Softball 4/30/2013 6:41:00 PM Tyler Madsen, Truman Athletics

Softball Earns MIAA Tourney Bid

Truman Softball Notes (MIAA Tournament)

#6 Truman (28-16, 16-12 MIAA) vs. #3 Missouri Western (36-14, 20-8 MIAA)
Date: Friday, May 3 (2:00 pm)
Location: Overland Park, Kan. || Blue Valley Recreation Complex || Field 23
Live Stats: TBA
Series Record: MWSU leads, 35-33.
Last Meetings: MWSU won 7-1; TRUMAN won 6-2 in St. Joseph, Mo. (April 13, 2013)

Statistics: Truman || MIAA || Missouri Western
Social Media: @TrumanAthletics || @TrumanSoftball

First Pitch:
The Truman softball team heads to Overland Park, Kan., this Friday through Sunday for the 2013 MIAA tournament. The event, held at the Blue Valley Recreation Complex, opens at 2:00 pm on Friday afternoon as the 6^th-seeded Bulldogs take on the No. 3 seed Missouri Western.

The Bulldogs (28-16, 16-12 MIAA) will then play again at 4:00 pm, facing either No. 2 Fort Hays (Kan.) State or No. 7 Pittsburg (Kan.) State in the winner's or consolation bracket. The tournament schedule was updated on Wednesday morning due to forecasted inclement weather on Thursday.

Truman punched its ticket to the tournament for the first time since 2010 with a 3-1 weekend in the Sunflower State, sweeping Washburn by scores of 20-1 and 12-4 and splitting with Emporia (Kan.) State by scores of 5-0 (loss) and 1-0 (win). The Bulldogs enter the tournament having won six of their last seven games, dating back to a five-inning, run-rule win on April 20 against top-seeded Central Oklahoma.

This weekend will mark the final MIAA tournament in program history as well, with the Truman athletic department re-aligning to the Great Lakes Valley Conference on July 1.

Coaching Staff:
Head Coach: Erin Brown
Division II Career Record: 143-189 || .431 || 7^th season
At Truman: Same
Assistant Coach: Cathy Monroe (7^th season)

Probable Lineup:
#5 – CF – Laura Miller – 5'8” – SR – 33 GP, .337 AVG, 25 RBI, 25 R, 7-7 SB
#3 – 2B – Andrea Klipsch – 5'6” – SO – 44 GP, .303 AVG, .399 OBP, 7 HR, 25 RBI
#12 – RF – Kelsey Bollman – 5'8” – JR – 43 GP, .373 AVG, 11 2B, 5 HR, 14-15 SB
#16 – 1B – Kristin Grossman – 5'9” – SR – 44 GP, .362 AVG, 8 2B, 10 HR, 39 RBI
#8 – DP – Liz Leath – 5'8” – SO – 41 GP, .370 AVG, 5 2B, 8 HR, 29 RBI
#15 – 3B – Cate Simon – 5'9” – SO – 44 GP, .338 AVG, 8 HR, 30 RBI
#20 – C – Meredith Kusky – 5'8” – SR – 35 GP, .284 AVG, 6 2B, 3 HR, 16 RBI, .402 OBP
#13 – LF – Ally McReynolds – 5'9” – SO – 33 GP, .325 AVG, 5 2B, 3 HR, 9-11 SB
#2 – SS – Corey Niblett – 5'1” – JR – 44 GP, .231 AVG, 2 2B, 7 RBI, 10-14 SB

Off the Bench:
#1 – OF – Nikki Moss – 5'1” – FR – 35 GP, 13 R, 8-8 SB
#4 – OF – Danielle Lewellen – 5'7” – JR – 39 GP, .260 AVG, 22-27 SB
#21 – IF – Whitney Richardson – 5'6” – FR – 29 GP, .259 AVG, 3 2B, 2 HR, 11 RBI

