May 13, 2011

Complete Notes | Fan Fest Info | NCAA Selection Show Info | NCAA Regional Ticket Info

LEADING OFF
-The No. 6 Missouri softball team hosts Iowa State in the final weekend of regular season action for 2011.  Game one will begin at 2 p.m. CT on Saturday, with the finale on Sunday beginning at Noon.

-Mizzou will honor the nine seniors on their roster following the conclusion of Sunday's game.  Missouri will recognize the careers of Alaina Burkhart, Megan Christopher, Catherine Lee, Kathryn Poet, Marla Schweisberger, Lisa Simmons, Rhea Taylor, Shana White and Abby Vock.

-If the Tigers sweep Iowa State, they guarantee themselves at least a split of the 2011 Big 12 Championship.  If Missouri sweeps and Texas loses on Sunday to Baylor, the Tigers will be outright champions.  If the Tigers drop a game and Texas wins, the Horns will be champions and Mizzou will finish in second place.

-If Mizzou and Texas tie, MU gets the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship by virtue of run differential in their two games against each other.  Texas won the first game 2-0, but Missouri won the finale 6-3, giving them a +1 advantage in run differential.

-In the rankings this week, Missouri jumped from eighth to sixth in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll, the highest they've been this season and highest overall since week seven of last year when they were fourth. Mizzou stayed put at No. 9 in the USA Today/NFCA rankings this week Missouri still sits in fifth in the latest RPI poll, released last Wednesday. The Tigers are 18-6 this year against team's in the top-50 in RPI.

-Missouri took care of No. 20 Oklahoma State on Thursday in a makeup game of the rainout on May 1st, winning 5-1.  After giving up an unearned run in the top of the first, Chelsea Thomas settled in with eight strikeouts while scattering two walks and four hits in her 26th win of the year.  Thomas allowed just one base runner over the final four innings.  Lisa Simmons hit a two-run homer in the top of the second - her second of the year - and the Tigers never relinquished the lead.  Nicole Hudson went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI.

-Nicole Hudson is currently riding a six-game hitting streak, and she has at least two hits in each game of that streak. On March 30, Hudson was hitting .250 overall. Since then, in 20 games, she's hitting .441 with seven doubles, six home runs and 23 runs batted in to raise her season average to .347.  During her six-game hitting streak Hudson is batting .619 with four doubles, a home run and seven RBI while scoring six times.

-Rhea Taylor led off Thursday's game against Oklahoma State by legging out a bunt single back to the circle.  With the hit, Taylor became just the second player in Big 12 history to reach 300 hits in a career.  Taylor has also moved into the top-10 for most stolen bases in a season, marking the fourth time in her career that she's done that.

-Last Saturday's loss snapped Mizzou's 35-game home winning streak, which was the longest active streak in all of D-I softball.

-2,404 fans were in attendance for Saturday's contest, breaking the previous University Field record of 1,712, set last year during the Super Regionals against Oregon.

-With her fourth strikeout of game two last Wednesday, Chelsea Thomas set a new single-season record for most strikeouts with 287. She finished the game with eight, giving her 291 on the year. She broke Erin Kalka's record of 286, set in 2004. Thomas now has 53 wins in her career, eighth-most all-time. She also now has the ninth-most complete games in a career with 47. Her 545 career strikeouts are fifth-most ever at Mizzou. She's now tied for sixth with two others for most wins in a single season (25), and is seventh all-time with 24 career shutouts.

-With a career high 49 RBI, Ashley Fleming is 10th for most runs batted in in a single season. Last year she drove home 44, and now has the 10th-most all-time at Missouri with 109 in her career. She's also tied for the Big 12 lead with 15 doubles, tied for fourth-most in a single season at Missouri and five shy of setting the record.

-Jenna Marston has drawn 33 walks this season, tying her for fourth-most in a season. Marston is just three walks away from moving into second place. Missouri has had eight players in program history draw 30 or more walks in a single season, and three have come in the past two years. Jen Bruck's total of 43 walks in 2008 is the current record.

-Entering the season with just two career home runs and a .208 batting average, Abby Vock is hitting an astounding .311 this year with four home runs and 12 RBI. Her on base percentage is more than .100 points higher than her best season at .446, and her slugging percentage is almost .150 points higher than her best year ever at .489. After having just eight hits last season and 20 the year before, Vock has matched that total this year alone with 28.

-The Tigers have 18 shutouts on the year, 12 of which came in the month of March. They are walking just 1.57 batters per seven innings, the best in the conference. The staff's .168 opponent batting average is best amongst Big 12 teams. The team is second in the league in strikeouts per seven innings, as they average 9.29, and is tops in the conference and second in the NCAA with a 1.30 earned run average. The team's 1.23 ERA during conference play is the best in the league.

