March 23, 2009
Columbia, Mo. - Just beyond the half way point of the regular season, the 13th-ranked Missouri softball team will use its spring break to take on two schools in the state of Texas. Beginning Tuesday, March 24, the Tigers will face off with Houston in a two game series before traveling to Waco, Texas for continuation of Big 12 play on Saturday, March 28 and Sunday, March 29, against Baylor.
Missouri enters the Lone Star state with a 26-4 record that includes 19 wins on the road. As a team, the Tigers continue to lead the Big 12 Conference with their .345 average and 1.27 ERA. Missouri's players have notched milestones throughout the course of the year with several moving up in the Tiger record book. Senior Lindsey Ubrun, who hit two home runs in last week's games, now stands tied for eighth in the Missouri home run record book, while senior Micaela Minner now sits with 37 yard balls, seven shy of overtaking the No. 2 spot. This season alone, the Tiger power hitter, Minner, has crushed five homers and leads the team with her .667 slugging percentage and 31 RBI.
Sophomore Rhea Taylor, who is averaging .452 on the year, is tied for seventh with her 72 career stolen bases and stands at 15-of-16 on the season. Teammate Shana White of Columbia, Mo., leads the team with 23 stolen bags, nearly two times the mark she set last season as a freshman.
In the circle, Missouri's four person pitching crew has held its opponents to a .193 average, striking out 180 batters in 198.2 innings of work. Kristin Nottelmann, a freshman right handed pitcher, leads her teammates at 6-0 on the season with a 0.82 ERA. Nottelmann entered Missouri's second game against Texas in relief and helped the Tigers to an 11-6 win over the Longhorns. Fellow freshman Chelsea Thomas continues to dominate in the circle, striking out 72 batters in 84 innings, while allowing only 12 earned runs. Her 1.00 ERA and 10-2 record make her a likely candidate to start in Missouri's games this week in Texas.
The two game series against Houston, which will begin at 5 p.m. (CT) Tuesday, March 24, with game two slated to begin at 3 p.m. (CT) on Wednesday, March 25, marks just the third and fourth meeting all time between the two teams. The two squads last battled it out in 2003, with Missouri winning both games, (3-2 and 5-1).
Houston owns a 6-7 record at home this season and will look to move above the .500 mark (13-14) with wins over Missouri. The Cougars held off their instate opponent, Baylor, Feb. 18 with back-to-back wins, 2-1 and 9-4. Missouri is Houston's fifth Big 12 opponent of the season.
Elaina Nordstrom leads her teammates with a .386 average through 25 of Houston's 27 games this season. The senior catcher owns a .600 slugging percentage due in part to her three doubles and four home runs. Tied for the most RBI of her squad, 23, Nordstrom has scored 14 runs for the Cougars.
Baillie Lott and Amanda Crabtree have split time in the circle for Houston. Lott, 6-5 on the year, owns a 2.96 ERA and has recorded two solo shutouts. Crabtree is 7-9 on the year and has thrown 101.2 innings, striking out 102 batters.