Feb. 23, 2011

Complete Tournament Notes

The No. 16/15 Missouri Tigers (1-2) look to get back on the winning side of things this weekend, as they head to Tampa, Fla., for the USF Fairfield Inn and Suites Tampa North Tournament. Mizzou will take on five teams beginning on Friday, Feb. 25, when they play Temple at 9:30 a.m. CT and Illinois State at 1:30 p.m. CT. On Saturday, the Tigers battle against No. 5/2 Alabama at 11:30 a.m. CT and South Florida at 3:30 p.m. CT before finishing things off on Sunday with Western Michigan, starting at 7:30 a.m. CT.

SCOUTING TEMPLE
The USF Fairfield Inn and Suites North Tampa Tournament will mark the first weekend of action for the Temple Owls this season. Last season they went 19-30 and finished in a tie for sixth place in the Atlantic 10 Conference. They return 10 letterwinners from last year's team, including seven of their 10 starters in the lineup and two of their three starting pitchers.

The Owls are led by head coach Joe DiPietro, who is now in his third season at Temple. Missouri is 2-1 all-time against the Owls. The teams first met in 1989, with Temple taking a 3-2 win, but the Tigers won the last two meetings, both in 2001, by scores of 3-2 and 9-2.

SCOUTING ILLINOIS STATE
The Illinois State Redbirds are currently 7-2 on the season and are receiving votes in the USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll. The Redbirds opened the year by going 4-1 at the Red and Black Showcase in Athens, Ga., with their only loss coming to No. 1 Georgia by a 2-1 final. Last weekend, Illinois State went 3-1 at the Littlewood Classic in Tempe, Ariz., beating Idaho State twice and Seattle, with all three wins coming via run rule. Their only loss was by a 13-4 score in five innings to No. 12 Arizona State.

Illinois State is hitting .345 as a team and has a 2.07 earned run average. Offensivelly, Kara Nelson and Abby Olson have led the way thusfar. Nelson has posted a batting average/on base percentage/slugging percentage line of .567/.629/.767 with four doubles, a triple and eight RBI. Olson has a line of .500/.548/1.071 to go along with five doubles, a triple, three home runs and 14 RBI. In the circle, Taylor Baxter, Megan Warner, Chrissy Burton and Jordan Birch have all gotten two or more appearances. Baxter has two complete game shutouts in two outings, while Warner is 3-1 on the year with a pair of complete game shutouts herself.

Melinda Fischer, one of just 16 NCAA coaches with 800 or more wins in their career, enters her 26th season as head coach of the Redbirds. Mizzou is 13-7 all-time against Illinois State, with their most recent win coming by a 3-1 score last season at University Field. Illinois State and Missouri will meet up twice later this season at the DeMarini Invitational in Columbia, Mo.    

SCOUTING ALABAMA
The Alabama Crimson Tide enter the weekend ranked No. 5/2 in the two polls after posting a perfect record of 11-0 in the first two weeks of play. This will mark their first weekend outside the state of Alabama, as they opened the year with a tournament in Vestavia Hills, Ala., before hosting a tournament last weekend in Tuscaloosa. On Tuesday, the Crimson Tide traveled to Birmingham, where they toppled UAB by a 3-0 score.

Alabama has scored 111 runs in 11 games and has four regulars with a batting average of over .500. They are led at the plate by Jackie Traina, who is hitting .538 with four home runs and 15 RBI. Her on base percentage stands at .636 while she's slugging 1.000. In the circle, Kelsi Dunne is the team's top pitcher with a 6-0 record and a 0.42 ERA. She has 58 strikes and just six walks and has only allowed two earned runs and nine hits. She has five complete games and three shutouts in seven appearances.

In his 13th season, Patrick Murphy leads the Crimson Tide as their head coach. Missouri and Alabama have battled to a 4-4 record all-time against each other. Last year, the Tigers took two out of the three games they played to open the season, winning 2-1 and 9-0 in five innings.

SCOUTING SOUTH FLORIDA
South Florida currently has a record of 5-5 on the year. After going 4-1 at the USF - Wilson DeMarini Touranment to start the year, the Bulls went 1-4 last weekend at the USF Tournament. In their opening weekend, USF defeated Marshall, Long Island, Florida Gulf Coast and North Carolina State before losing to No. 4 Florida. Last weekend, South Florida defeated Ole Miss, but fell to Fordham, UAB, Indiana and DePaul.

USF's achilles heel so far this season has been their offense, as they've managed a team batting average of .244 and have scored just 40 runs in 10 games. They've been strong on the basepaths, stealing 14 bases in 16 attempts. Leading the way at the plate is Kourtney Salvarola, who is hitting .344 with a .447 on base percentage and a .625 slugging percentage. She has five extra base hits - two doubles, two triples and one home run - and has driven in 12.

