Feb. 10, 2011

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The No. 7 Missouri softball team will host their annual Black and Gold exhibition game this Saturday, Feb. 12, at 3 p.m. CT.  The nine inning intersquad game will be held in the Devine Pavilion.

Coming off their second straight Women's College World Series berth, and record setting 51-win season, the Tigers enter the season with a No. 7 ranking in the USA Today/NFCA poll and sit at No. 9 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball rankings.  Missouri was picked to finish second in the Big 12 for the second consecutive season.

Saturday's game is the team's final preseason tune up before they head out to San Diego, Calif., for the San Diego Classic, where they'll face No. 10/11 Washington, No. 12 California, Fresno State, San Diego State and Sacramento State.  They head to Tampa, Fla., the following week for the USF Tournament, where they'll take on No. 6/3 Alabama, Temple, South Florida, Illinois State and Western Michigan.

The Tigers return 17 of their 22 players from last season, which includes two-time All-American Rhea Taylor, pitchers Chelsea Thomas and Kristin Nottelmann, 2009 All-American Marla Schweisberger and 2010 All-Big 12 selections Jenna Marston, Ashley Fleming, Nicole Hudson and Catherine Lee.

Missouri's first home game of the season is Wednesday, March 2, when the Tigers will host a doubleheader against Drake at 3 p.m. CT.  Stay tuned to mutigers.com for more information.