Feb. 23, 2006

Making their sixth appearance in 11 years at the annual NFCA Leadoff Classic, the 24th-ranked Tigers (4-4) will open tournament play against No. 23 North Carolina, Friday, Feb. 24, at 11 a.m. (CST) at the South Commons Complex in Columbus, Ga. One of 24 teams competing in the three-day tournament, the Tigers play No. 17Auburn at 7:30 p.m. (CST) Friday night followed with a 10:30 a.m. (CST) Saturday morning game against No. 16 Arizona State. Missouri has the opportunity to play as many as five games this weekend.

Statistics from all games of the tournament will be available on GameTracker at mutigers.com. The Leadoff Classic Championship Game will be broadcast over the World Wide Web through Softball Central, a division of Softball Magazine. Fans can access the broadcast, which is scheduled to begin at 11:45 a.m. (CST) Feb. 26, by visiting softballmag.com. Scott Pinner will be providing the play-by-play with Worth Club K owner Chri Kempf offering analysis.

Nineteen of the 24 teams in competition advanced to a 2005 NCAA Regional Tournament, with five of these playing in the first-ever NCAA Super Regional competition and two making it to the NCAA Women's College World Series, Tennesse and 2005 champions Michigan.

This marks the second meeting all-time between Missouri and North Carolina, third with Auburn and 12th with Arizona State. Missouri's last appearance at the NFCA Leadoff Classic came in 2003. The Tigers finished 3-3 with wins over Massachusetts, Connecticut and the University of New Mexico. Missouri is 11-13 in NFCA Leadoff Classic Games, with 1997's outing marking its best tournament finish at 3-2.

The Tigers are coming off of a weekend in which they finished 2-3 at the Worth Wildcat Invitational in Tucson, Ariz., but hope to build on their most recent win, a 4-0 over Tennesee Tech last Sunday morning.

Junior catcher Kathy Masterson, 4-for-8 at the Worth Wildcat Invitational with a three-run home run in Missouri's game against Pacific, holds the highest Tiger batting average with a .417. Masterson has seen time behind the plate and made her collegiate pitching debut Feb. 17 against North Carolina State.