Tiger Softball to Take on Red Raiders
3/21/2003 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 21, 2003
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Missouri will again attempt to begin Big 12 Conference play this weekend as it travels to Lubbock, Texas for a two-game set against Texas Tech. The Tigers were scheduled to open conference play on Thursday against Kansas, but were rained out. Mizzou is 15-11 heading into the weekend after it went 3-1 at last weekend's Houston Classic. Texas Tech is 14-24 on the season and leads the all-time series with MU 10-9. The Tigers and Red Raiders will face off on Saturday at 2 p.m. and again on Sunday at 1 p.m. Following the weekend, Missouri will travel to Oklahoma on Wednesday for a doubleheader against the Sooners.
A LOOK AT THE RED RAIDERS
Texas Tech is 14-24 on the season heading into the series with Mizzou.
Tech is coming off a split in its Big 12 opening doubleheader with Texas A&M on Wednesday.
The Red Raiders took the first game of the doubleheader with A&M 4-1, before falling to the Aggies 10-1 in six innings in the nightcap.
Three Red Raiders are hitting over the .300 mark and three have at least four homeruns on the year. Kelly Rhyne is batting .325, with five homeruns, two triples, seven doubles and 17 RBI.
Texas Tech has three pitchers sharing the work on the mound. Kristina Blair is 5-6 on the year with a 2.04 ERA. Erin Crawford is 5-8 and has a 2.18 ERA, while Amie Stines has four wins and a 3.84 ERA.
Bobby Reeves is in his third year in Lubbock, compiling a record of 64-88 with the Red Raiders.
ON TAP
The Tigers will travel to Oklahoma on Wednesday for a doubleheader with the Sooners. Following that trip, Mizzou will return home for a two-game set with Texas A&M next weekend.
A LOOK BACK
Mizzou finished 3-1 at the Houston Classic, the final tournament of the season for the Tigers, last weekend.
The Tigers won both of its opening day games, defeating Houston 3-2 and Boston 4-0.
Missouri defeated Houston in its last at bat, scoring two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning for the 3-2 victory.
Ingrid Werner pitched a three-hit shutout against Boston, picking up her third win of the season.
In the first game of the tournament's second day, the Tigers and Boston went to extra innings tied at four. BU scored four runs in the top of the eighth inning. Missouri attempted to comeback, but fell one run short, losing 8-7.
In the tournament finale for MU, the Tigers defeated Houston 5-1. Missouri opened up an early 3-0 lead as Heather Kunkel and Rachael McGinnis each homered in the top of the first inning.
LeCluyse hit .364 with four RBI over the weekend to lead MU. Kunkel also had four RBI in the four games.
Werner had two wins and an ERA of 1.31 in three appearances in Houston. Erin Kalka picked up Mizzou's other win.
TOURNEY TIME
Missouri played in its fifth and final tournament of the regular season last weekend, finishing 3-1 at the Houston Classic.
The Tigers were 13-11 in their five tournaments and reached the championship game at both the Auburn Invitational and the UCLA 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.
THE MAC ATTACK
Mizzou junior Rachael McGinnis is once again at or near the top of nearly all offensive categories for MU.
McGinnis leads the team with a .351 batting average. She also leads MU in hits (27), homeruns (4) and runs scored (17). She is tied for the team lead in doubles (5) and is second on the team in triples (2).
She is also third in stolen bases (6) and RBI (20).
EXTRA, EXTRA
Of Missouri's 166 hits in its first 26 games, 50 have gone for extra bases, including 15 homeruns.
Rachael McGinnis leads the team with 11 extra base hits, while Heather Kunkel has nine and Morgan LeCluyse has eight.
McGinnis leads the team in homeruns with four and is tied with Kunkel for the team lead in doubles with five.
LeCluyse has connected for two homeruns, three triples and three doubles this season.
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 43 bases on 63 attempts. Its opponents, on the other hand, have only stolen 21 bases on 29 attempts.
Daisy Mettlach and Morgan LeCluyse lead the Tigers with eight steals each. Joanne Loethen and Rachael McGinnis each have six steals.
HOME RUN DERBY
Mizzou's game against New Mexico State last month 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 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 of 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.
LET'S PLAY TWO
Erin Kalka took the mound in the first of two games on the final day of the UCLA Tournament, and was still on the mound 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.
TEN SPOT
Mizzou entered the seventh inning against New Mexico State on Feb. 22 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 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.
CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Two MU seniors are moving up the charts in the career record books at Mizzou.
Sara Vassmer is currently eighth in career batting average at MU, with a .326 mark.
Vassmer is also moving up the career stolen bases list at Mizzou. Vassmer has swiped 47 bases, placing her 12th all-time in Tiger softball history.
Ingrid Werner is eighth in career strikeouts with 238 heading into this weekend.
She is also in ninth place in innings pitched with 456 innings pitched. Werner also has 11 career shutouts, placing her 10th all-time at Missouri.
She is also ninth in complete games (35) and 10th in wins (33).
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.
Eight of the Tigers' 2003 opponents are ranked in the latest polls.
Two weeks ago MU faced UCLA, who is ranked No. 1 in the coaches' poll and No. 2 in the media poll.
Oklahoma and Nebraska are No. 4 and No. 5, respectively in both polls, and Texas is ranked seventh by both the coaches and media.
Stanford, who the Tigers played last month, is No. 9 in the media poll and No. 12 in the coaches' poll.
Oklahoma State (T16 in media poll, No. 22 in coaches' poll ), Texas A&M (No. 23 and No. 22) and Kansas (No. 24 in coaches' poll) are the remaining MU opponents in the polls.
So far this season, Mizzou is 0-4 against ranked opponents, falling to UCLA three times and Stanford once.
