Feb. 21, 2008
The Missouri softball team will make its third tournament appearance of the season when they take on programs from Wichita State, No. 22 Washington, Texas Tech and host school New Mexico at the Lobo Invitational in Albuquerque, N.M., Feb. 22-24.
Beginning Friday, Feb. 22, the Tigers will challenge the Shockers of Wichita State at 11 a.m. (CT). Missouri currently holds a 15-2 advantage in the all-time series with Wichita State, most recently outscoring the Shockers, 18-8, after taking back-to-back wins in Columbia, March 7, 2007.
Following the late morning outing, Missouri will face the Huskies of Washington at 6:30 p.m. (CT). This marks the fourth meeting in two years between the two programs. Last year, Missouri and Washington went into extra innings in their first game of the Big 12/Pac 10 Showdown. With the help of recent graduate Kathy Masterson's 10th inning grand slam, Missouri won the game, 10-8, in Tempe, Ariz.
Missouri will play two games, Saturday, Feb. 23, meeting first with Big 12 opponent Texas Tech at 1:30 p.m. (CT). The game will not count toward either school's league record and marks the third straight season in which the two teams have met outside of regular season conference play.
Saturday night's game will pit Missouri against New Mexico. The two teams have met on five occasions, most recently in 2002. The Tigers hold a 4-1 lead in the all-time series, having won four of the last five contests with the Lobos.
Two games, the third place and title game, will be held at 11:30 a.m. (CT) and 2 p.m. (CT), respectively.
Fans will be sure to recognize two familiar faces in opposing uniforms. Former Tiger great Teresa Wilson, an all-american pitcher from 1980-83, is in her fourth season as Head Coach for the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Additionally, former Missouri Head Coach Ty Singleton (2003-06) now leads the charge for the New Mexico Lobos.
Scouting the Shockers Led by Head Coach Mike Perniciaro, now in his fourth season with the Shockers, Wichita State enters the Lobo Invitational with a 5-4 record. After opening the season at the Chattanooga Invitational, Feb. 9 with back-to-back losses, the Shockers rattled off two straight wins to finish the tournament with a 2-2 record. This season, Wichita State has shutout two of its opponents and has suffered two of its four losses by three runs or less. The Shockers are coming off of a 2-0 loss to 13th-ranked Stanford at the Stanford Invitational, Feb. 17.
In the circle, senior Ashley Bright holds a 3-2 record that includes a solo shutout over Pacific, Feb. 15. Bright owns a 1.86 ERA and has struckout 52 batters in 47.2 innings of work. Teammate Brianna Smet, a right-handed freshman, has also seen time in the circle and is 2-0 on the season having twirled 14.2 innings.
Three Shockers own a .300 batting average or better; Katie McGeeney, Britnee Barnett and Kara L'Huillier. McGeeney currently leads her teammates with a .400 batting average. The senior is 10-for-25 with a double and nine runs scored.
Scouting the Huskies The only team to enter the Lobo Invitational with a ranking, No. 22 in the nation, the Washington Huskies are 4-4-1 on the season and have collected wins over Loyola Chicago, Texas Tech, UMKC and Southern Utah. Altogether, Washington has outscored its opponents 33-1. Washington's losses have come to No. 18 UNLV, Texas State, Oklahoma State and No. 3 Texas A&M.
Coached by Heather Tar, now in her fourth season with the Huskies, Tar guided Washington to the Women's College World Series in 2007 and has taken her team to three straight Super Regional appearances.
Sophomore Bailey Stenson holds the highest batting average of her teammates that have played in all nine games this season. Batting .419, Stenson recorded five RBI and scored three runs. Freshman Alicia Blake, owns a .385 average and .615 slugging percentage, crushing three of the team's 13 doubles and credited with eight RBI and seven runs.
Right handed freshman Aleah Macon holds the best ERA of the two-man pitching staff with a 2.05. However, Senior Caitlin Noble has tallied more wins on the year and stands at 3-2 with a 2.53 ERA and two solo shutouts. Noble has hurled 32 innings and the duo has combined for 73 strikeouts. Scouting the Red Raiders Opening the Lobo Invitational Friday, Feb. 22 at 1:30 p.m. (CT) against No. 22 Washington, this marks the second meeting of the season between the two programs. Texas Tech began its 2008 campaign at the Sportco Spring Kickoff Classic with Washington on Feb. 8 and suffered an 8-1 loss. Since then, the Red Raiders have suffered seven straight losses and stand at 0-8 on the season.
Montana Patin and Leah Legler have combined for six of the Red Raiders' 13 runs on the season and four of the 10 RBI. Patin, a redshirt junior owns a .647 slugging percentage and her first home run of the season Feb. 15 against Memphis.
Three Red Raiders have seen time in the circle with Ashly Jacobs holding the best ERA at 2.78. Of the 42 runs that Texas Tech has given up, only 33 were earned.
