Feb. 12, 2014

Softball 2014 Season Preview
By MUTigers.com softball reporter Walt Scher (@Ctrl_Walt_Dlt)

The Mizzou Softball team will officially begin its 2014 campaign on Friday, Feb. 14, in Jacksonville, Fla. Five steady upperclassmen and a roster filled with young and talented players are ready to make an impact. New pieces to the puzzle mean many positions are up for grabs in the early months of the season.

Here is a breakdown of each position heading into the start of the season, in which the Tigers will look to make a seventh-straight NCAA Super Regional. From there, Mizzou and head coach Ehren Earleywine eye a return to Oklahoma City and the Women's College World Series.

Catcher
Catcher, often considered the field general, is one of the most important positions on the diamond, which is especially true this season for Mizzou. Whoever is behind the plate for the Tigers will have to take control of the field, while taking on a de facto leadership position to help guide the pitching staff of newcomers through their first season in the Southeastern Conference. Depth is always appreciated, especially at one of the most important positions. The Tigers have great depth with Alyssa Cousins, Kirsten Mack, Angela Randazzo and Carlie Rose all capable of providing solid defense and quality offense. Of those four players, only Rose started at catcher last season, earning five starting nods. While she only started behind the plate in a few games, Rose still appeared in 45 games (often in right field) and batted .310. Randazzo played most of last season at third base while providing tons of offense for Missouri; she led the team with 47 RBI while maintaining a .309 batting average. Mack, who exploded in the Black & Gold Game for three home runs, along with Cousins, will provide quality depth for Missouri.

First Base
Kelsea Roth returns to first base after earning Second Team NFCA All-Southeast Region recognition at the position last season. She also earned SEC All-Tournament honors in the Tigers' first appearance at the SEC Tournament as Mizzou battled to a runner-up finish. She appeared in every game for the Tigers and started 50 of those games at first base. Roth is tied for 10th on the Mizzou career home runs list with 23, including a co-team-leading 16 home runs last year, which is also tied for the third-best single season total in Missouri history. Casey Stangel and Jordan Zolman may also be seen occupying first base this season, if either of the two freshmen is not in the pitching circle. The two pitchers can both swing the bat for power and the coaching staff will be looking for ways to get their bats in the lineup.

Second Base
Another position with options, and all talented options at that, will be second base. Finding the right mix of players will be an early season task for the Tigers and Earleywine. Emily Crane, Corrin Genovese, Kelli Schkade and Ashtin Stephens are all more than capable of playing second. Crane started 51 games at second base last season, while Stephens made 50 starts as a freshman in 2012. Stephens was sidelined for most of the 2013 season with a shoulder injury. This season you may see more of Crane in the outfield, as it is the position she played in high school. Genovese is great in the field; she led last year's team with 124 assists while managing a .958 fielding percentage at shortstop. The junior earned the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year award as a freshman in 2012. Schkade, a fresh face in the infield, could also step up and fill the position.

Shortstop
Sami Fagan will make her debut for Mizzou in 2014, as she sat out the 2013 season after transferring from Florida. Fagan was outstanding for the Gators in her freshman year and will look to continue that success at Missouri. In her only season with Florida, she hit .378 with 13 extra base hits and 30 RBI which led to her being named to the Freshman All-SEC team, SEC All-Tournament team and earning two SEC Freshman of the Week honors. Corrin Genovese, an option at nearly every infield position, is usually known for her defense, but improved her batting significantly in 2013. She brought up her average from .220 as a freshman to .303 last season. Schkade, who earned Texas Class 1A All-State recognition as a senior, is another option as she can move around the infield easily.

Third Base
Angela Randazzo, Natalie Fleming and Corrin Genovese are all quality candidates for the third base position. The ability of Genovese to play just about any position in the infield is almost "like a cheat code" for the Tiger coaching staff. Earleywine said, "She can pretty much play anywhere in the infield and is one of those few players that does it and doesn't panic about the newness of it." Randazzo and Fleming bring a trait that is common amongst corner infielders, "Both of them hit the ball really well and hit the ball for power." With Mizzou hitting 62 home runs last year, and most of that power returning, whoever finds a home at third base is likely to take a few free trips around the bases.

Outfield
The beginning of the season could see a few different outfield combinations until the coaching staff decides which trio they believe can produce the most offense, while still playing solid defense. Mackenzie Sykes, Crane, Taylor Gadbois, Stangel, Rose and Sarah Moore are all likely to be spotted roaming the outfield at some point this season for the Tigers. Sykes is the only upperclassmen of the group and brings the most experience. She hit .319 as a junior and added seven home runs while splitting time between left and center. As a true freshman, Crane led the Tigers and ranked 11th in the SEC with a .376 batting average in 2013. She also led the team in stolen bases with 13, only being thrown out twice. Moore would be best remembered for her first hit of the 2013 season, an impressive "solo shot" home run in Mizzou's 12-inning, 4-3 win over No. 5 Florida in Palm Springs, Calif. Rose is a fantastic option to have in the field as she only committed one error last year while posting a .978 fielding percentage. Gadbois enters her redshirt sophomore season after appearing in 40 games last year as a freshman. She was a key pinch-running option using her speed to go 6-for-7 in stolen bases. Outfield is another way the coaching staff can get Stangel's bat in the lineup. The freshman from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, batted .640 with 15 home runs in her final high school season. Mizzou plans for the return of injured outfielder Kayla Kingsley in 2015, who owns 48 career starts.

Overall Field Lineup
As of now, Earleywine sees plenty of options in his dugout to get wins on the diamond. Says Earleywine: "There are probably 13 or 14 kids who have significant opportunities at playing time and starting. You'll see a lot of movement in the lineup, especially in the bottom part of the lineup for probably the first 20 or 30 games before we find out whose year it is."

Pitchers
A sparkling new pitching staff will take over University Field this year, looking to continue the success of the program and leave their own mark. Tori Finucane, Stangel, Alora Marble and Jordan Zolman represent the pitching staff for Missouri. Earleywine said, "Finucane had maybe a little bit of a better fall than the other pitchers, but that's not to say that the other kids couldn't have better springs. We've got two or three kids that could potentially all be very good pitchers for us. I'm probably just as excited as the typical fan to see how it all unfolds with those kids." Marble, a senior from Jefferson City, is the only pitcher that isn't a freshman. However, this will still be her first season with Missouri. Before sitting out the 2013 season, she spent two years as the ace of SEMO's pitching staff. Finucane (2) and Stangel (3) combined to only give up five earned runs over the eight-game fall ball season in their first collegiate action. You could write a novel with all of the accolades Finucane and Stangel racked up while in high school, some of those include Stangel earning MaxPreps 2013 National High School Softball Player of the Year for Lake City High School and Finucane twice earning NFCA First Team High School All-American at pitcher for Bishop O'Connell High School. Zolman ended her high school career in impressive fashion, earning Tri-County Conference Player of the Year after batting .741 with three home runs. Her junior campaign might have been even more impressive, batting .837 with 11 home runs while also striking out 230 batters from the circle.

Get Ready, Mizzou Fans
Mizzou Softball is almost here, and while the beginning of the season may bring new faces at new positions around the field, all that just adds to the excitement of a new season. The Tigers' second season in the SEC will feature visits from Georgia, Ole Miss and Alabama for the first time as SEC foes. The Tigers open in February with three weekend tournaments in sunny Florida and California, before starting SEC play with Texas A&M on the road in early March.