In the circle, the Bulls have posted a team ERA of 2.37, though opponents are hitting .287 off them. South Florida's top pitcher, Sara Nevins, has a 2-1 record on the season in eight appearances and has thrown one complete game shutout while posting an ERA of 0.98. She's also collected three saves in relief and has struck out 34 batters while walking just two in 28.2 innings pitched.

South Florida's head coach, Ken Eriksen, is in his 14th year as head coach of the Bulls. Missouri is 2-1 all-time against USF, winning their first two meetings in 1995 by scores of 9-2 and 3-1. The last time they met, in 2004, the Bulls won by a 3-0 final.

SCOUTING WESTERN MICHIGAN
Western Michigan struggled out of the gate last weekend, going 0-6 in their first action of 2011 two weeks ago. The Broncos fell to Arizona State, Utah, Oregon State, Cal State-Northridge, Northwestern and Oklahoma.

Head Coach Kathy Leitke is in her 10th year as the Broncos' head coach. The team has struggled in both aspects of the game so far this year, as they hit just .143 in their first six games while slugging only .179 and getting on base at a .226 clip. In the circle, teams are hitting .327 against them and they've accumulated an ERA of 6.87. They struck out 36 and have walked the same amount while giving up 52 hits in 35.2 innings pitched.

Missouri is 7-0 all-time against Western Michigan. The two teams last faced in 2000, when the Tigers won by scores of 6-0 and 4-1.

FOLLOW LIVE
Each game will have live stats and play-by-play through GameTracker. Links to each game's GameTracker can be found at mutigers.com.

WHAT'S NEXT?
Following the tournament at the University of South Florida, the Tigers start a stretch of 17 straight games within the state of Missouri, starting with their 2011 home opener on Wednesday, March 2 against Drake. The doubleheader will begin at 3 p.m. CT at University Field.

FOLLOW MIZZOU SOFTBALL ON TWITTER AND FACEBOOK
Tiger softball fans can follow along with the season through many of the program's social media options. On Twitter, Mizzou fans can follow the entire athletic department at twitter.com/mutigersdotcom. Assistant Coach Pete D'Amour is also on Twitter at twitter.com/MizzouSBcoach. On Facebook, fans can search “University of Missouri Softball Team” to track down the team's official page.

TIGERS ON TV
The Tigers will have three of their games televised this season - all of which are home games at University Field. On Saturday, April 16, Missouri and Oklahoma's series-opener will be aired live on Fox Sports Net, beginning at 3:30 p.m. CT. The second game against the Sooners, on Sunday, April 17, at 3 p.m. CT, is set to air live on ESPN. The Tigers will face off against Texas on Sunday, May 8 at Noon, also on ESPN. Missouri was televised six times last season - twice during the regular season and four times in the postseason - and went 2-4 in those games. Both wins came against Oregon at University Field in the NCAA Super Regionals.

TIGERS GO 1-2 AT RAIN-SOAKED SAN DIEGO CLASSIC I
The No. 8/10 Missouri softball team stumbled out of the gate to start their 2011 season, as they went 1-2 at the San Diego Classic I from Feb. 17-20. Originally scheduled to play five games, Mizzou only got three of their games in.

Missouri opened up against San Diego State on a last-second addition to the schedule on Thursday evening, just hours after they got off the plane. Despite the strange travel schedule, the Tigers came out swinging as they won 9-1 over No. 22 San Diego State, run-ruling the Aztecs in five innings in their season opener. Junior Kristin Nottelmann got the win, throwing all five innings while allowing just one run on four hits. Offensively, the Tigers got home runs from junior Ashley Fleming and sophomores Nicole Hudson and Jenna Marston. Marston finished 2-for-3 with a double and three RBI, while Fleming went 2-for-3 with two runs and two batted in.

The Tigers got things going on Friday against Fresno State, and it looked like it was going to be a repeat performance for the Missouri offense as they picked up three straight extra base hits to start the game, taking the early 2-0 lead. However, Fresno State blasted three home runs and the Tiger offense never got back on track, as they fell 6-3.

Missouri took on No. 15 Cal right after that, with redshirt sophomore Chelsea Thomas making her first start since late March last season. A huge storm rolled in to the area, and the game was postponed in the top of the sixth inning with Cal up to bat with a runner on second and no one out. The game wouldn't be resumed until Sunday morning. Upon continuation, Thomas started with a 1-2 count on the Cal batter.who ended up reaching on a dropped third strike, giving Cal runners on first and third with no one out. After a stolen base, a ground out to second put the first run on the board with the Bears taking a 1-0 lead. Thomas struck out the next two batters to strand the runner at third. Mizzou had a chance to even things up in the bottom half but stranded runners on the corners. Abby Vock led off the frame with a single up the middle and advanced to second on a sac bunt by Rhea Taylor. Vock moved to third after a ground out, with Ashley Fleming following with a walk. Sophomore Nicole Hudson lifted one deep to left field, but the ball was caught at the track for the final out of the inning. Thomas went all seven innings in the loss, allowing the one unearned run while striking out 11 and giving up only three hits.