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UMKC Closes Out Home Slate With Doubleheader Against Kansas
4/21/2008 6:00:00 PM | Softball
The UMKC softball team closes out its home slate on Tuesday, welcoming Big 12 foe Kansas to the friendly confines of Cleveland Park for a doubleheader. The first pitch between the Kangaroos and the Jayhawks is slated to be tossed at 4 p.m.
Quick Hits
? The Kangaroos hold a 1-20 record all time against the Jayhawks
? This marks just the fifth time that Kansas has visited UMKC, but the teams have battled every year since 1999
? UMKC picked up its lone win against the Jayhawks on the 2002 campaign, prevailing 2-1 on April 17 in a game contested at Adair Park
Scouting the Jayhawks
The Jayhawks come into Tuesday's doubleheader on a bit of a down note, in the midst of a five-game losing streak, including sweeps by Big 12 foes Missouri and Texas A&M. As a team, KU is batting .259 on the year, led by Dougie McCaulley's .397 average. Val Chapple has driven in a team-best 25 runs on the year, including six home runs. Amanda Jobe has also been strong on the offensive ledger, collecting eight dingers for the Jayhawks and plating 23 runs.
KU's three-member staff has posted an ERA of 2.59 on the season, led by Valerie George's 1.91 mark. She has struck out 152 batters on the year, issuing just 57 walks as she has done the lion's share of the work for the Jayhawk pitching staff, hurling 142.2 of KU's 297.0 innings on the campaign.
On the basepaths, KU is greedy if not successful, having been caught stealing 13 times in 47 attempts. Defensively, they have gunned down 11 of 35 steal attempts against.
Hartung Grabs Player Of The Week Honors
Freshman Julie Hartung was tabbed The Summit League Player of the Week for the week ending April 20, 2008 on the strength of her performances against IUPUI. The rookie put the second game of the series to bed early with a three-RBI double before smashing a game-winning grand slam in the series finale. It is the first such honor this year for the Kangaroos and the first of Hartung's career.
At The Summit Of The Summit League
After cruising past her single-season strikeout mark from last year, Samantha Hurst has continued to rack up the K's. She currently has the highest strikeout per game rate among pitchers in The Summit League, averaging 7.41 K's per game. Her 14-strikeout effort against IPFW was just one shy of the top single-game mark in the league this season (15 by WIU's Kamren Ferguson against Pittsburgh) and included a streak of six consecutive retired batters.
Taya Upkes has also acquitted herself well, ringing up three saves on the campaign to match Centenary's Lauren Highsmith.
Julie Hartung is also among the tops in the league, with her 13 RBI in league action good for sixth on the list, tied with Rodeo Carli and Aly Daniels of Southern Utah.
And One For Good Measure
Samantha Hurst did something in her complete game win against IPFW that is somewhat rare, as she recorded four strikeouts in the second inning. Her final delivery to the first batter of the second inning had so much movement that it eluded both the Mastodon bat and catcher Lauren Rodrigues' glove. The junior calmly retired the next three batters, however, en route to a string of six.
While rare overall, the feat was the fourth time this season that it has happened. Arkansas' Miranda Dixon, Morehead State's Sarah Funston and (former Mid-Con foe) Valparaiso's Andrea Zappia have all recorded four-strikeout innings on the 2008 campaign.
Youth Is Served
With just four players returning from last year's squad, it is not unfair to say that the Kangaroos are a young squad. Against Idaho State, UMKC started freshmen in seven of the nine slots in the lineup. Seven of the 10 regular starters for UMKC are underclassmen, with junior Samantha Hurst and seniors Alicia Baker and Monica Canisales representing the elder set.
What A Difference A Year Makes
Although second-year head coach Meredith Smith leads a young squad, it is certainly a talented bunch with considerable potential for the future. Looking back just one season the difference is clear. Aside from the obvious difference in record - UMKC posted just four wins through its entire championship season schedule in 2007 - there have been improvements in all aspects of the game for the Kangaroos.
The team has pushed itself above last year's batting average again, hitting at a .213 clip to last year's .202 mark. The 2008 squad has belted 10 more doubles than through the same point last season, striking out 26 fewer times and collecting 12 more walks in 2008. The team has also collected 67 RBI this year to just 49 last season. The Kangaroos have also pounded out 12 more sacrifice bunts and one additional sac fly on the 2008 campaign.
Baserunning also shows a marked improvement, although more clearly on the defensive side of the ledger. UMKC has been caught stealing just four times in 18 attempts this year - compared to eight times in 18 attempts last year - but has yielded just 48 swipes this year to a monstrous 94 last season. The Kangaroos have gunned down baserunners at an average of one in every seven attempts - to one in every 13 tries last year.