Probable Starters:
#7 – RHP – Hannah Washburn – 5'6” – JR – 22 GS, 16-7, 2.54 ERA, 135.0 IP, 132 K's
#19 – RHP – Kindra Henze – 6'1” – FR – 19 GS, 9-7, 3.94 ERA, 108.1 IP, 91 K's

Bullpen:
#10 – RHP – Kirsten Krause – 5'5” – SR – 20 APP, 3-2, 3.65 ERA, 38.1 IP, 19 K's
#11 – RHP – Kelsea Dorsey – 5'4” – SO – 35 APP, 16-9, 2.72 ERA, 133 K's in 2012

Truman News & Notes:
·         The Bulldogs come into the MIAA tournament hitting .320 as a team, with a team ERA of 3.23 and a fielding percentage of .959.
·         Truman has already broken the school record for home runs in a season, totaling 50 in 44 games. The previous record was 47, set in 2004.
·         The Bulldogs are also on pace to smash the previous slugging percentage single-season record (.494 in 2013; .454 in 2012 was previous-high) and batting average (.320 in 2013; .313 in 2012 was previous-high). Truman needs nine runs to tie the school record for runs in a season (272 in 2004).
·         Freshman Kindra Henze was named the Truman ROTC Athlete of the Week after going 2-0 with a 0.54 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP in two starts last week.
·         The Bulldogs are 9-3 in neutral-site games this season.
·         Truman has three wins against top-25 opponents this season, including current No. 1 Indianapolis, and then-No. 25 Missouri Western.
·         Kristin Grossman leads the Bulldogs with 15 multi-hit and 10 multi-RBI games this season.
·         Liz Leath holds both the longest hitting streak (13) and longest reached-base streak (18) this season.
·         Three Bulldogs – Grossman, Corey Niblett and Cate Simon – have started all 44 games this season. Both Grossman (1B) and Niblett (SS) have manned the same positions all year, while Simon has caught two games and played at third base the other 42.

Missouri Western Scouting Report:
·         Missouri Western (36-14, 20-8 MIAA) comes into the MIAA tournament having gone 2-2 last weekend at Northeastern (Okla.) State and Central Oklahoma.
·         The Griffons are 11-5 in neutral-site games this season.
·         Four players hit better than .340 offensively, led by Maegan Roemmich's .388 batting average. Tiffany Gillaspy (.346 AVG) leads the team with 12 doubles and 42 RBI, while Keri Lorbert is the team leader with 13 home runs.
·         Jackie Bishop will likely get the start in the circle against the Bulldogs, having compiled a 20-6 record with a 1.61 ERA on the season. She has 204 strikeouts and 51 walks this year.
·         MWSU's mascot is a Griffon. It is a hybrid, mythical creature with the body/tail/back of a lion, the head/wings of an eagle, and an eagle's talons as its front feet.

Bulldog MIAA Tournament History:
Since 1998, Truman is 32-21 (.604) in 53 career games at the neutral-site event, capturing titles in 2000, 2002 and 2003. The Bulldogs are in search of their first MIAA tournament victory since the 2007 season, having gone 0-2 in both 2008 and 2010 – the last two appearances.

MIAA Tournament Bracket:
The eight-team field is set, with the schedule listed below. The biggest factor for all eight teams throughout the event will be the weather, as the NWS is calling for rain/snow/wind and a low of 34 degrees on Thursday night along with rain/snow and a high of 40 degrees on Friday. Saturday finally looks to clear up to a high in the mid-50s, lighter winds and no precipitation. Sunday's rain-date is set to be partly sunny with a high near 60 degrees.

