Sept. 24, 2010

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Missouri softball team, fresh off their second consecutive Women's College World Series appearance, open their fall schedule this Saturday with a doubleheader against Maple Woods Community College and North Central Missouri College.

The Tigers will take on the Monarchs of Maple Woods at Noon CT, and will play the North Central Missouri Lady Pirates at approximately 2 p.m. CT.  The games are open to the public and admission is free.  Live stats will be available at mutigers.com.

Mizzou returns 17 players from last year's WCWS team.  Senior Rhea Taylor, who earned her second All-America honor last season, is one of eight starters returning to this year's squad.  The Tigers also bring back three of their four pitchers including Kristin Nottelmann, who posted a 24-8 record last season while going 5-2 with a 1.47 earned run average and 30 strikeouts in the postseason, and Chelsea Thomas, who has four career no-hitters and was awarded a medical redshirt last season after suffering a season-ending wrist injury at the end of March.