Kansas City Returns to Wichita for Shocker Classic
3/5/2014 4:17:00 PM | Softball
SHOCKER SOFTBALL CLASSIC
Date(s): March 6-8Site: Wichita, Kan. / C. Howard Wilkins Softball Complex
Live Stats: GameChanger.IO
Twitter: @KCRoos_Softball
(Kansas City, Mo.) – After a weather-induced 10-day lay-off, the Kansas City softball team will return to the diamond in the city that hosted the team's spring training more than a month ago, Wichita, Kan., for the Shocker Softball Classic, hosted by Wichita State.
THE VENUEWichita State softball has called the $1.3 million Wilkins Stadium its home since the 1998 season. The state-of-the-art ballpark is among the best in the Midwest.
With another round of improvements in 2003, including covered batting cages down the left field line, a new scoreboard, and many other upgrades, WSU has set new attendance records and welcomed more fans than ever before.
Wilkins Stadium, which replaced the old WSU Softball Diamond, seats1,000 and consists of a locker room equipped with showers, coaches offices, team meeting rooms, umpires facilities, training room, a ground-level press box, ticket booth, public restrooms and concession facilities.
Wilkins Stadium is located southwest of baseball's Eck Stadium - Home of Tyler Field on the east side of campus.
Wichita State has opened 2014 with an 8-6 mark, including a 6-3 victory over common opponent Jackson State and four weather-related cancellations. The Shockers have won at least one game in each of the team's first four tournaments of the season, including a sweep of the Lady Techster Invitational.
Wichita State is led offensively by a foursome of formidable hitters, including UMKC-transfer Liz Broyles. Sophomore third baseman Paige Luellen leads the club with 14 RBI and is tied for the team-lead with two homeruns. Paige Mason and Kelli Spring are hitting .387 and .362, respectively, with Mason slugging .613 and notching two homeruns of her own.
In the circle, WSU has predominantly deployed Sloan Anderson and Kaitlyn Malone. Anderson leads the team with a 3.29 ERA, four complete games and 38 strikeouts through 55.1 innings of work. Meanwhile, Malone is 4-1 on the year with a 3.95 ERA over the course of a team-high seven starts.
San Diego State is just one game removed from a narrow two-run defeat at the hands of No. 2 Tennessee in the first leg of the San Diego Classic. On the season, the Aztecs have run out to an 11-7 start, including a victory over then-No. 23 California on Valentine's Day.
SDSU is spearheaded at the plate by Kansas City-native Patrice Jackson who leads the Mountain West in slugging (.907) and homeruns (7), while hitting .372 with an on-base percentage of .571. Freshman Sydnee Cable's career is off to a blistering start, as well, as the first baseman leads the team with a .396 batting average.
Danielle O'Toole has been the team's ace in the circle, compiling a league-leading 10 wins over 12 starts, including 10 complete games, two shutouts, and a 1.51 ERA.
North Dakota is fresh off of a disappointing showing at the Florida Gulf Coast Tournament, dropping all five contests to fall to 5-8 on the season.
Full season statistics are not available, but over the weekend junior outfielder Amanda Johnson batted .308 with two homeruns and 10 total bases.
Iowa State is off to a 14-4 start after winning 11 of its first 12 games. The Cyclones swept back-to-back tournaments, the Cyclone Invitational and the Troy Cox Classic, to open the season.
Three Cyclone hitters are batting .400-or-better, with Aly Cappaert pacing the group with a team-leading .434 batting average, five homeruns and 15 RBI. Sophomore Brittany Gomez is hitting at a .406 clip, while Lexi Slater is batting .400 with three homeruns and 14 RBI.
Katie Johnson has been outstanding in the circle, going 14-4 over her first 16 starts, including 12 complete games, two shutouts, and a 1.67 ERA through 113 innings of work.
Northern Illinois split a pair of contests versus Northern Kentucky and Evansville last weekend, to move to 6-5 on the season. The Huskies knocked off common opponent, St. John's, 6-2 at the FAU Kickoff Classic on Feb. 8.
Senior outfielder Nicole Gremllion leads the NIU offensive attack thus far, batting .378 with a team-leading 14 hits in 37 at bats.
Junior Jessica Sturm has been the team's most effective pitcher, going 4-2 with four complete games and an earned run average of just 0.52.
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).
Kristi Bredbenner enters her third season in charge of the Wichita State softball program. Bredbenner, who spent the previous six seasons leading Division II Emporia State to six consecutive postseason appearances, has begun the process of advancing the Shockers up the Missouri Valley Conference Standings.
In 2013, the Shockers advanced to the first round of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament for the first time since 2011 behind first-team All-MVC performer Erin Carney and a greatly improved pitching staff led by senior Katie Armagost and junior Sloan Anderson. Wichita State finished with a record of 19-33.
Kathy Van Wyk, the school's all-time winningest coach, has guided San Diego State to six MW titles and nine NCAA appearances, including the magical 2001 season when it came within a hair's-length of its first-ever Women's College World Series berth.
Prior to Van Wyk's inaugural head coaching season in 1997, the San Diego State softball program had losing records in 18 of its previous 20 years. SDSU boasted just a .413 winning percentage up to that point with a 400-569-5 record.
Eric Oakley is entering his third season as head coach of the University of North Dakota softball program in 2014.
In his first year with UND, Oakley led UND to an 18-29 record, including winning 10 of 12 games from March 25-April 21, while having a program record seven players named to the all-conference team.
Oakley coached Kenna Olsen to a 60-point increase in batting average and the schools fifth-best average in program history as she finished the year at .403. He also led Brittany Baker, Caralyn Chewning and Amanda Johnson to program top-10 finishes in single-season home runs.
Iowa State head softball coach Stacy Gemeinhardt-Cesler enters her ninth season as the Cyclone head coach in 2014. Gemeinhardt-Cesler has guided the Cyclones to a 173-231 mark in her first eight years with the program. She holds a career mark of 326-207 record in 11 seasons of coaching collegiate softball.
Iowa State rewrote the offensive record books in 2013, breaking team records for batting average, slugging, RBI, runs scored, home runs, walks and stolen bases. Players also broke individual single-season records for RBI, home runs, runs scored, walks and stolen bases. Defensively, the Cyclones turned 29 double plays, fourth most in the country and another school record while setting a record in fielding percentage.
LOOKING TO BOUNCE BACKKansas City suffered through an 0-4 weekend at the UTA Hilton Invitational Feb. 21-23, dropping a pair of contests vs. the host UT-Arlington to close out the weekend.
The 'Roos will look to get back in the win column in Wichita, fully rested following the cancellation of the All-Missouri Cancer Classic a week ago.
Bri Wyatt, who was injured in a 7-0 loss to Illinois, has paced UMKC at the top of the order, batting .400 with 12 hits, three walks, and a .455 on-base percentage.
Katie Kelley has been the top performer in the circle for the 'Roos, posting a 3.44 ERA and a 2-3 record through 10 appearances. Kelley has tossed four complete games, and is also tied for the team-lead with 13 RBI, while hitting .359.
UP NEXTKansas City will return home to host its first softball action of the season at Missouri 3&2, welcoming Northern Illinois on Wednesday, March 12, before holding the UMKC Invitational March 15-16.
