March 8, 2011
Complete Game Notes 
LEADING OFF
-No. 18/T14 Missouri begins an 11-game home stand with a game against Arkansas on Wednesday, March 9 at 3 p.m. CT at University Field.
-After starting the year 1-2, Mizzou has won eight straight and 12 of their last 3 to improve to 11-3 on the year. Missouri swept a midweek doubleheader against Drake last Wednesday, winning 5-0 and 8-1 over the Bulldogs in Missouri's home opener. They followed that up by going 4-0 at the Missouri Breast Cancer Awareness Tournament, outscoring their foes by a 31-0 margin.
-Redshirt sophomore Chelsea Thomas tossed the first seven inning perfect game in 20 years for the Tigers in game one with Drake, as she picked up her first win of the year. Thomas set down all 21 batters she faced, striking out 11, on just 77 pitches. It was the fifth no-hitter of Thomas' career. Ingrid Werner tossed a perfect game against Rhode Island on Feb. 17, 2002 in five innings. The last seven inning perfect game was from Karen Snelgrove on April 26, 1991 against UMKC in a 5-0 victory.
-Thomas made history again on Sunday, throwing a six inning perfect game against Missouri State in which the Tigers won 11-0. Thomas struck out 15 of the 18 batters she faced, marking a new seven inning school record for the righty.
-Not to be outdone, junior Kristin Nottelmann threw her second career no hitter on Saturday against Saint Louis in Missouri's 12-0 win in five innings. The lone baserunner allowed reached on an error to start the game. Nottelmann struck out six. She won her start against UMKC on Sunday, improving to 6-0 on the year.
-Thomas and Nottelmann have been absolutely lights out this year. After starting 0-2, Thomas is now 3-2 with a 0.60 ERA. She has 57 strikeouts and just five walks with a .103 opponent batting average. Nottelmann is 6-0 with a save and a 0.85 ERA. She has 31 strikeouts to only five walks while limiting opponents to a .150 batting average.
-Marla Schweisberger had a breakout weekend, as she went 7-for-10 with eight RBI in the four games. Schweisberger drove in six of those runs against Missouri State, as she went 4-for-4 with a walkoff grand slam in the bottom of the sixth. She's now tied with Nicole Hudson for the team lead with 12 RBI.
-Ashley Fleming hit .545 on the weekend with a home run, five RBI, six runs, three walks and two stolen bases. She also pitched two scoreless innings against UMKC to pick up her first career save.
-Maddison Ruggeberg continued her strong start to her freshman campaign, as she hit .400 on the weekend. In the fourth inning against SLU, Ruggeberg hit her first career grand slam and second home run of the year. She is slugging .773 this season with nine RBI.
SCOUTING ARKANSAS
Arkansas comes into this contest with a 9-11 record, having won four of their last 10 games. Last weekend they went 2-3 at the USF Under Armour Invitational, picking up a 4-2 win over East Tennessee State and beating Loyola Marymount by a 5-2 final. The Razorbacks fell to Ball State, South Florida and Michigan. Two weeks ago, Arkansas toppled then-No. 1 UCLA by a 4-3 final. They are 1-3 against ranked opponents this season.
The Razorbacks are hitting .297 as a team, led by Tori Mort and Courtney Breault. Mort leads all regulars with a .388 average. She's hit one home run and has driven in 10. Breault is batting .380 with two long balls, five doubles and 11 RBI. Becca Carden leads all Razorbacks with three home runs and 15 RBI. Arkansas has struggled in the circle, posting a team ERA of .394. Opponents are hitting .291 off them, and they've given up 157 hits in 131.1 innings pitched. Kim Jones (2-3), Layne McGuirt (2-4) and Hope McLemore (4-4) have all split time on the rubber.
Missouri is 4-2 all-time against Arkansas. They last met in 2009, with Mizzou winning 8-0 in five innings.
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?
Missouri hosts their first of two straight tournaments, the DeMarini Invitational, this Saturday and Sunday. The Tigers will play four total games against Illinois State and Illinois, beginning at Noon CT on Saturday.
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.
THOMAS SWEEPS NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK AWARDS
Redshirt sophomore Chelsea Thomas has been named the Division I National Player of the Week by both the National Fastpitch Coaches Association and USA Softball, as announced Tuesday. Thomas was also tabbed as the Big 12's Pitcher of the Week, announced by the league office.
Thomas had a phenomenal week for the Tigers in the circle, winning all three of her starts to improve her record to 3-2 on the season. On Wednesday, she threw the first perfect game for Missouri since 2002 and the first seven inning perfect game since 1991, as she set down 21 straight Drake batters, setting down 11 via strikeout, in Mizzou's 5-0 win. On Friday, Thomas threw a three hit, complete game shutout against SEMO as she walked only one batter and struck out 10 in the victory. She took a no hitter into the sixth inning before giving up a leadoff single.
She threw her second perfect game of the week on Sunday against Missouri State, tossing all six innings in Missouri's 11-0 run-rule victory over the Bears. She set a new seven inning school record with 15 strikeouts. Over the course of the week, Thomas struck out 36 batters and walked only one while opponents hit just .048 against her.
She now has six no hitters in her career (four no hitters, two perfect games), the most by any lone Tiger player in school history. On the season, Thomas has a miniscule earned run average of 0.60, as she's tossed three complete game shutouts this year. In 35.0 innings pitched she's allowed just 12 hits, three earned runs, and has limited opposing hitters to a .103 batting average. She has 57 strikeouts to just five walks and is averaging 11.40 strikeouts per seven innings.
