June 1, 2011

Complete Notes | WCWS Central

LEADING OFF
-For the third straight year and sixth time in school history, the No. 5 seed Missouri softball team is headed to the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City, Okla. The Tigers will open up play against the fourth seeded Florida Gators on Thursday, June 2, at 8:30 p.m. CT and the matchup will air live on ESPN2 HD and ESPN3.com. All WCWS games will air live on either ESPN HD or ESPN2 HD, along with being available online at ESPN3.com.

-The winner of the Missouri-Florida matchup will go on to face the winner of No. 1 Arizona State-No. 9 Oklahoma at 8:30 p.m. CT on Friday, June 3. The loser of the Mizzou-Florida and Sun Devils-Sooners matchups wlil play in an elimination game at 1:30 p.m. CT on Saturday, June 4.

-The Tigers swept the No. 12 seed Washington Huskies in two games over the weekend, taking game one by a 4-0 final before winning 6-3 on Sunday. Chelsea Thomas was nearly unhittable in game one, as she struck out 13 batters while giving up just two hits and two walks in her 13th shutout of the season. Missouri scored a run in the first on a ground out by Ashley Fleming, set up by Nicole Hudson's one out double to send Jenna Marston to third. In the third inning, Hudson put the Tigers up 2-0 with her 13th home run of the season, blasting one off the scoreboard in dead center. The Tigers added two more after taking three straight walks to load the bases with one out. Rhea Taylor drove in a run on a groundout and then Marston scored on a wild pitch.

A five run first inning paced Mizzou's win in game two. The first three Tigers reached base safely to start the game, and Hudson drove in Taylor with a single into right field. A throwing error on the play also allowed Marston to score as well, making it 2-0. Hudson would later score from third on a fielder's choice, as she slid under the tag on a play at the plate. Later in the inning, Lisa Simmons blasted her third homer of the season, hitting a two run shot to right-center to give Missouri the 5-0 advantage. A two out error and a passed ball in the third allowed Missouri to score their sixth and final run of the game. Washington would chip away with three in the fifth, but that's all they'd get, as Thomas moved one win shy of tying the single season Mizzou record with her 31st victory. She allowed 10 hits and three runs, but just two were earned as she struck out nine.

-In the last top-25 polls of the regular season, Missouri jumped into the top-five for the first time since week seven of last year, moving from sixth to fourth in the ESPN.com/USA Softball top-25. Mizzou also moved up one spot from ninth to eighth in the USA Today/NFCA Division I Softball poll, the highest they've been in that poll since week two, when they were seventh. Missouri sits in fifth in the last RPI poll. The Tigers are 21-7 this year against teams in the top-50 in RPI.

-The Tigers bounced back with a doubleheader sweep over DePaul on two weekends ago to win the NCAA Columbia Regional, bouncing back from a 2-1 defeat in 11 innings to the Blue Demons on Saturday. Missouri took down Illinois State twice, winning 12-3 in five innings on Saturday afternoon, but were then knocked into the loser's bracket following the loss to DePaul. Mizzou toppled Illinois State by an 8-4 final to knock out the Redbirds and head into Sunday needing two wins to move on. After falling behind 1-0 in the first inning of game one, the Tiger offense woke up on their way to a 7-3 victory to force a decisive game seven. Missouri controlled that game from the start, scoring eight runs and riding a Chelsea Thomas no-hitter to an 8-0 victory in six innings.

-On May 14, Missouri won their first regular season Big 12 Championship since 1997 with a doubleheader sweep over Iowa State, coupled with a Baylor Bears 2-1 victory over the Texas Longhorns the following afternoon. The Tigers and Cyclones were scheduled to play one game Saturday and one game Sunday, but inclement weather on Sunday forced the series into a doubleheader on Saturday. Mizzou took game one by an 8-2 final before completing the sweep with an 8-1 win in game two to guarantee themselves at least a share of the conference crown. However, the Tigers got some help from Baylor, who scored two unearned runs in the fourth inning to knock off the Longhorns, giving Missouri the outright title. With the conference championship, the Tigers earned themselves the league's automatic qualifier spot in the NCAA Tournament.

WCWS APPEARANCE NOTES
-Missouri has made the Women's College World Series six times in program history and three times in the last three years. The Tigers have previously made the WCWS in 1983, 1991, 1994, 2009, 2010 and now 2011.

