgan LeCluyse is ninth in home runs at Mizzou with 11 for career.
Sara Vassmer is currently 11th in career batting average at MU, with a .317 mark. She is currently fourth in hits at MU with 208.
Vassmer is also moving up the career stolen bases list at Mizzou. She has swiped 50 bases, placing her 12th all-time in Tiger softball history.
Erin Kalka is currently in eighth place in career strikeouts with 336 in only her sophomore year.
She also has 33 career wins, which places her 11th all-time at MU and her 14 shutouts is ninth best.
Ingrid Werner is ninth in career strikeouts with 246. She is also in ninth place in innings pitched with 469.2 innings pitched and has 12 career shutouts, placing her ninth all-time. She is also ninth in complete games (37) and 10th in wins (35).
UNLUCKY 13 FOR LECLUYSE
MU junior Morgan LeCluyse's double in the Tigers' first games against Southeast Missouri on April 2, 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 right hand into the base.
For the season, LeCluyse had been hitting .337, with four home runs and 18 RBI. She was an All-Big 12 Second Team selection as she recorded at least one hit in every conference game she had an at-bat in. J-LO
Freshman Joanne Loethen has been arguably the Tigers' most consistent player this season. She is tied for second on the team with 44 hits on the year.
She was a second team All-Big 12 selection this season as a freshman.
Loethen has had a seven-game hitting streak, a six-game hitting streak and two four-game hitting streaks this season.
She is hitting .277 heading into postseason and is tied for the team lead in doubles with 10. She has stolen six bases on 10 attempts.
She has had a hit in 29 of Mizzou's 49 games this season and has also had 12 multiple-hit games this year.
LET'S PLAY TWO
Erin Kalka has taken Ernie Banks' famous quote, "Let's play two" to heart.
Four times this season Kalka, who was named to the All-Big 12 Second Team, has stepped into the pitcher's circle in back-to-back games against some of the best teams in the nation.
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.
She pitched back-to-back complete games, striking out 16 batters and giving up no earned runs in 13 innings of work.
Against Boston College, she picked up a win in a four hit shutout to start the day.
Then, against the No. 1 ranked UCLA Bruins, Kalka gave up no earned runs and struck out 10.
On March 26, Kalka again took the start in both games of a doubleheader, this time against No. 4 Oklahoma.
Kalka was 1-1, pitching a three-hit shutout in the first game, as she struck out six Sooners and walked only one in a 2-0 win.
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 on April 5 as she pitched a three-hit shutout against No. 5 Texas.
She threw 15 innings of shutout ball against Iowa State on April 10. She recorded two shutout wins allowing just four hits in the two games.
On April 21, she recorded back-to-back complete game victories against Kansas, striking out five in each game and giving up only one hit in game two.
CENTURY MARK
With the win in game one of MU's doubleheader against UMKC on April 15, Ty Singleton reached the 100-win mark for his career.
Singleton currently has a 106-63 all-time record as a head coach. Prior to coming to Mizzou, he lead Northwestern State to a 75-45 record in two seasons with the Demons.
TO BE THE BEST,YOU HAVE TO BEAT THE BEST
Mizzou's 2-0 win over No. 7 Nebraska last Sunday was its third win over a top-10 team this season.
On April 5, MU defeated No. 5 Texas 1-0 just a little over a week after it defeated No. 4 Oklahoma by a score of 2-0 in Norman, Okla.
The following weekend, MU took a game from No. 20 Texas A&M, defeating the Aggies 6-5 in 10 innings in the second game of a two-game series.
Missouri is 4-10 against Top 25 teams and 3-5 against teams in the Top 10.
HITS KEEP COMING FOR KUNKEL
Of Heather Kunkel's 44 hits this season, 17 have gone for extra bases and her 28 RBI is second best on the team.
She opened the season with a five-game hitting streak and had a 10-game hitting streak at one point during the year.
Kunkel joined five other Tigers on this season's All-Big 12 second team, as announced at the Big 12 Conference Tournament.
Kunkel is tied for the team lead in doubles with 10 on the season and has five home runs and two triples.
She is hitting .286 heading into this week's play. Kunkel is also a perfect 4-for-4 in stolen base attempts on the season.