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Truman State University Athletics

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Missy Bonsack

Softball Tyler Madsen, Asst. Director of Media Relations

NCAA Notes: Softball to Face ODU in Tournament Opener

Truman Softball Weekly Notes (May 9-11, 2014)
NCAA Div. II Midwest Regional – St. Louis, Mo. (UMSL Softball Complex)
 
2013-14 Schedule || Weekend Bracket || UMSL Regional Website
 2013-14 Statistics || Career Statistics
Game 53: Truman (41-11) vs. Ohio Dominican (29-27)
Date/Location: Friday, May 9, 2014 (12 p.m.) || UMSL Softball Complex
Weather Forecast (as of Wednesday AM): Thunderstorms likely, Highs in upper-70s, WSW-10 mph
Live Stats: UMSL
 
Series Record: Truman leads, 4-1.
Last Meeting: Truman won 7-6 on February 15, 2013, in Decatur, Ala.
Series Streak: Truman, W-2.
 
Social Media/Team Info: @TrumanAthletics || @TrumanSoftball || 2014 Record Book/Media Guide
 
Last Game Batting Order
No.Pos.NameHt.Yr.Extra
#4CFDanielle Lewellen5'7"SR.343 AVG; .389 OBP; 39-45 SB-SBA
#32BAndrea Klipsch5'6"JR.386 AVG, 16 2B, 6 HR, 44 RBI
#12RFKelsey Bollman5'8"SR.380 AVG, 19 XBH, 37 runs, 36 RBI
#153BCate Simon5'9"JR.395 AVG, 1.194 OPS, 10 2B, 12 HR, 39 RBI
#81BLiz Leath5'8"JR.341 AVG, 10 2B, 6 HR, 29 RBI
#5CAlexis VanNostrand5'6"FR.397 AVG, 10 2B, 4 HR, 24 RBI
#13LFAlly McReynolds5'9"JR.321 AVG, 18 runs, 25 BB/HBP, 6 SB
#6SSJessica VanNostrand5'6"SR.279 AVG, 11 2B, 4 HR, 28 RBI
#21DPWhitney Richardson5'6"SO.205 AVG, 9 2B, 2 HR, 23 RBI
 
Starting Pitching
No.Pos.NameHt.Yr.Extra
#19RHPKindra Henze6'1"SO28 GS, 21-6 record, 1.27 ERA, 178 SO
#11RHPKelsea Dorsey5'4"r-SO24 GS, 20-5 record, 1.65 ERA, 131 SO
 
Off the Bench
No.Pos.NameHt.Yr.Extra
#1OFNikki Moss5'1"SO12 GP, 6 runs, 2 SB
#2SSCorey Niblett5'1"SR32 GP, .225 AVG, 9 runs, 3 RBI, 2-3 SB
#7OFHannah Wehar5'3"JR22 GP, 6 runs, 1 RBI, 1 SB
#10UTHaley Wells5'5"FR7 GP, 3 runs
#17OFKelsey Jacques5'4"SO17 GP, 9 runs, 1 2B
#20CCaroline Gatti5'10"r-FR13 GP, .250 AVG, 1 2B, 1 RBI
 
Staff
Head Coach: Erin Brown
Division II Career Record: 185-202 || .478 || 8th season (all at Truman)
GLVC Record: 30-6 || .833 || 1st season

Assistant Coach: Cathy Monroe (8th season)
Athletic Trainer: Cassie DeBlauw (6th season)
The First Pitch:
Only 64 teams remain in NCAA Div. II softball, and Truman will look to outlast three of them this Friday through Sunday during the opening rounds of the Midwest regional, hosted by Missouri-St. Louis.
 
The No. 4 seeded Bulldogs enter the tournament for the first time since 2005 with a 41-11 overall record on the season, having most recently advanced to day two of the Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament last weekend in East Peoria, Ill. Truman will begin postseason play at 12 p.m. on Friday afternoon at the UMSL Softball Complex against No. 5 seed Ohio Dominican (29-27), runners-up of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
 
Joined by host and top-seeded UMSL along with No. 8 seed Bellarmine, Truman is slated for just one game on Friday, with potentially two games on Saturday before championship Sunday. The advancing team from this weekend's double elimination tournament will face the winner of the Midwest region's other four-team bracket – hosted by No. 2 seed Wayne (Mich.) State – next weekend in a best-of-3 super-regional. WSU is joined in Detroit by No. 3 seed Indianapolis, No. 6 seed Grand Valley (Mich.) State, and No. 7 seed Ashland (Ohio).
 
