The Lady Hawks will open their season against the Jennies in this tournament. Quincy finished the 2013 campaign with a 23-30 record and posted a 17-19 record in Great Lakes Valley Conference play. The team returns junior catcher Jessica Grimes who led the team in batting at a .314 clip in 41 games last season.
She added two homeruns, 20 RBI's and smacked five doubles. The top returning pitcher is junior Murphi Armstrong who went 0-6 with a 4.67 ERA in 12 appearances (four starts).
Henderson State: The Reddies enter the weekend with a record of 3-4. Senior Amber Klug is the Lady Reddies' top hitter, accumulating 11 hits in 20 at-bats (.550) with a homerun and four RBI's. Henderson State's pitching staff has combined for a 4.71 ERA. In 49.0 innings, Lady Reddy hurlers have yielded 43 runs (33 earned), 68 hits and 27 walks.
William Jewell College: The Cardinals are coming off a 32-15 season where they fell in the Great Lakes Valley Conference championship game. William Jewell loses its top two hitters from last season, but does return senior outfielder Ashley Barrett who hit .365 with 14 RBI's, 39 runs and 11 stolen bases. Junior pitcher Faith Song looks to build on an 11-3 record and a 3.42 ERA in 2013. Song collected two complete games in 84.0 innings.
Arkansas Tech: The Golden Suns enter the weekend with a 1-1 record. ATU returns All-American junior Sierra Gomez, who batted .355 with 16 homeruns last season. In 2013 she tied an NCAA record with homeruns in five-consecutive at-bats. Arkansas Tech also returns an All-GAC selection in junior Whitney Robinson who led the team in batting at .399 and stolen bases (10-for-11).
Missouri-St. Louis: The Tritons open as the nation's 18th ranked team in Division II. A 41-13 record in 2013 bought them a ticket to the Midwest Regional where they lost to Grand Valley State. The team set a new program record for GLVC victories in a season with 22. Junior catcher Madison Zbaraschuk returns as the team's leading hitter. A season ago, she posted a team-best .371 average, 12 homeruns and 54 RBI's. Sophomore pitcher Hannah Perryman finished her first collegiate season with first-team All-Midwest Region honors after posting a 24-6 record in 38 appearances and a 1.55 ERA. She threw a team-high 202 2/3 innings and fanned 352 batters.
Illinois-Springfield: The Prairie Stars finished 21-28 last season. They return junior outfielder Chelsea Minor, who batted a team-high .355 with six homeruns and 34 RBI's. Their 2013 wins leader is back on the pitching staff in junior Cheyanne Bowman. Last year, Bowman went 13-13 with a 4.62 ERA in 31 appearances (26 starts). She threw 16 complete games in 161 2/3 innings of work.
Series History
Quincy University: The Jennies lead the all-time series, 6-4. The last time these two teams met was Feb. 27, 2011, with UCM winning, 4-1.
Henderson State: This will be the seventh meeting between the Reddies and the Jennies with the Reddies holding a 4-2 edge in the series. The two teams split a pair of games last weekend in Arkadelphia.
William Jewell: The Jennies lead, 9-1, with the most recent matchup in 2006, a 5-1 win for Central Missouri.
Arkansas Tech: This will be the fifth meeting between UCM and Arkansas Tech. The series is deadlocked at 2-2. UCM evened the series last season in the Southeastern Regional Invitational, winning, 5-4.
Missouri-St. Louis: The all-time series stands at 31-21 in favor of the Jennies. The last meeting occured on March 30, 2012, ending in a doubleheader split. The Jennies won the first game, 5-4, with the Tritons winning the second game, 7-4.
Illinois-Springfield: This will be the first ever meeting between the two schools.
Last Time at Arkansas-Monticello Classic
UCM last competed in the Arkansas-Monticello Classic last season. The Jennies compiled a record of 3-3 in the event, winning games against Southern Arkansas, Ouachita Baptist and Oklahoma Panhandle State, and losing to Henderson State, Southern Nazarene and Southwestern Oklahoma State.
Non-Conference Games
Central Missouri has been 784-575 in non-conference games since 1972, the beginning of softball at UCM. In the 'NCAA/MIAA Era' the Jennies have compiled a 640-452 non-conference mark. Anderson has a 112-104 record in non-conference contests.
Conference Games
Central Missouri has posted a 237-136 MIAA mark since the inception of the conference in 1983. Under Anderson the Jennies are 76-44 in conference action.
Home Field Advantage
Since the 1977 season, Central Missouri is 351-156 at home. Under Anderson, the Jennies are 64-26 at home. UCM has gone undefeated in the 2007 (8-0), 1991 (13-0), 1989 (8-0), and 1979 (6-0). Last season the Jennies were 9-7 at home.
On the Road
Since 1977, UCM has posted a 220-204 mark on the road and a 423-315 record at neutral sites. Under Anderson the Jennies have gone 62-61 on the road and 78-74 at neutral sites.
Jennies Picked Seventh in MIAA Preseason Coaches Poll
The Jennies softball team is predicted to finish seventh in the 2014 MIAA preseason poll as picked by the league coaches. The Jennies received 95 total points in the poll, which was released Friday morning.
Central MIssouri finished the 2013 season with a 24-22 record, 14-14 in MIAA competition. The Jennies return 10 players, headlined by 2013 second-team All-MIAA infielder
Braylyn Bivens.
Central Oklahoma was a unanimous selection to repeat as regular season MIAA champions, receiving all 13 possible first-place votes. The Bronchos totaled 169 points in the preseason poll. Missouri Western received the other first-place vote, totaling 156 points to finish second. Fort Hays State (138 points), Emporia State (130) and Northeastern State (115) round out the top five.
A Tradition of Excellence in the Athletic Arena
• At the conclusion of the fall 2013 athletic season, Central Missouri has won a combined 193 MIAA regular-season conference championships in 14 league sports to lead all schools.
• During the 2012-13 school year UCM captured three MIAA regular season and one tournament championship.
• Since 1983, the tenure of Athletic Director
Jerry Hughes, UCM has won or shared 139 MIAA championships, more than any other league school.
• Central Missouri has won five national championships since 1980 (men's and women's basketball in 1984, baseball in 1994 and 2003, and women's bowling in 2003) and seven national championships overall.
A Tradition of Excellence in the Classroom
• The 550 Central Missouri student-athletes received 375 Academic Awards from the MIAA office for the 2012-13 academic year.
• 305 UCM student-athletes were named to the MIAA Academic Honor Roll with a 3.0 GPA or higher.
• 37 UCM student-athletes were named MIAA Scholar Athletes with at least a 3.5 GPA and having earned all-MIAA honors in their respective sport.
• 33 UCM student-athletes were named MIAA Academic Excellence Award winners with a 4.0 GPA.
• UCM had eight student-athletes earn Academic All-America honors in their respective sports, including Brent Vogel being named the Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year for Men's Track & Field.
Upcoming Schedule...
The Jennies will make their way to Joplin, Mo. to battle in the Missouri Southern Tournament from Saturday, March 1 through Sunday, March 2. They will open play against Sioux Falls on March 1 at 10 a.m. and end the day with Wayne State College at 2 p.m. Sunday will culminate with a 9 a.m. first pitch against Illinois-Springfield and a 3 p.m. contest with William Jewell College.