-With three appreances in the last three seasons, Missouri (2009-11) is tied with Texas (1998, 2005, `06) for second-most WCWS appearances amongst Big 12 schools since the conference was formed in 1996. Oklahoma (2000-05, `11) leads the way with six appearances since 1996, while Baylor (2007, `11), Texas A&M (2007-08), Nebraska (1998, 2002) and Oklahoma State (1998, 2011) each have two appearances in the last 15 years.

-Missouri also has the second longest active streak of consecutive WCWS appearances with three. Their first round opponent, the Florida Gators, hold the current longest streak with four straight appearances.

-Missouri is just 1-10 overall in their previous five World Series appearances. Their lone win came in a 2-0 victory over Utah in nine inning at the 1991 WCWS. Since then, the Tigers have dropped eight straight World Series games.

TEAM POSTSEASON NOTES

• Missouri has outscored opponents by a 32-3 margin in the first three innings of their seven postseason games (margin is in MU's favor, 14-12, from innings four and later)
• Tigers are hitting .371 as a team in the first team (13-of-35) with three homers and 14 runs scored
• Missouri is hitting .344 as a team in the second inning (11-of-32) with one home run and seven runs
• In the third inning, Mizzou is batting (.412) as a team with two home runs, three doubles and 11 runs scored
• Tiger batters have drawn 26 walks, compared to just 24 strikeouts
• Mizzou is a perfect 19-for-19 on stolen bases so far this postseason
• Top four in the batting order (Taylor, Marston, Hudson, Fleming) have combined for just five strikeouts in 89 postseason at-bats
• In the first inning, the top four (Taylor, Marston, Hudson, Fleming) are hitting a combined .478 (11-of-23) w/ 11 runs scored and seven RBI
• Hitting .688 as a team (11-of-16) w/a runner on third and less than two outs
• Hitting .329 as a team (23-of-70) w/RISP
• Fielding pct. through seven games is .986 - just three errors in 210 total chances

TEAM SUPER REGIONAL NOTES

• Missouri advances to its third consecutive Women's College World Series by virtue of its two-game sweep of Washington. Over the last three years Missouri is 6-1 in Super Regional play vs. the Pac-10 Conference, going 2-1 at UCLA in 2009, 2-0 vs. Oregon in 2010 and 2-0 vs. the Huskies in 2011.
• Mizzou has now won a school record 52 games this season, improving to 52-8 overall in 2011. Over the last three years the Tigers have won 153 games, 50 in 2009 and 51 in 2010.
• Missouri improved to 14-1 in postseason home contests since 2008. The Tigers finished 6-1 at home in postseason play in 2011.
• #5 Missouri will face #4 Florida in the opening round of play at the Women's College World Series. The Tigers fell to the Gators 5-0 in last year's World Series.
• Missouri improved to 23-7 vs. teams in the Top 50 of the RPI.
• Missouri is 15-2 over its last 17 games and 25-3 over its last 28.
• Missouri has hit nine home runs in postseason play and its 67 blasts for the year are second in school history.
• Missouri improved to 4-5 this season when being outhit by its opponent. Missouri also improved to 8-4 this year when mustering five or fewer hits in a game.
• Missouri managed just one hit over its final 6.0 innings, a seventh-inning infield single by Ashley Fleming. Missouri did score five first-inning runs to seize control of the game, however. The Tigers improved to 45-4 this year when scoring first and 30-3 when scoring in the first inning. Missouri scored a combined six first-inning runs (one first-inning run on Saturday) in this NCAA Super Regional.
• A facility record 2,604 fans witnessed Sunday night's game. Missouri broke the facility record for attendance in back-to-back games. A then-record 2,595 fans saw Saturday's contest.

PLAYER SUPER REGIONAL NOTES

• Washington managed just one run-scoring inning off of sophomore standout Chelsea Thomas. The Huskies plated three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, but went scoreless in 13-of-14 innings overall in the NCAA Super Regional.
• Thomas improved to 31-6 on the year. The 31 wins are second in single-season history at Mizzou, just one behind the school record of 32 set by Theresa Wilson in 1981. Thomas, Barb Wright (31 wins in 1997) and Wilson are the only Tigers to win 30 games in one season.
• Lisa Simmons launched the big blow in the first frame, connecting on her third home run of 2011. The two-run shot pushed her season RBI total to 21.
• Rhea Taylor scored a run and tied Norrelle Dickson's (Oklahoma 2004-07) Big 12 Conference record for career runs scored. Both players have crossed home plate 234 times. Taylor's next run will obviously set a new conference mark.
• Taylor also stole her 43rd base of the year. She is a near-perfect 43-of-45 on the base paths this season and is a flawless 9-of-9 in stolen base opportunities this postseason.