All four returning players have seen their individual stats improve as well, led by Alicia Baker. Through 32 games on the slate, the senior has collected 27 hits, nearly double that of last season and she has knocked in 15 runs this year to just two in 2007. Samantha Hurst has raised her average to .268 this season, with her three extra-base hits - a double, a triple and a home run - each marking the first of her career.
The Kangaroos have improved in the circle as well, dropping their team ERA by better than a run with a mark of 5.14 this year to last season's 6.49 mark. The UMKC staff has also struck out 34 more batters and issued an amazing 42 fewer walks through 32 games in 2008. The staff has also hit 10 fewer batters and yielded two fewer home runs.
Most notably, all of this has come against a considerably tougher group of opponents. Through 32 games this season, UMKC has already faced two teams ranked in the national polls (Washington, Arizona St.) and two that were receiving votes (Nevada, Wichita St.) at gametime, whereas Oklahoma marked the only ranked foe among the first 32 games for the Kangaroos last season.
On A Streak
Although her four-game hitting streak was snapped, Julie Hartung kept her on-base streak alive with a walk in the series opener against IUPUI and has pushed that streak to seven games.
Hartung's hitting mark is tied with Alicia Baker and Samantha Hurst for the second-longest streak among the 2008 squad, with Megan Ussary's six-game mark taking top honors. Ussary collected nine hits in six games (Idaho State - Wichita State) before being held hitless in UMKC's second game against South Dakota State in the Shocker Invitational. She did, however, reach base safely in that game with a walk.
In A Pinch
Although Alicia Baker was not expected to see time in the circle this year, she was forced to step in during the second game of UMKC's doubleheader against Oakland as Taya Upkes was unable to continue after taking a pitch off her own pitching hand. The senior performed as well as could be expected under the circumstances, working one inning and giving up just one walk. She has continued to pitch solidly, dropping her career ERA by better than a run in just four appearances on the campaign.
Ding, Ding, Ding
Four players have collected their first career home run for UMKC this season. Freshman Julie Hartung found her stroke quickly, cranking a home run in just her seventh collegiate at-bat. The Macon, Mo., native scored one of two UMKC runs against #3 Arizona State on Sunday with a longball off the Sun Devils' Amanda Nesbitt. She added a solo shot against Creighton earlier this season as well, jacking her first grand slam to give UMKC a 4-0 win in the series finale over IUPUI.
Also ringing up the first four-bagger of her career was Samantha Hurst, whose solo shot to right center against South Dakota State came in the midst of a comeback attempt for the Kangaroos.
Carli Slagle also notched her first-ever dinger in the series finale against Centenary, easily clearing the fence in right center at Cleveland Park, adding a second in the first win over IPFW this season and her third in the second game of the series against the Jaguars.
Lauren Rodrigues joined the longball ladies against the Mastodons as well, hitting a game-winning two-run bomb in the fifth inning of UMKC's first 4-1 triumph.
Youth Is Served Too...
As an institution, UMKC has always been willing to take its chances with young coaches, but Meredith Smith is part of a considerable resurgence in that trend. Aged 25 years, 166 days at the time of her appointment, she was the youngest coach among her league counterparts, and with the resignation of former interim Volleyball coach Chrissy Elder, she became the youngest at UMKC. Her reign as youngest head coach at UMKC was truncated with the appointment of Courtney Mahon to head the women's golf team, as Mahon is just 24 years old.
The Kangaroos currently have three head coaches under the age of 30 - Candace White, Smith and Mahon. The youngest head coach ever appointed at UMKC was Angela Garbe, who was tabbed in September 1991 to head the women's tennis team at the tender age of 22 years, 164 days.
Keeping It Close
Although the Kangaroos have been on the wrong end of a couple of blowouts this season, lost in the analysis is that UMKC has only seen 15 games end with margins of five runs or higher, compared to just seven games with margins CLOSER than five runs in 2007. UMKC has battled to pick up wins in three of the six one-run contests it has faced on the year. In 2007, the Kangaroos lost all eight of their games that finished with either a one-run or two-run margin.
Going The (Extra) Distance
UMKC's eight-inning win over Missouri State was the first time that the Kangaroos were forced into extra frames since the 2005 season. UMKC was also victorious in that outing, downing IUPUI 2-1 in 10 innings.
UMKC is 6-13 in extra-inning contests throughout its history, and has twice battled beyond seven innings in both games of a scheduled doubleheader.
Perfection Is Perfected
In the Kangaroos' second game against South Dakota State in the Shocker Invitational, senior Alicia Baker was a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate, driving in three runs on the afternoon.
Have Another
UMKC has seen 32 multiple-hit outings on the season from nine different players. Alicia Baker, Julie Hartung and Megan Ussary each have belted out multiple hits on six occasions. Baker has collected two three-hit games and one four-hit afternoon. All told, the Kangaroos have seen eight three-hit outings and one four-hit afternoon on the campaign.
