Softball Closes Regular Season with Pair of Twinbills

TRUMAN at Northwest Missouri – Friday (3:00/5:00); Maryville, Mo.
TRUMAN vs. Sioux Falls (S.D.) – Sunday (1:00/3:00); Kirksville

Live Stats (Friday) | Live Stats (Sunday)
Season Statistics | Season Schedule | MIAA Standings

Week At-A-Glance:
The final two doubleheaders of the 2012 regular season are on tap this weekend for the Truman softball team, as the Bulldogs travel to Northwest Missouri State University for a key MIAA doubleheader on Friday before hosting the University of Sioux Falls (S.D.) for on Sunday for Senior Day. Games are scheduled to start at 3:00 pm at Northwest and 1:00 pm on Sunday.

It's make-or-break for the Bulldogs on Friday in Maryville, as Truman (21-26, 5-13 MIAA) sits one game out of the MIAA's eighth and final postseason tournament slot. However, with a sweep at 7^th-place Northwest Missouri (16-28, 6-12 MIAA), the Bulldogs can leapfrog the Bearcats and put themselves in a better position to wait out the remainder of the MIAA weekend schedule.

Neither two wins nor a split solidifies the squad in either direction on its own; however, should the Bulldogs lose both, they would be eliminated from postseason contention.

Place	Team	MIAA Record	Remaining Schedule:
6^th	Washburn	7-9	vs. PSU (Fri); vs. MSSU (Sat)
7^th	Northwest Missouri	6-12	vs. TSU (Fri)
8^th	Southwest Baptist	6-12	at LU (Sat)
9^th	TRUMAN	5-13	at NWMSU (Fri)
10^th	Missouri Southern	4-12	at WU (Sat); at FHSU (Sun)
11^th	Lincoln	3-13	vs. UCM (Fri); vs. SBU (Sat)

Following Friday's games, the Bulldogs will return to Kirksville to close out the regular season portion of the slate and celebrate Senior Day against Sioux Falls at 1:00 pm. The program will recognize its four seniors prior to the game one first pitch.

Recapping Last Week's Action:
The Bulldogs wrapped last week's action up with a pair of splits against Fort Hays (Kan.) State and Washburn (Kan.) in a pair of makeup home games on Monday and Tuesday. The Truman offense struggled to get runners around in game one against the Tigers before having two big innings in game two to pick up the split. On Tuesday against the Lady Blues, the 'Dogs won game one 4-3 before dropping the second game 1-0 in eight innings.

Katie Pitts (Jefferson City, Mo., Helias) finished last week's contests going 7-for-14 with two RBI's and a double, while Bridget Schade (Herculaneum, Mo., Herculaneum), Ally McReynolds (Wildwood, Mo., Eureka), and Liz Leath (St. Charles, Mo., Francis Howell Central) all went 3-for-9 and combined for five RBI's. Bulldog pitching posted a 2.90 ERA in 29 innings of work, led by freshman Kelsea Dorsey (Clarksville, Mo., Clopton)'s two victories and a 15:3 strikeout-to-walk ratio and an eight-inning complete game by Ashley Rotkvich (Crestwood, Ill., Shepard).

Senior Day Sunday:
Prior to Sunday's doubleheader against Sioux Falls, the Bulldog softball team will recognize its four seniors – all of whom have played significant roles throughout their careers at Truman. Mary Manley (Des Peres, Mo., Kirkwood ), Katie Pitts, Ashley Rotkvich and Bridget Schade will each be honored before the first pitch.

Pitts and Manley have played in more than 160 games, while Rotkvich has made 102 appearances in the circle for the Bulldogs. The quartet has been responsible for a .284 batting average in nearly 1,300 total at-bats, 90 extra-base hits including 27 home runs, 186 RBI's and 44 stolen bases. Rotkvich, meanwhile, has started 61 games while appearing in 102 entering the weekend, striking out 160 batters and throwing 16 complete games with two shutouts.

Scouting the Competition:
Northwest Missouri State “Bearcats” (16-28, 6-12 MIAA)
Northwest Missouri hosts the Bulldogs after splitting with FHSU on Tuesday, being no-hit in a 1-0 loss before bouncing back for a 12-4 win in game two. The doubleheader against Truman also will wrap up the MIAA portion of the regular season for Northwest before it hosts Sioux Falls on Saturday.

The Bearcats have had an array of players finding significant playing time, with two of them batting over .300. Hailee Hendricks leads the Bearcats in batting average, but Kayli Schurman has tallied 13 of the team's 37 homeruns this season. Schurman is sitting at a .298 average with 79 total bases and a .653 slugging percentage.

As a team, NWMSU is hitting .252 with a team slugging percentage of .392. The Bearcat pitching staff is primarily led by Jenna Creger, who holds a 3.69 ERA in 100.0 innings of work. She has struck out 97 while issuing 25 walks.

University of Sioux Falls “Lions” (12-14, 1-9 in road games)
As a member of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, the University of Sioux Falls will be hitting the road for a non-conference match-up against Northwest Missouri on Saturday before heading to Kirksville for Bulldog Senior Day.

As a team, the Lions carry a .259 batting average and a .349 slugging percentage. They have hit 11 homeruns this season and are led by Priscilla Quintana's .398 batting average, six doubles and three homeruns. She also sits second on the team with a .578 slugging percentage.

The Lion pitching staff holds a 4.48 team ERA with 101 total strikeouts. Bailey Bouman has seen the most time in the circle for Sioux Falls, putting in 86.1 innings of work and recording 60 strikeouts.

Top Ten Lists:
Five members of the Bulldog squad have crept up onto a handful of Truman's all-time top ten lists:
·   Kelsey Bollman (Maquoketa, Iowa, Maquoketa) sits at eighth all-time on the doubles list with 30 in her career. She sits two back of LeAnn Paul (2001-04) and Loni Wedemeier (2003-06) for sixth.
·         Bollman also sits in a tie for 10^th on the home run all-time charts with 10. She is one homerun shy of Stephanie Schlegel (1997-2000) who is ninth on the list.
·         Bridget Schade sits third on the all-time career batting average list with a .380 average. Also, with her 11 home runs this season to raise her career total to 17, she has jumped to fourth all-time at Truman. Kristi Bredbenner (1998-2001) and Loni Wedemeier (2003-06) are tied for second with 33 each.
·   Laura Miller (Columbia, Mo., Hickman) has moved up to a tie for seventh with Jessie Shelman on the all-time stolen bases chart with 43 in her career.
·         Ashley Rotkvich registered her 102^nd career appearance on Tuesday and is just the third Truman pitcher to hit the century mark. She needs just two more outings to tie Loni Wedemeier (2003-06) for second.
·         Rotkvich also has jumped to tenth in total strikeouts with 160, needing 10 to catch Shannon Johnson (1994-97) for ninth all time.
·         Mary Manley is fifth all-time in doubles with 33, landing two behind Jen Wright (1997-2000) for fourth. Kristi Bredbenner is on top of the list with 55.

Up Next:
The Bulldogs will know their postseason fate following this weekend's games, with the MIAA tournament bracket release set for Sunday afternoon. Should Truman qualify, the squad would play on Thursday, April 28 at 6:00 pm in first-round action at the Blue Valley Sports Complex in Overland Park, Kan.

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