April 18, 2008
Currently on a six game win streak that includes four victories, two sweeps, over Big 12 opponents, the Missouri softball team will travel to Austin, Texas, for a pair of games against the Longhorns beginning Saturday, April 19, at 1 p.m. (CT).
Missouri holds a narrow 13-10 lead in the all-time series dating back to the 1997 season and has taken four wins in the last five meetings with the Longhorns.
Three Tigers, freshman Rhea Taylor, senior Amanda Renth and junior Andee Allen are batting over .300 in conference play. Taylor, the nation's leader in stolen bases (45) also leads the league with her .483 average in Big 12 games. Texas' Loryn Johnson stands in second with a .447 average.
Neck-and-neck in the race for Big 12 supremacy, Missouri currently sits at third in the league with a 6-4 mark, while Texas stands in fourth at 6-5. The Tigers stand ahead of the Longhorns with their .285 batting average (fifth best) and 2.09 ERA (third best). As a team, the Longhorns are averaging .264 on the year, while their pitching staff has combined for a 2.56 ERA.
The Missouri softball team continues to dominate at the plate with four Tigers leading the league in seven categories. Taylor is the league leader in hits (68), runs scored (50), triples (four) and stolen bases (45), while three Tigers, junior Lindsey Ubrun (53, Riverside, Calif.), Renth (42) and senior Jen Bruck (40, St. Peters, Mo.) stand first, second and third respectively in RBI. Allen sits in a three-way tie for first for doubles (12) on the campaign.
Down to their final eight games of the regular season, Missouri will play six of its eight games on the road including its final midweek doubleheader, Wednesday, April 26 in Ames, Iowa. The Tigers will recognize senior players Bruck and Renth prior to the start of game two against Baylor, Sunday, April 27 with first pitch of the game expected at noon.
Scouting the Longhorns Texas is currently in fourth place in the Big 12 standings, one game behind the third-place Tigers.
The Longhorns are coming off a doubleheader sweep Wednesday against Sam Houston State in which they allowed only one run. Pitchers Meagan Denny and Brittany Barnhill combined for 26 strikeouts in the two victories.
Last weekend, Texas split a Sunday series with Kansas. The Longhorns rallied after falling 8-1 in the first game to hold onto a 2-1 victory in the second game. After falling behind 1-0 in the first inning of game two, the Longhorns scored in the fourth and sixth to take the lead. Behind Denny's 11 strikeouts, Texas held onto the win.
While Denny and Barnhill have kept Texas in games, it has been the hitting of two sophomores that has kept the Longhorns alive in Big 12 play. Infielder Loryn Johnson is hitting .447 in conference play, over 30 points higher than infielder Tallie Thrasher, who is hitting a "meager" .414. Each has four home runs apiece in conference play, with Johnson totaling 10 on the season.
Texas will most likely throw Denny and Barnhill at the Tigers Saturday, which should be a daunting task for Missouri. Denny, a senior who earned second-team Big 12 honors last year, has 212 strikeouts in 133.2 innings pitched this season, with an opponent batting average of .187. Barnhill, a freshman who was an All-American and Texas' Gatorade Player of the Year last year as a high school senior, is 3-4 in conference play, but has held opponents to a .216 batting average and boasts a 2.00 ERA.
The Longhorns went 0-3 against the Tigers last season, falling twice in the regular season in Columbia, and in the Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals in Oklahoma City to end their season.