This year's Bulldog squad has reached the national tournament for the 15th time in program history but for just the first time since a seven-year run from 1999-2005. The team's 41 victories mark the fifth-highest total since the program started in 1973, with the 30 regular season conference wins setting a new program standard.
 
The Bulldogs have been well-rounded in all facets this season, leading the GLVC in two of the three major categories – hitting (.333 average), and fielding (.971 efficiency) – while also ranking third in pitching (1.42 ERA). Truman has seven regular starters all hitting better than .320 on the season, while the sophomore tandem of Kindra Henze and Kelsea Dorsey have struck out 311 hitters in 343 innings of work. The duo has combined to throw all but 1.2 of the team's defensive innings this year, leading to 45 complete games and 18 shutouts.
 
Freshman Alexis VanNostrand jumped to the top of the team's batting average chart at .397 after going 7-for-10 at last weekend's GLVC tournament. She is followed closely by junior Cate Simon (.395), junior Andrea Klipsch (.386), and senior Kelsey Bollman (.380), with Simon adding three home runs last weekend to increase her team-high total to 12. The Simon-Klipsch-Bollman trio has combined for 38 doubles, 24 home runs, and 119 RBI this season – all going alongside 56 walks to just 43 strikeouts.
 
Senior Danielle Lewellen, the squad's leadoff hitter, is hitting .343 on the season and has a GLVC-best 39 stolen bases, while junior Liz Leath's second grand slam of the season last weekend helped raise her season home run total to six and batting average to .341.
 
The Bulldogs are under the direction of eighth-year head coach Erin Brown, who rejoined her alma mater in August of 2006 after serving as the head coach at Westminster (Mo.) College. She was a three-time letterwinner at Truman and played on three NCAA regional finalist teams.
 
Meeting the Opponents:
#5 Seed Ohio Dominican (29-27)
Truman will be facing ODU in the NCAA tournament for the first time, as ODU is headed to the NCAA Div. II tournament for the first time since joining the Div. II ranks in 2010. After suffering through a sluggish start to the season, the Panthers rebounded nicely with a 25-9 record in the team's final 34 games. ODU earned the No. 1 seed in the GLIAC tournament, falling in the championship to Wayne State after fighting back through the consolation bracket.
 
Junior DP Taylor Thomas (.399 AVG, 17 2B, 10 HR) was named the GLIAC Player of the Year, while second baseman Allie Hinton (.367 AVG, 12 2B, 7 HR) earned the league's Freshman of the Year award. Friday's opener could be a slugfest, as ODU is hitting .308 on the season with 81 doubles and 32 home runs, while having also stolen 60 bases.
 
The Panthers are likely to give the ball in game one to junior Rachael Stanzel, who started 35 games and tossed 216.2 innings for the black and gold this year. She posted a 20-14 record and a 2.68 ERA alongside 119 strikeouts.
 
ODU is coached by GLIAC Coach of the Year Marcella Vanlandingham, who is in her 19th season at the Panther helm. She is the program's all-time winningest coach, having compiled 568 victories since 1996.
 
#1 Seed Missouri-St. Louis (45-6)
Regional top seed and 2014 GLVC champion Missouri-St. Louis marks the second of three GLVC teams to compete in St. Louis this weekend, as the Tritons will host No. 8 seed Bellarmine at 2:30 p.m. on Friday in opening round action. The Tritons defeated BU twice, including 3-0 in the GLVC championship game, last weekend.
 
UMSL is led by freshman SS Alex Stupek's .377 batting average, while junior first baseman Brianna Butler has a team-high 13 home runs. Sophomore Hannah Perryman – the co-GLVC Pitcher of the Year – leads the NCAA Div. II with 13.7 strikeouts per game and is 25-5 in the circle with a 1.06 ERA.
 
The Bulldogs and Tritons faced off five times this season, with UMSL posting a 4-1 record. Truman's lone win came in a complete game shutout by Kindra Henze on April 25.
 