SCOUTING IOWA STATE
Iowa State comes into the last weekend of the regular season with a 21-26 overall record and are 3-13 in conference play.  They're currently riding a five game skid, all Big 12 games, with their last win coming in a 6-4 victory on April 30 against Baylor.  Their other two Big 12 victories came against Kansas and Oklahoma State.

The Cyclones hit .275 as a team and currently have four regulars hitting over .300.  Tori Torrescano and Erica Miller lead the team with 11 home runs each, while Miller's 40 RBI are tops on the squad.  Torrescano is the top hitter, batting .338.  She's also doubled 13 times and driven in 33, while posting a .642 slugging percentage.

In the circle, Rachel Zabriskie is the main starter as she's appeared in 36 of the team's 47 games.  She has a 14-17 record and an ERA of 4.16.  In 183.1 innings pitched, Zabriskie has 191 strikeouts to 68 walks and has allowed 201 hits for an opponent batting average of .272.  As a staff, Iowa State has a 4.77 ERA and are allowing opponents to hit .310 off them.
 
FOLLOW LIVE
Live stats and play-by-play will be available via GameTracker, found on the Softball schedule page at mutigers.com. Fans can also follow @MIZLive on Twitter to get updates.

WHAT'S NEXT?
Missouri will wait and see where they end up for the NCAA Regional round of the 2011 NCAA Championships.  The NCAA Selection Show is Sunday, May 15 at 9 p.m. CT on ESPNU.

DIAMOND SPORTS HOST FAN FEST
The Mizzou Athletic Department will host the first ever 2011 Spring Fan Fest prior to Mizzou's baseball and softball games this Saturday (May 14) beginning at 11:30 a.m. The event will be held inside the Audrey J. Walton Track and Field Stadium and fans can enter for free from the southeast corner of the track near the baseball ticket office. The event will give families a chance to have some extra fun before heading into the baseball and softball games on Saturday, both of which begin at 2 p.m. The ticket office for both games will open at 11:30 a.m.

The 2011 Spring Fan Fest will begin at 11:30 on the south end of Audrey J. Walton Stadium. There will be a variety of activities for the whole family including inflatables, balloon artists, face painters, and plenty of fun and games to keep the whole family entertained. Food and beverage will also be available for purchase. Local radio personalities from KTGR ESPN Radio will be on hand with a live remote inside the southeast gate as well, providing music and entertainment. All entertainment is, of course, if weather permits.

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.

MISSOURI ONE OF BEST WHEN HOLDING OPPONENTS TO TWO RUNS OR LESS
When Mizzou holds their opponents to two runs or less, the Tigers have one of the best winning percentages in NCAA Division I softball. 

        Team                   Record    PCT
1.    Louisiana-Lafayette    39-1    .975
2.    Baylor                       34-1    .971
3.    Missouri                            37-2    .949
4.    Texas A&M                34-2    .944
5.    Long Beach State       28-2    .933
6.    Indiana                    28-5    .848

NO. 6 TIGERS TAKE CARE OF COWGIRLS, 5-1
The No. 6 Missouri softball team improved to 44-6 overall and 13-3 in conference play with their 5-1 victory over No. 20 Oklahoma State on Thursday.

Oklahoma State jumped ahead in the bottom of the first on an unearned run, taking advantage of a throwing error by Nicole Hudson. Mariah Gearhart led off the inning with an infield single, hitting a chopper into the hole between third and shortstop. Ari Morrison then dropped down a sacrifice bunt to move Gearhart up, but on the play Hudson double-clutched and overthrew Ashley Fleming at first base, allowing Gearhart to advance to third. Alysia Hamilton then hit into a fielder's choice, scoring Gearhart and putting the Cowgirls up 1-0.

Missouri answered back in the top of the second with a two out rally, capped by Lisa Simmons' second home run of the season. Mizzou tacked on two more in the top of the third to cushion their lead to 4-1. Abby Vock drew a leadoff walk and Taylor reached on an error by the second baseman, putting the first two batters on. A fielder's choice wiped out Vock but kept runners at first and second with one out. Hudson hit a high pop fly into shallow right that dropped in for a double, scoring Taylor on the play. Ashley Fleming then followed with a sacrifice fly to the warning track in center field, allowing Jenna Marston to score the second run of the inning.

A pinch-hit sacrifice fly by Kathryn Poet in the top of the fourth put Missouri up 5-1, as she scored Simmons, who led off the inning with a bunt single and moved to second on an overthrow on the play. From there on out, Thomas settled in and finished things off for the Tigers, allowing just one baserunner - a walk - over her last four innings. She went the distance, throwing all seven frames with eight strikeouts, two walks, one unearned run allowed and four hits.