Friday, May 3

Game 1 -- 2:00 pm -- Field 25 -- #1 Central Oklahoma vs. #8 Northwest Missouri
Game 2 -- 2:00 pm -- Field 22 -- #4 Emporia State vs. #5 Northeastern State
Game 3 -- 2:00 pm -- Field 23 -- #3 Missouri Western vs. #6 Truman
Game 4 -- 2:00 pm -- Field 24 -- #2 Fort Hays State vs. #7 Pittsburg State

*Game 5 -- 4:00 pm -- Field 22 -- Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser
*Game 6 -- 4:00 pm -- Field 23 -- Game 3 Loser vs. Game 4 Loser
Game 7 -- 4:00 pm -- Field 25 -- Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner
Game 8 -- 4:00 pm -- Field 24 -- Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Winner

Saturday, May 4

*Game 9 -- 11:00 am -- Field 23 -- Game 6 Winner vs. Game 7 Loser
*Game 10 -- 11:00 am -- Field 22 -- Game 5 Winner vs. Game 8 Loser
*Game 11 -- 1:00 pm -- Field 23 -- Game 9 Winner vs. Game 10 Winner
Game 12 -- 3:00 pm -- Field 25 -- Game 7 Winner vs. Game 8 Winner
*Game 13 -- 5:00 pm -- Field 23 -- Game 11 Winner vs. Game 12 Loser

Sunday, May 5

*Game 14 -- 12:00 pm -- Field 25 -- Game 12 Winner vs. Game 13 Winner
*Game 15 -- 2:00 pm -- Field 25 -- Game 12 Winner vs. Game 14 Winner (if necessary)
(*-denotes elimination game)

Regional Ranking Outlook:
Wednesday will mark the third and final set of regional rankings prior to Monday's selection show, with the Bulldogs sitting 10^th each of the past two weeks. The top eight teams from the region will be selected to the NCAA-II tournament, beginning next weekend at campus sites.

The winner of the MIAA tournament receives an automatic bid to the national tournament.

Five MIAA teams were in the top-10 last week, with FHSU (No. 1), UCO (No. 6), MWSU (No. 8) and ESU (No. 9) joining Truman.

Truman has six wins against teams that are regionally-ranked nationwide, having earned victories against UCO, MWSU and ESU from the Central, as well as Indianapolis (Midwest No. 1), Missouri-St. Louis (Midwest No. 3) and Wayne (Mich.) State (Midwest No. 10).

Catching the Career Leaders:
A handful of Bulldogs are inching up the career leader charts as the conference tournament gets underway this weekend.

Name	Average	Hits	Runs	2B	HR	RBI	SB
L. Miller	.319 (10^th) Next: .320	179 (T-9^th) Next: 183	109 (T-5^th) Next: 131	35 (T-5^th) Next: 45			51 (6^th) Next: 65
K. Bollman			101 (8^th) Next: 102	45 (4^th) Next: 50	15 (T-6^th) Next: 17	84 (T-10^th) Next: 95
K. Grossman					17 (5^th) Next: 18
L. Leath					15 (T-6^th) Next: 17
C. Simon					13 (T-10^th) Next: 14

A Look at the Conference/National Statistics:
Through all games as of April 29, the Bulldogs as a team rank second in the MIAA in team hitting (.320), eighth in team pitching (3.23 ERA), and eighth in team fielding (.959 pct).

Kelsey Bollman (12^th) and Liz Leath (13^th) rank amongst the top-15 in individual hitting, while Hannah Washburn sits eighth in individual ERA.

Meanwhile, nationally the Bulldogs are 11^th in the nation in home runs per game (1.14) and are also in the top-40 in stolen bases per game (32^nd; 1.73), slugging percentage (33^rd; .494), scoring (39^th; 5.98) and batting average (40^th; .320).

Individually, Danielle Lewellen ranks 33^rd nationally with 0.56 stolen bases/game, while Washburn is 55^th overall in strikeouts per seven innings (6.8).

Up Next:
The Bulldogs will play at 4:00 pm on Friday afternoon against the corresponding winner/loser of Fort Hays State and Pittsburg State. Keep tabs on the games by following the Bulldogs on Twitter (@TrumanAthletics).

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