'Roos Open at Home with Doubleheader vs. NIU
3/10/2014 3:13:00 PM | Softball
Date(s): March 11, 2014
Site: Kansas City, Mo. / Missouri 3&2 Softball Complex
Live Stats: UMKCKangaroos.com
Twitter: @KCRoos_Softball
(Kansas City, Mo.) – On the heels of an 8-0 victory over North Dakota in its final game of a cold-shortened Shocker Softball Classic, Kansas City will open up its 2014 home slate with a double-dip vs. Northern Illinois.
The 'Roos and Huskies were originally scheduled to face-off in the night cap in Wichita, Kan., on Saturday, followed by a single game at Missouri 3&2 on Wednesday. Mother nature had other plans, however, with frigid temperatures and bone-chilling winds cutting things short over the weekend. Weather projections are also calling for more cold and precipitation in the Kansas City area on Wednesday, leading to an agreement to get both games in with a double-header on Tuesday afternoon.
THE VENUEUMKC reached an agreement with the city of Kansas City in the fall of 2011 to begin playing its softball games at Missouri 3&2 Complex, 9600 Blue River Road.
The 'Roos opened play at 3&2 in the spring of 2012, hosting the Missouri Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, as well as the Summit League Championships.
The fences that surround the field have been refurbished and a new scoreboard was added, as well. The facility features a natural playing surface, surrounded by a warning track.
Fans taking in the action from behind home plate are shielded from the elements by a large, over-reaching coverage awning, while the host Kangaroos have the benefit of an enclosed dugout down the first base line.
Kansas City opened play at 3&2 with a 7-1 victory over Saint Louis in the first game of the Missouri Coaches vs. Cancer Classic on March 2, 2012 -- a win that sparked a three-game home winning streak.
Other noteworthy home victories include a 4-1 victory over Wichita State on May 2, 2012, and a 10-0 victory over Southern Utah during the 2012 Summit League Championships.
THE OPPONENTNorthern Illinois is fresh off of a 13-hit, 10-run performance in a win over North Dakota at the Shocker Softball Classic on Friday -- the team's seventh win of the season. The Huskies are a .500 ball club as they enter Tuesday's showdown with the 'Roos, entering at 7-7.
Most notable among the team's results, to date, are a pair of victories over Florida Atlantic and St. John's at the FAU Kickoff Classic, as well as a two-run loss to Ohio State in the same tournament, and an 8-7 loss to San Diego State in Wichita, Kan., last weekend.
Through 14 games, senior Nicole Gremillion has led the way for the Huskies offensively, batting .426 with four doubles and six RBI. Freshman infielder Rebecca Rupard leads the team in hitting (.500) with 10 hits, a homerun, and five RBI in just seven starts.
Jessica Sturm has paced the NIU battery, going 4-2 in six appearances, with four complete games, one shutout, and a 0.52 ERA. Sturm pitches to contact, accumulating just eight strikeouts in 40.2 innings of work.
THE COACHESNow in her eighth season as the head coach at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, head coach Meredith Smith Neal has transformed the UMKC softball program into a formidable contender in the Western Athletic Conference and beyond, becoming one of sport's up-and-comers in the process.
Under Smith Neal, Kansas City clinched its third consecutive postseason appearance in 2013, qualifying for The Summit League Tournament with a 6-7 conference record.
In 2008, UMKC finished with an 8-31 overall record, doubling its win total from 2007 despite fielding a team with nine freshmen. The .205 winning percentage was the program's best since 2003, and the modest improvement was the start of a four-year run of increased victory totals.
Smith Neal stands as the program's all-time winningest coach with an overall record of 137-210 (.395).
It didn't take long for Christina Sutcliffe to make her mark on the Northern Illinois University softball program. The seventh head coach in program history, Sutcliffe, a native of Crown Point, Ind., led the Huskies to the cusp of a Mid-American Conference championship in her first season at the helm of the NIU softball program.
Sutcliffe guided the Huskies to a 27-31 overall record, a 14-8 mark in league play and a run to the championship game in the 2013 MAC Softball Tournament. The Huskies opened their tournament run with a win over Sutcliffe's former school, Miami, and knocked off top-seeded Ball State, twice. However, the Huskies could not get past Central Michigan, falling to the Chippewas twice, including a 4-2 loss in 11 innings in the MAC Championship game.
GIRL ON FIRE: RAMOS SHINES IN WICHITAJunior Cinda Ramos had a breakout performance at the Shocker Softball Classic, collecting two hits in each of the team's three games, including a double and a homerun, and driving in four runs.
Ramos homered in the top of the sixth inning to extend an eventual 12-4 loss to Wichita State, then reached base five times on Friday in two contests vs. San Diego State and North Dakota.
Ramos also pitched a complete game shutout vs. North Dakota, going six innings and allowing just three hits and five baserunners, while striking out seven. It was the Olathe, Kan., native's best start of the season and it came at the perfect time for Kansas City, snapping a seven-game losing streak in what would be the team's final game of the tournament.
On the season, Ramos is not batting .333 with a team-leading four doubles, and no strikeouts. From the circle, she is third in the WAC in strikeouts-per-game with 5.79
UP NEXTThe 'Roos will host the UMKC Invitational on Saturday and Sunday, March 15-16, welcoming Northern Colorado and Western Illinois for a six-game tournament.
Northern Colorado head coach Shana Easley returns to Kansas City after spending four years as the lead assistant under Meredith Smith Neal from 2009-'12.
