Kansas City Set to Face Wichita State in a Wednesday Doubleheader
3/12/2013 11:45:00 AM | Softball
(Kansas City, Mo.) - Wednesday evening, the Kansas City Kangaroos (7-12) will look to get back on track with a doubleheader matchup (5 p.m. and 7 p.m.) on the road against the Wichita State Shockers (9-11).
Coming in, the Kangaroos are currently on a five-game skid after going winless in Texas Tech's Jeannie McHaney Memorial Classic this past weekend.
The Opponent
» Wichita State Shockers (9-11, 0-0 Missouri Valley)
The Shockers enter Wednesday's contest as losers of their last three, including dropping both games to Nebraska in a doubleheader on Saturday to open their home schedule.
Leading the way for Wichita State offensively, catcher/infielder Melanie Jaegers sits first in batting average (.347), runs (14), walks (9), on-base percentage (.458) and stolen bases (11). Meanwhile, infielder Hayley Temple leads the squad in at-bats (63) and hits (19) to go along with a .302 batting average and eight RBI.
In the circle, junior Sloan Anderson (6-4) and senior Katie Armagost (3-7) both hold ERA's under three with Anderson currently at 2.70 and Stohlmeyer at 2.83. Strikeout wise, Armagost leads Wichita State with 39, while Anderson has 36 compared to five walks to go along with a save on the season.
» The Head Coach: Kristi Bredbenner is in her second season with the Shockers. In 2012, Wichita State went 15-40 in her first season after spending six years as the head coach at Emporia State.
» The Series: The Kangaroos are 7-32 all-time against the Shockers. In their last meeting, the two squads split a doubleheader at UMKC in 2012 with the Kangaroos taking game one, 4-1, and the Shockers winning the second contest in eight innings, 3-2.
Last Time Out...
The Blue & Gold dropped all five games in Texas Tech's Jeannie McHaney Memorial Classic over this past weekend.
In the first of three games against Texas Tech, UMKC was shutout for the first time season and fell 8-0 in five innings. The following game, the Kangaroos came up short to the Troy Trojans in eight innings, 16-11, despite a valiant effort. Offensively, Kansas City connected on 13 hits with three players tallying three, led by infielder Marlee Maples going 3-for-5 with a homer, two runs and four RBI. Meanwhile, infielder Jenna Rangel went 3-for-5 with two runs scored, outfielder Emily Ott went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and infielder Chelsea Hartwig managed to go 2-for-4 with three RBI.
Against the Red Raiders in game three, Kansas City came up short to Texas in six innings, 9-1. Yet, the Kangaroos crawled all the way back from eight runs down in game four against Texas Tech to tie the game at eight. Although, the Red Raiders doubled their run total in the fifth inning to come away with the victory, 16-8. At game's end, the Kangaroos tallied 10 hits with three players recording two, headlined by Katie Kelly's 2-for-4 performance at the plate with her team leading fourth homer of the season, four RBI and two runs scored. Also, Maples went 2-for-3 with two runs scored, while infielder Liz Broyles went 2-for-3 with a run scored.
To conclude the weekend, Kansas City suffered a 9-1 loss in five innings to the UT-Arlington Mavs.
Moving Up the Career List
With their performances this past weekend, four Kangaroos moved up in the UMKC record books in five different categories.
Career wise, senior Emily Ott now sits fifth in doubles (30) and ninth (68) in runs scored, whereas senior Chelsea Hartwig is now seventh in RBI (64) and sophomore Cinda Ramos is 10th all-time for most innings pitched (216.2).
Meanwhile, freshman Katie Kelley moved into an eight-way tie for most home runs in a single-season (4).
Watch Out, Freshmen Coming Through
Through 19 games, freshmen Liz Broyles (.393) and Katie Kelley (.392) sit first and second in the team's batting average rankings.
Along with holding UMKC's highest batting average, Broyles leads the squad in hits (22) and triples (2) to go along with nine runs, two doubles, seven RBI and a home run.
As for Kelley, she leads Kansas City in home runs (4), slugging (.686) and on-base percentage (.439) while sitting second in hits (20). Additionally, Kelley has tallied three doubles, 11 RBI, five walks and nine runs. In the circle, she is 1-1 on the season, picking up her lone win against North Carolina Central on Feb. 9.
All-Around Maples
Starting every game at third, sophomore Marlee Maples is batting .288, which is good for seventh on the squad. So far this season, the Spring, Texas native, leads Kansas City in at-bats (59), RBI (21), runs (18) and is second behind Emily Ott in doubles (5). Additionally, Maples sits second in home runs (2) and stolen bases (6).
Through 19 Games in 2012...
The Kangaroos were 10-9 coming off a 5-1 loss to UAB in the Kentucky Invitational on March 16.
Next Up for the Kangaroos...
Will be their Summit League opening series at Fort Wayne this weekend on Saturday (12 p.m. and 2 p.m.) and Sunday (11 a.m.).
