Kansas City Set to Conclude Long Road Swing with Doubleheader at Missouri State
3/18/2013 12:09:00 PM | Softball
(Kansas City, Mo.) - After not playing in last weekend's Summit League opening series at Fort Wayne due to inclement, the Kansas City Kangaroos (9-12) will head to Springfield, Mo. Tuesday to take on the Missouri State Bears (10-12, 1-1 MVC) in a doubleheader (3 p.m. and 5 p.m.). With this matchup, it will conclude UMKC's 23-game road swing to open up the season.
The Opponent
» Missouri State Bears (10-12, 1-1 Missouri Valley)
The Bears head into Tuesday's doubleheader sitting at 2-3 in their last five games, including going 1-1 to open up conference action this weekend at home against Northern Iowa.
Offensively, Missouri State currently has eight players hitting over .300 with the squad holding a .301 batting average overall. Batting .328 on the season, infielder Stevie Pierce leads the Bears in RBI (24), home runs (6) and walks (10), to go along with 16 runs and a .721 slugging percentage. Meanwhile, infielder Kirstin Cutter is batting .325 and leads Missouri State in at-bats (77), runs (22), hits (25) and stolen bases (8), whereas infielder Mary Stephens is batting .375 with 24 hits and 16 RBI.
In the circle, sophomore Chelsea Jones (8-6) is Missouri State's leader in complete games (12), starts (13), shutouts (2) and strikeouts (33).
» The Head Coach: In her 25th season at the helm, Holly Hesse is Missouri State's all-time winningest head coach with an overall record of 634-621-2. Throughout her tenure, the Bears have won two regular season conference titles and five conference tournament crowns.
» The Series: The Kangaroos are 8-31 all-time against Missouri State. Last season, the two squads met three times as Kansas City came away with two victories, 7-0 and 7-3, while the Bears managed to pull out a 4-2 win.
Last Time Out...
The Blue & Gold ended a five-game skid with a doubleheader sweep over the Wichita State Shockers last Wednesday on the road.
In the first game, Kansas City came away with a 4-2 victory behind pitcher Deanna Friese (6-5) recording a season-high 15 K's, which came within one of matching a career-high. Friese also surrendered two walks, four hits and one earned run, while UMKC's offense scored all of its runs in the fourth to erase a 1-0 deficit.
Game two, meanwhile, Friese's momentum carried over as she tallied 12 strikeouts while allowing five hits in the Kangaroos' first shutout victory of the season, 7-0.
At the plate, Kansas City connected on 14 hits, led by outfielder Emily Ott going 3-for-4 with three RBI, two runs and a home run, whereas outfielder Brooke Parker went 3-for-4 with three runs scored.
Friese Bounces Back
After an up-and-down season thus far, Deanna Friese turned in her best back-to-back performances with Kansas City's sweep over Wichita State by allowing one earned, surrendering five walks and recording 27 K's for a 0.64 ERA. For the season, Friese's ERA sits at 8.07 with 86 strikeouts in 68.0 innings of work.
Ott Gaining Momentum
After going 3-for-7 (.429) with two runs and three RBI, including a home run in Kansas City's doubleheader sweep over Wichita State, Emily Ott is now batting a team-best .379 with 22 hits, six doubles, 10 runs, 15 RBI and two home runs.
Earlier in the season in an 11-3 loss to Texas Tech on Feb. 16, Ott hit a solo home run to pass Amanda Rice (1999-02) to become the program's all-time in the RBI department with 98. Currently, her career RBI total stands at 108.
Watch Out, Freshmen Coming Through
Through 21 games, four freshmen have made significant contributions so far this season for the Kangaroos.
Holding the second highest batting average (.377) on the squad, Liz Broyles leads UMKC in hits (22) and triples (2), to go along with 12 runs, two doubles, seven RBI and a home run. Earlier in the season, she was named Summit League Player of the Week honors.
Behind her, Brooke Parker sits third in batting (.375) with 18 hits, six RBI and a team-best .444 on-base percentage. Meanwhile, Parker is tied with Bri Wyatt for the team's leader in stolen bases (7) and leads UMKC in walks (6).
Seeing time at multiple positions, Katie Kelly leads Kansas City in home runs (4) and slugging (.621), while sitting second in on-base percentage (.439) and third in hits (20) for a .362 batting average. 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.
As for Jenna Rangel, she is batting .296 with 16 hits, 12 runs, two doubles, one triple, nine RBI and two stolen bases.
All-Around Maples
Starting every game at third, sophomore Marlee Maples is batting .273, which is good for seventh on the squad. So far this season, the Spring, Texas native, leads Kansas City in at-bats (66), RBI (22), runs (18) and is second behind Emily Ott in doubles (5). Additionally, Maples sits second in home runs (2) and stolen bases (6).
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).
Through 21 Games in 2012...
The Kangaroos were 2-1 in Summit League play and 10-11 overall, coming off a 3-1 loss to UAB in day two of the Kentucky Invitational.
Next Up for the Kangaroos...
Will be their home opening series as they will welcome the defending Summit League regular season and tournament champions, North Dakota State, on Friday (3 p.m. and 5 pm.) and Saturday (12 p.m.).