On the RBI ledger, UMKC has seen 14 multiple-RBI outings, with Baker and Hartung each posting five on the year. Hartung's tally was spiked last weekend by back-to-back four-RBI games against IUPUI. Lauren Rodrigues, Carli Slagle and Samantha Hurst have also collected multiple-RBI games on the campaign for the Kangaroos.
When A Bell Rings...
In UMKC's 7-6 loss to Southern Utah earlier this year, Alicia Baker finished just a home run shy of hitting for the cycle. She started off the game with a single, collected an RBI triple in the fifth and doubled home Monica Canisales in the sixth. She reached base safely in all four appearances on the afternoon, with an error by the third baseman helping her reach in the third.
Nine Times? Nine Times...
Although living in the Midwest brings with it an appreciation for varying weather patterns, the Kangaroos are surely sick of it. So far this season, UMKC has had to endure nine schedule changes due to weather. Originally moved to Sioux Falls, S.D., owing to snow on the NDSU competition field, this weekend's league series with North Dakota State saw another venue change on Wednesday. The games will now be played at Claussen-Westgate Field on the campus of the University of Nebraska-Omaha, while the UNO Mavericks host a tournament elsewhere in the city.
The Kangaroos' doubleheader at Missouri slated for February 22 was originally moved indoors but later rescheduled by agreement between the coaches. UMKC's participation in the All Missouri Cancer Classic was curtailed, as host Southeast Missouri State was forced to postpone Saturday's action - leaving the Kangaroos to take on Missouri State and Saint Louis in Springfield, Mo., before bowing out of the tournament due to NCAA regulations limiting games played in a day.
UMKC twice saw its home opener cancelled owing to unplayable conditions at Cleveland Park. The Kangaroos were forced to cancel the one-off contest against Iowa State originally scheduled for March 6 and changed venues for their contest against Indiana State, moving an hour-and-a-half west to Lawrence, Kan.
The final game of the Kangaroos' Summit League-opening series against Oakland was canceled due to a wind chill below allowable league levels and this week's series against Centenary was pushed back a day due to thunderstorms pelting the Kansas City area.
Weather has been a large factor throughout The Summit League this year, with IUPUI taking the cake with 12 cancellations on the year.
Injury Bug Bites (Really Bites)
After a recruiting odyssey that saw her bring in 12 new players, head coach Meredith Smith again finds herself battling the injury bug, as UMKC had just 10 players available against Missouri State and Saint Louis. The Kangaroos acquitted themselves well, however, earning a split on the weekend.
Tough Crowd
Although the Kangaroos went winless at the Kajikawa Classic, there were several encouraging signs. Alicia Baker led the team with a .333 batting average through five contests, collecting four hits and two RBI on the weekend. In just 9.0 innings of work, Samantha Hurst collected eight strikeouts, with Taya Upkes and Ashton Kistler each hurling a complete game. All of this against a tough schedule, including two teams ranked in the Top 25 in both the ESPN/USA Softball and USA Today/NFCA polls, as well as a team that knocked off the no. 11-ranked team in the nation.
Playing In Honor and Memory
Throughout the 2008 season, the Kangaroos will be playing in memory of UMKC Assistant AD for Compliance Cynthia Joy Gabel, who lost a lengthy battle with cancer before the 2007-08 school year. As part of the continued recognition and commitment to breast cancer awareness, UMKC and South Dakota State have pledged to commit the final game of each season's league set between the two schools to raising money and awareness by playing in commemorative pink jerseys. Fans can purchase and dedicate the jerseys to loved ones who are battling or whom have lost the battle to cancer. Each jersey will bear the name of the person to whom they are dedicated and - after being worn in the game by the respective teams - will be given to the purchaser. Proceeds from this year's contest will go to benefit the Susan G. Komen foundation, with proceeds from next year's return engagement in Kansas City to benefit the Cynthia Joy Gabel Scholarship Fund at UMKC. For more information on this program, contact head coach Meredith Smith at smithmer@umkc.edu or call the UMKC Athletics office at (816) 235-1036.
Reaching For The Summit
This year marks the first season of The Summit League, as the Mid-Continent Conference changed its name following the 2006-07 school year. The league welcomes newcomers North Dakota State, South Dakota State and IPFW for the 2007-08 season as charter member Valparaiso departs for the Horizon League. Of the three incoming schools, only IPFW will be eligible to qualify for the conference tournament this year, as both Dakota schools are completing the transition process to Division I and are therefore ineligible to compete in the NCAA Tournament.
The name change is part of a larger initiative, called The Summit Plan, launched by the league's President's Council in June 2007. The initiative looks to improve the overall athletic image of the conference and bring a more intense focus to the overall welfare of the student-athletes at the member institutions.
Media Guide Available
The 2008 UMKC Softball Media Guide is available for download at www.umkckangaroos.com, the official website of UMKC Athletics.