THOMAS ONE OF 10 PLAYER OF THE YEAR FINALISTS
Redshirt sophomore Chelsea Thomas has been named as one of the 10 finalists for USA Softball's Collegiate Player of the Year award, announced Wednesday afternoon by the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of America.  The award, which is considered the most prestigious honor in Division I women's collegiate softball, is designed to recognize outstanding athletic achievement by female collegiate softball players across the country.

The Missouri ace is currently 25-5 on the season with an ERA of 0.83, the second best in all of Division I softball.  She has struck out 306 batters, 10th most in the country, and walked just 37 in 195.0 innings pitched.  Thomas ranks in the top-25 of several NCAA categories, including hits allowed per seven innings (sixth, 3.41), shutouts (tied for ninth, 11), strikeouts per seven innings (seventh, 11.0) and wins (tied for 14th, 25), amongst others.  She is Missouri's first player to ever be amongst the top-10 finalists for the award.

The three finalists will be announced May 25. The winner of the 2011 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award will be announced on May 31 at the athlete banquet of the 2011 Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City.

MIZZOU LEADS CONFERENCE WITH 10 ACADEMIC HONOREES
Sixty-one student-athletes have been named to the 2011 Academic All-Big 12 squad, with Missouri leading all conference teams with 10 selections.  The 10 Tiger student-athletes named to this year's team are the second most in school history.

Sophomore Jenna Marston was one of five student-athletes who were nominated with a 4.0 grade point average.  Overall, Missouri put seven on the first team and three on the second team.

Seniors Abby Vock and Marla Schweisberger, juniors Kristin Nottelmann and Ashley Fleming and sophomores Chelsea Thomas and Nicole Hudson join Marston on the first team.  Schweisberger and Vock earned Academic All-Big 12 recognition for the third time in their careers, while Nottelmann, Fleming and Thomas were honored for the second time. On the second team, Missouri seniors Megan Christopher, Catherine Lee and Kathryn Poet were each honored - Christopher for the second time in her career, while Lee and Poet were recognized for the first time.

NCAA REGIONAL TICKET INFORMATION
There is a possibility that the University of Missouri might be selected to host a 2011 NCAA Softball Championship Regional May 20-22.  In order to accommodate fans, pre-orders for tickets are now being accepted by Mizzou Athletics.   Orders will be taken by credit card only.  To pre-order your tickets, you may submit a completed form at the Mizzou vs. Iowa State softball games this Saturday, May 14th at 2 p.m. CT or Sunday, May 15th at Noon.  You can also stop by the main ticket office located inside Mizzou Arena or call 1-800-CAT-PAWS or 573-884-PAWS (M-F 8 a.m.-5 p.m.)

All tickets will be held at Will Call and will be available to be picked up starting on May 19th at 8 a.m., or at the West Side ticket booth at University Field 2 hours prior to Friday's contest.

Host sites will be announced on Sunday, May 15 at 9 p.m. CT during the NCAA Division I Softball Championship Selection Show live on ESPNU. For complete details and updates, check mutigers.com following the selection show.

SOFTBALL TO HOST SELECTION WATCH PARTY
The No. 6 Missouri softball team will be hosting an NCAA Selection Show watch party this Sunday, May 15, in the Clinton Club of Mizzou Arena.  The show begins at 9 p.m. CT and airs live on ESPNU.  Media is welcome to attend the event, as head coach Ehren Earleywine and members of the Tiger softball team will be available for comment and reactions after the show concludes at 9:30.

HUDSON DUBBED BIG 12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Missouri sophomore third baseman Nicole Hudson has been named the Big 12 Player of the Week for the second time this season, as announced Tuesday by the Big 12 Conference. This is the second award of Hudson's career, both coming this season, as she was named Player of the Week on April 19.

Hudson hit .692 on the week, going 9-for 13 at the plate in four games. The Webb City, Mo., native hit safely in every game, picking up at least two hits in each contest. She went 4-for-6 in a doubleheader against Western Illinois, scoring three runs, hitting a double, walking once, driving home a run and picking up a stolen base.

Against No. 3 Texas, Hudson picked up the only two hits off Blaire Luna in Saturday's contest, as she singled and doubled. On Sunday, Hudson powered the offense to a 6-3 win against Luna by going 3-for-4 at the plate with a home run, a double and matching her career-best with four runs batted in. She posted a .733 on-base percentage and a 1.154 slugging percentage on the week. On March 30, Hudson was hitting .250 for the season. Since then, she's hitting .438 with six doubles, six home runs and 22 runs batted in to raise her season average to .343.