Scouting the Lobos Hosts of the 2008 Lobo Invitational, New Mexico enters the three-day tournament with a 4-3 record. New Mexico began its season Feb. 9 with a doubleheader against Midwest school Evansville. Winning game one, 4-1, the Lobos were outscored 10-4 in game two. Returning on Feb. 10 for the third game of the series, New Mexico managed a 9-1 win in five innings over the Purple Aces. In each of New Mexico's three losses the Lobos lost by six or more runs.
Five members of the Lobo softball team are batting above .300, with Sara Loeffelholz batting .471. Owning an .882 slugging percentage, the sophomore has hit one home run, one triple and two doubles, scored three runs and has been credited with six RBI.
Together, the Lobos own a .919 fielding percentage with 134 putouts, 60 assists and 17 errors through seven games.
With a 0.74 ERA, the fourth best in the Mountain West conference Kelly Ninemire is 2-1 on the season. Ninemire has thrown 19 innings and allowed two earned runs, striking out 16 batters and holding her opponents to a .200 average.
Familiar Faces As mentioned earlier, the Missouri softball team will see a few familiar faces this weekend when they take on former Head Coach Ty Singleton and his Lobo squad, Saturday night at 9 p.m. (CT). Singleton served as Head Coach at Missouri from 2003-06 amassing a 130-88 record in four seasons. At his side is former pitching coach Tom Royder. Singleton helped guide the Tigers to their first NCAA Regional appearance in four seasons in his inaugural campaign at Missouri. Over the course of his four seasons, Singleton took the Tigers to three straight NCAA Regional Tournaments. Singleton was Missouri's seventh Head Coach since the formation of the team in 1975.
Former pitching ace Teresa Wilson is now Head Coach at Texas Tech. A Tiger pitcher from 1980-83, Wilson's name is still etched at the top of several Missouri career record categories, including career complete games (118), career strikeouts (893), career shutouts (55), career wins (102) and career win-loss percentage (.734, ). Wilson was a 1983 All-American and was inducted into the Missouri Hall of Fame in 1995.
Ubrun Has Big Weekend in Miami Recent University of Maryland transfer Lindsey Ubrun proved dominant in Missouri's opening weekend in Miami, Fla. A junior, Ubrun notched a .467 batting average, recorded six RBI, scored three runs and hit a triple and single. Ubrun's big swing accounted for her .800 slugging percentage.
Batting cleanup in Missouri's game against Florida International, Feb. 8, Ubrun hit a three home run in the first inning to give the Tigers the lead. Ubrun holds the longest hitting streak at four games.
Mizzou Chosen Fourth in Big 12 Preseason Poll The University of Missouri softball team was the fourth-place vote-getter in the annual Big 12 Conference Preseason Coaches Poll, announced by the league office on Thursday. The Tigers earned 61 points in the poll behind Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Baylor.
For the third consecutive year, Texas A&M was selected as the league's preseason favorite, tallying seven first-place votes and 79 overall points. Oklahoma was selected to the second spot with 70 points and one first-place vote. Three points ahead of the Tigers is defending Big 12 regular-season champion Baylor, which garnered two first-place votes.
In the last five years, only the 2007 Sooners finished higher than fourth in the regular season after being ranked the conference's preseason no. 4 squad. In 2005, Baylor remained in the fourth spot at the close of the regular season.
Mizzou was predicted to finish eighth among the league's 10 teams in the 2007 preseason poll. The Tigers outperformed the poll's predictions, putting together a 40-24 record, including an impressive 13-4 conference record, to finish third in the Big 12 and the 19th-ranked team in the nation. The team also earned its 11th NCAA Regional Tournament appearance.
Renth Named to USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Year Watch List Missouri senior Amanda Renth (Mascoutah, Ill.) was named to the seventh annual USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Year Top-50 watch list as announced today by the Amateur Softball Association (ASA). This marks the second consecutive year that Renth has been named to the watch list.
The award, considered one of the most prestigious honors in women's collegiate softball, is designed to recognize outstanding athletic achievement by female collegiate softball players across the country. Tennessee pitcher Monica Abbott was awarded the title of Player of the Year in 2007, while former Texas pitcher Cat Osterman received the honor in 2005 and 2006.
Renth is one of nine Big 12 players and one of 23 seniors named to the prestigious list.
A first baseman on Missouri's softball team, Renth is a three-time All-Big 12 honoree and received 2007 All-Midwest Region accolades. Renth finished her junior campaign with a .319 average, .588 slugging percentage and a team-high 14 home runs. Taking on the eventual 2007 NCAA Women's College World Series Champions Arizona, Renth was 2-for-3 on March 2, with both hits clearing the fence for home runs. The Tiger finished the three-day stint in Arizona with a .600 batting average, 2.00 slugging percentage and was intentionally walked six times.