SCOUTING FLORIDA
Florida has qualified for their fourth consecutive Women's College World Series after winning the Gainesville Regional, going 3-1 with wins over Bethune-Cookman (8-0) and UCLA (4-2, 11-3). They took two games from Oregon at home in the NCAA Super Regionals, beating the Ducks 9-1 and 7-0. For the season, they stand at 52-10 and went 21-7 in the SEC, tops in their division.

One of the strongest offensive teams in the country, Florida comes into the World Series with a .326 team batting average and 110 home runs. Six regulars are hitting over .300, led by Michelle Moultrie who is hitting .341 with 15 doubles and 28 stolen bases. Five Gators have 15 or more home runs, led by Megan Bush and Brittany Schutte who each have 20. Bush also has a team-best 78 runs batted in. As a team, Florida has 96 stolen bases in 115 attempts and a .588 slugging percentage.

The Gators have a team ERA of 1.86 and are led by both Stephanie Brombacher and Hannah Rogers in the circle. Brombacher, who was out for a while in the middle of the season with an injury, has a 1.09 ERA and 19-2 record in 28 appearances this year. She has 119 strikeouts to 31 walks in 135.0 innings pitched. Rogers currently stands at 33-6 with a 1.59 ERA, striking out 203 and walking 50 in 238 innings. Opponents hit .199 off of Gator pitchers.

Florida is 2-0 all-time against Missouri. Last year, the Gators eliminated Mizzou from the WCWS with a 5-0 victory over the Tigers.

FOLLOW LIVE
All games will air live on either ESPN HD or ESPN2 HD, and can also be watched for free online at ESPN3.com. Pam Ward and Michele Smith will call the day games, Beth Mowins and Jessica Mendoza will call the night games, and Mowins, Mendoza and Smith will call the finals. Holly Rowe will report from the field for all games. Live stats will be provided at MUTigers.com. Fans can also follow @MIZLive on Twitter for updates from each game.

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 OPPONENTS SCORE 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.	ULL	42-1	.977
2.	Baylor	40-1	.976
3.	Texas A&M	38-2	.950
4.	Long Beach St.	29-2	.935
5.	Missouri	41-3	.932

300-200-100 CLUB
When Rhea Taylor picked up her 300th career hit against Oklahoma State, she became the 16th player in the history of Division I College Softball to post 300 career hits, 200 career runs and 100 career stolen bases. To date, Taylor has 314 hits, 234 runs and 184 stolen bases.

Rhea Taylor RECORD TRACKER
Senior Rhea Taylor has rewritten the record books again, as she set a new school record for hits in a career and broke the Big 12's career stolen base mark this season. 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. At the Missouri Breast Cancer Awareness Tournament, 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 Missouri Breast Cancer Awareness Tournament, tying her for the most stolen bases in Big 12 history. She broke Texas A&M's Sharonda McDonald mark of 153 stolen bases, who set the record in 2007, with a stolen base in the first inning against Arkansas on Wednesday, March 9.

Here's a look at what records she's tracking down this season:
-Batting Average: Taylor started the year as the Big 12 leader in career batting average, but after a midseason slump fell into second place all-time. However, after a strong start to the postseason, Taylor's career average is back up to .407, second behind Ali Viola (.409, Nebraska, 1996-98) for highest all-time. Taylor is guaranteed to graduate from Missouri with the career batting average record.

-Hits: With 13 hits this postseason, Taylor now has 314 for her career and is just 14 shy of tying Norrelle Dickson of Oklahoma, the conference's all-time hits leader at 328. She became just the second Big 12 player ever to reach the 300 hit plateau on May 12 against Oklahoma State.

-Runs: Entering the season as Missouri all-time runs leader and eighth in the conference, Taylor is now tied for the Big 12 record for career runs scored with 234 - matching Dickson's total. Her next run will make her the most prolific run scorer in conference history.

She also recently jumped into the Big 12's all-time top-10 in total bases. With 426 in her career, Taylor is now tied for sixth all-time in the league. She's third all-time in the conference with 15 triples in her career.