Kangaroos Head To Alabama For Auburn Tiger Invitational

Kansas City, Mo. -- UMKC heads to Auburn, Ala., to compete in the Auburn University Tiger Invitational on Friday, Feb. 13 - Saturday, Feb. 15. This will be the second-out-of-five tournaments for the Kangaroos this season.

UMKC starts with host-school Auburn on Friday, Feb. 13 at 3:00 p.m. and will then play Morehead State at 8:00 p.m. The Kangaroos will play one game against Eastern Kentucky on Valentine's Day at 3:00 p.m. UMKC will wrap up play in the Tiger Invitational on Sunday, Feb. 15 with Furman at 9:00 a.m.

The Kangaroos went 0-5 last weekend at the Hotel Encanto De Las Cruces Invitational in Las Cruces, N.M. UMKC fell to Colorado State 6-5 and Ohio State 12-1 on Feb. 6, and dropped one game to Ohio 6-5 on Feb. 7. The Kangaroos dropped a pair of games on Feb. 8, 17-6 (5) to Cleveland State and 8-4 to New Mexico State.

Auburn University Tiger Invitational
Auburn, Ala.
Friday, Feb. 13 - Sunday, Feb. 15

Opponent Preview
? UMKC vs. Auburn University ? Feb. 13, 2009 ? 3 p.m.
Auburn University is 5-1 in the 2009 season, suffering just one loss to Louisville, 5-3. Myesha Finney is batting .421 in five games and leads the sticks with eight hits, one double, one home run and four RBIs. The top player on the mound for Auburn is Jenee Loree. Loree has a 0.55 ERA and is 3-0, starting in all three contests. She has given up just 12 hits and two runs while striking out 32 batters.

? UMKC vs. Morehead State ? Feb. 13, 2009 ? 8:00 p.m.
Morehead State is 4-4 so far in 2009, and will be coming to the Tiger Invitational off of a 6-3 (8) win over Northern Kentucky. So far this season, the Eagles are 2-0 in extra inning play.

? UMKC vs. Eastern Kentucky ? Feb. 14, 2009 ? 3 p.m.
Eastern Kentucky is the only team in the Tiger Invitational that will be kicking off its season in Alabama. In 2008, the Colonels finished 28-22 in the regular season and went 17-10 in the Ohio Valley Conference.

? UMKC vs. Furman ? Feb. 15, 2009 ? 9 a.m.
Furman is 1-1 on the season with Katie Michaels leading the way with a .400 batting average. Michaels has started in both games in 2009 and recorded two hits. Lana Mackey has a 1.00 ERA this season with a 1-0 record. Mackey gave up four hits and allowed one run to score against Georgia Tech. She has one strikeout on the year.

Young Crowd
The Kangaroos are still in the learning portion of their season with a roster composed of just four upper classmen and the rest being sophomores and freshmen. UMKC's young squad consists of 10 freshmen and many of them got to experience what collegiate softball is all about this past weekend in New Mexico.

Three freshmen played in all five games, with Chelsea Hartwig and Betsy Hanley earning the starting nod in all five. Danielle Bennefeld started in three and Anna Sokolik started in her first game on the mound for the Kangaroos against Colorado State.

The freshmen combined for 62 at bats over the weekend. They scored a total of eight runs and posted 19 hits at the Hotel Encanto De Las Cruces Invitational.

Home Run Derby
UMKC posted four home runs in the opening weekend of its schedule, with freshman Chelsea Hartwig leading the way. Hartwig posted two home runs in her first tournament.

Carli Slagle popped one over the fence against Ohio State and Amanda Evans sent one sailing against Cleveland State.

Kangaroos Drop Games To Cleveland State And New Mexico State
UMKC wrapped up competition in the Hotel Encanto De Las Cruces Tournament on Sunday afternoon. The Kangaroos dropped one game to Cleveland State, 17-6, with the game being called after five innings. UMKC also fell to the host school New Mexico State, 8-4. Danielle Bennefeld and Amanda Kinn batted 1.000 on the day, posting three hits a piece and scoring two runs.

UMKC Drops Close One To Ohio, 6-5
UMKC dropped another close game on Saturday at the Hotel Encanto De Las Cruces Tournament to Ohio, 6-5. Despite falling to 0-3 on the season, freshman Chelsea Hartwig hit her first collegiate home run in the second inning. Amanda Evans finished the day with two hits and two RBIs, while Betsy Hanley scored one run off of two hits.

Ohio jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second before the UMKC bats finally got into the swing of things with Hartwig's homer in the second to make it 3-1.

The Kangaroos notched another run in the third inning on a Kaelene Curry score. Curry walked and moved to second off of a Ashley Whiteside bunt. Kelly Fischer then advanced Curry to third with a ground out before Evans brought her home with an RBI single.

UMKC kept the momentum going in the fourth, taking its first lead of the game with Hanley and Samantha Hurst both scoring, putting the Kangaroos up 4-3.
Ohio was able to strike again in the sixth and tie the game at 4-4, thanks in part to two UMKC defensive errors. The Kangaroos earned the run back in the top of the sixth, with Whiteside scoring to give UMKC a 5-4 advantage. Whiteside reached on an error and moved to second base on a Fischer ground out to the pitcher. Evans then recorded her second RBI of the day by driving Whiteside in with a double.

Ohio, however, was able to tack on two more runs in the seventh to take a 6-5 lead heading into the top of the seventh with UMKC up to bat.
UMKC wouldn't be able to get it done in the seventh and would drop its third straight game in the 2009 season. The Kangaroos left the bases loaded in the top of the seventh and left 11 total batters stranded on base over the course of the game.

On the mound for UMKC was Hurst, suffering the loss and falling to 0-2 on the season. Despite striking out three, Hurst gave up eight hits with six runs scoring, four of which were earned. The UMKC defensive committed four errors on the day.

Slagle Posts First Home Run Of the 2009 Season, UMKC 0-2 After First Day In New Mexico Tournament
The UMKC softball team opened up the 2009 season this weekend in Las Cruces, N.M., at the Hotel Encanto De Las Cruces Tournament. The Kangaroos are 0-2 after day one of the tournament, falling to Colorado State, 6-5, and Ohio State, 12-1.

Carli Slage hit the first UMKC homer of the season and scored the lone run against the Buckeyes. Amanda Evans led all players, batting .500 on the day with three hits and one run, while freshman Chelsea Hartwig posted three hits, including two doubles and two RBIs.