UMSL is coached by Brian Levin, who is in his fourth season at the Triton helm. He has a record of 144-64 at the school.
 
#8 Seed Bellarmine (37-16)
After spending most of the season outside the regional top-8, BU broke the seal at the perfect time by riding a trip to the GLVC championship game into the Midwest's No. 8 spot.
 
The squad is led by GLVC Player of the Year Ally Foster, who leads the Knights both offensively (.382 AVG, 15 2B, 12 HR) and in the circle (18-6, 0.89 ERA, 198 K's). Catcher Scarlett Powers has added a .352 batting average and 13 home runs, while Erica Knollman has chipped in eight home runs and eight doubles.
 
The Bulldogs and Knights split their regular season series in Kirksville, with Truman taking game one, 3-2, before Bellarmine bounced back for a 2-1 win in game two.
 
BU is coached by Renee Hicks, who is in her 10th season at the Knight helm.
 
Bulldogs Take Home Hardware on GLVC All-Conference Teams:
The Truman softball team's inaugural season of Great Lakes Valley Conference play netted the program's highest number of all-conference honors in program history, as eight players were named to the GLVC all-conference West division squad – including seven to the first-team.
 
Headlining the seven players named to the first team was the GLVC co-Pitcher of the Year, sophomore Kindra Henze, and four-time all-conference recipient senior outfielder Kelsey Bollman. 
 
The duo was joined by Henze's battery-mate, freshman catcher Alexis Van Nostrand, along with junior first baseman Liz Leath, junior second baseman Andrea Klipsch, and junior third baseman Cate Simon. Senior outfielder Danielle Lewellen also picked up first-team honors, while sophomore pitcher Kelsea Dorsey earned second-team accolades.
 
Henze shared the league's top pitching accolade with Missouri-St. Louis sophomore Hannah Perryman. Both Henze and Perryman earned GLVC Pitcher of the Week honors four times this year. Bollman, meanwhile, earned her second consecutive first-team all-conference honor, having picked up first-team all-MIAA recognition last season as a junior. She also was an all-MIAA second-team selection as a freshman and an honorable mention all-conference performer as a sophomore.
 
Breaking Records:
The 2013-14 version of Bulldog softball has wiped clean five of the program's top marks, setting new single-season bests in runs (294), hits (481), doubles (92), RBI (255), and total bases (704).
 
In addition, Kindra Henze's 14 shutouts set a new individual mark in that category, breaking the previous-high set back in 2000.
 
NCAA Tournament History:
This season marks the 15th trip to the NCAA postseason for the Bulldog softball team, with the program having compiled a 21-30 record during the previous 14 appearances.
 
Truman has reached the final weekend four times, advancing to the final four in 1981, 1982, 1986, and 1988.
 
Great Lakes Valley Athletes of the Week:
 Player of the WeekPitcher of the Week
DateNameSchoolNameSchool
Feb. 17Rachel ScrumQuincyHannah PerrymanMissouri-St. Louis
Feb. 24Kelsey MorganWilliam JewellKindra HenzeTruman
March 3Molly ManiettaIllinois SpringfieldMurphi ArmstrongQuncy
March 10Samantha RissIllinois SpringfieldKindra HenzeTruman
March 18Andrea KlipschTrumanKindra Henze*Truman
March 24Jenna BoudreauMissouri-St. LouisHannah PerrymanMissouri-St. Louis
April 1Alex JacobsonRockhurstAlly FosterBellarmine
April 8MacKenzi DorsamSouthern IndianaHannah PerrymanMissouri-St. Louis
April 14Carson ForgeDruryMorgan FoleyIndianapolis
April 22Brianna ButlerMissouri-St. LouisHannah PerrymanMissouri-St. Louis
April 29Taylor RussellIndianapolisKindra HenzeTruman
*-Named National Pitcher of the Week by the National Fastpitch Coaches' Association
 
Up Next:
Should the Bulldogs capture this weekend's sub-regional championship, Truman would advance to face the winner of the second Midwest sub-regional next Friday and Saturday at a site to-be-determined. That would be a best-of-3 format, with the advancing team moving on to the NCAA Div. II World Series – held May 22-26 in Salem, Va.
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