Thomas is the second Missouri Tiger to be named NFCA National Player of the Week. Mary Babb won the award on May 4, 1997. She is the third USA Softball Player of the Week from Mizzou, as Janessa Roening won it on May 3, 2005 while Ashley Fleming took home the honors last season. Her Big 12 honor is the third of her career, as she was named Pitcher of the Week in both 2009 and 2010.
TAYLOR BREAKS HITS RECORD, TIES BIG 12 STOLEN BASE RECORD
Senior Rhea Taylor rewrote the record books last week, as she set a new school record for hits in a career and tied the Big 12's career stolen base mark. Taylor picked up three hits in a doubleheader against Drake, moving her within two of tying Mary Babb's 14 year old record of 262. Over the weekend, Taylor moved ahead of Babb with six hits in four games. The record-breaking hit came in her final at-bat against SLU, as she roped a triple to right-center field to put herself on top of the record book once again.
She also went 5-for-5 in stolen bases at the tournament this weekend, tying her for the most stolen bases in Big 12 history. With 153 stolen bases, she's now tied with Texas A&M's Sharonda McDonald, who set the mark in 2007.
Here's a look at what records she's tracking down this season:
-Batting Average: Already the all-time leader at Mizzou with a .422 career batting average, a record that is theoretically impossible for give relinquish before the end of the season (Jenna Marston is second all-time at .360, two others are tied for third all-time at .352), Taylor should also graduate as the Big 12 Conference's record holder as well. She currently holds that mark, ahead of former Husker Ali Viola, who hit .409 from 1996-98.
-Hits: Taylor is now tied for sixth all-time amongst Big 12 hitters with 266 hits. If she matches her three season average of 82 hits a year, she would find herself tied with Norrelle Dickson of Oklahoma, the conference's all-time hits leader at 328.
-Runs: Entering the season as Missouri all-time runs leader and eighth in the conference, Taylor is expected to flirt with the Big 12's all-time record as well. Dickson, who played for OU from 2004-07 and also holds the league's hits record, is the current record holder at 234. Scoring three runs in the doubleheader against Drake, Taylor has scored 15 times this year, giving her 197 for her career and bumping her up to fifth all-time in the Big 12. If she matches her yearly average of 61 runs, she'll find herself ahead of Dickson with 244 career runs scored.
THOMAS' PERFECTION PUTS HER ON TOP
After not having a perfect game since 2002 or a seven inning perfect game since 1991, Chelsea Thomas threw two this past week, as she set Drake down in order on Wednesday's 5-0 win, before another game of perfection against Missouri State on Sunday, striking out 15 of the 18 batters she faced in the six inning affair. With that, Thomas now has more no hitters than anyone in program history with six (four no hitters, two perfect games). Karen Snelgrove, a former Olympian for Canada, had five no hitters in her career, four of those being perfect games which is tops in school history.
GRAND WEEK FOR THE TIGERS
Three Missouri hitters blasted grand slams last week for the Tigers. Rhea Taylor hit one in game one against Drake on Wednesday, while freshman Maddison Ruggeberg hit her first career grand slam in the fourth inning of Mizzou's big 12-0 win over SLU. On Sunday, Marla Schweisberger hit a walk off grand slam against Missouri State, as the Tigers run-ruled the Bears 11-0 in six innings.
THOMAS PERFECT AGAIN, NOTTELMANN WITH NO-NO AT BREAST CANCER AWARENESS TOURNAMENT
The Missouri Tigers went 4-0 at the Missouri Breast Cancer Awareness Tournament, outscoring their opponents by a 31-0 margin in the four games. The Tigers opened with a 5-0 win over SEMO on Friday before Kristin Nottelmann no-hit Saint Louis in Saturday's 12-0 win. Chelsea Thomas threw her second perfect game of the week as the Tigers run-ruled Missouri State 11-0 in six innings, and closed out the tournament with a 3-0 win over UMKC. Nottelmann improved to 6-0 while Thomas won her third straight as she's now 3-2 on the year.
Offensively, Marla Schweisberger hit .700 with one home run and eight RBI. Ashley Fleming hit .545 with a home run and a triple, while Rhea Taylor, Jenna Marston and Maddison Ruggeberg each hit over .400. Marston and Ruggeberg also blasted their second home runs of the season.
HOME COOKIN'
Playing at University Field has been a major advantage for the Tigers since head coach Ehren Earleywine took over in 2007. In 106 games played at home under Earleywine, the Tigers have won 89 of them for an .840 winning percentage on their home field. Of their 17 losses, 13 of them came in two combined seasons. In Earleywine's first year the Tigers went 17-7 at home, and in 2009 they went 17-6. In 2008, Mizzou finished 22-1 at home while last year they went 31-3. So far this year the Tigers are 2-0.
EARLEYWINE CLOSING IN ON WINS MARK
With Missouri's eight straight wins, head coach Ehren Earleywine is just 2 wins away from his 200th win as Tiger head coach. Already the second winningest coach in Tiger history behind Jay Miller (556-309 in 15 seasons), Earleywine has the second highest winning percentage for a Missouri head coach at .747, just ahead of Barb Wright, who went 91-32 (.740) in two seasons for the Tigers. Entering the season with a career winning percentage of .734, Earleywine is the 14th winningest active coach in NCAA Division I softball.