May 10, 2007

Columbia, Mo. -Missouri softball Head Coach Ehren Earleywine was named Big 12 Coach of the Year as announced today by the conference office. The annual honor is voted on by all 10 Big 12 softball coaches.

In his first year as Head Coach at Missouri, Earleywine led the Tigers, a team projected to finish eighth in the league, to a third place finish in the conference. With a 37-21 overall record and 13-4 mark in Big 12 action Earleywine became Missouri's third softball coach to earn Big 12 Coach of he Year honors and second to receive the recognition in his first year as coach.

Ranked as high as 18th in the nation, the Tigers opened the Big 12 campaign with a sweep of then No. 9 Texas and followed with wins over No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 5 Texas A&M and No. 6 Baylor.

The Coach of the Year honor is Earleywine's second of his four year coaching career. In 2005, Earleywine's second year as head coach at Georgia Tech, the Missouri native was named ACC Coach of the Year. This season, Earleywine has guided four Tigers to All-Big 12 honors, two, juniors Amanda Renth (Mascoutah, Ill.) and Jen Bruck (St. Peters, Mo.) received first team recognition while redshirt junior Micaela Minner (Sanger, Texas) and freshman Julie Silver (Chesterfield, Mo.) were named to the second team. In addition, Renth was named one of 25 finalists for the annual Amateur Softball association (ASA) Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award.

Missouri opens its 12th season at the Big 12 tournament Friday, May 11 at 1:30 p.m. (CT) against sixth-seeded and 18th-ranked Texas. The two teams will meet on the alternate field of ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, Okla.