Softball Completes Road Trip with Doubleheader at Missouri Southern

WARRENSBURG, Mo. - The Jennies conclude their season-long 12 game road trip with a make up date at Missouri Southern.

Quick Hits
Anderson vs. the Lions
Head Coach Susan Anderson is 13-6 in her career against Missouri Southern. No team has won back-to-back games since UCM in 2012. 

UCM in the Polls
The Jennies made their first appearance in the NFCA poll in the receiving votes category two weeks ago. In the most recent poll they've received seven votes which puts them at No. 33 in the NFCA Coaches Poll.

UCM was also opened the Central Region Poll at No. 3. The top two team's will both host the opening round regional matchups. 

200 Hit Club
Senior Jakki Prater slugged a two-run home run for her 200th career hit in game two of the Jennies doubleheader at Northeastern. Prater becomes the fourth member of the 200 hit club and third in as many years. Ashlea Bengtson started the streak in 2013 and has 2011 for her career. Braylyn Biven followed last year and is directly ahead of Prater with 210. Beth Savage is the all-time leader in hits with 222 and was the first to reach the milestone in 1995.

Prater now has 204 hits and trailed Bivens by just six. She is also at 192 games played and is on pace to become the 10th player in UCM history to reach 200 career games.

Rogers Sets Stolen Base Record
Junior Ali Jo Rogers set a new single-season stolen base record two weeks ago against Central Oklahoma. Rogers swiped her 30th bag of the season, breaking a 20-year old UCM record. With her three steals over the weekend, Rogers now has 72 in her three-year career, becomming just the third Jennie to ever reach 70 stolen bases. She currently nine stolen bases off of Heather Whitcomb's team record of 81 set back in 2007.

1,100 Wins
The UCM softball program reached a round number with their doubleheader sweep of Pittsburg State last Wednesday. They two wins gave the program 1,100 in their history. 

Shockley's Winning Streak
Senior Katie Shockley's winning streak ended at 10 apperances after pitching in relief Wednesday in Pittsburg. But she is still rolling along with wins in 11 straight starts. During that stretch, she's gone 11-0 with a 1.17 ERA and 48 strikeouts in 72 innings. In eight of those 11 starts, she's allowed no more than one earned run.

The only other Jennies pitcher (since 2003 when this record was first kept) with a streak of 11 or more wins in consecutive starts is Megan Leonard in 2009. Leonard had a streak of wins in 14 consecutive starts.

Mabe's Quest for .400
Sophomore Lauren Mabe is attempting to do what only six others have done in UCM history. Mabe leads the Jennies with a .419 batting average, which if she maintains will be the third-best single-season average in team history. Only six times has a Jennie batted at least .400, with the last coming from Courtney Opich in 2010. The single-season record for batting average is .457, set by Rachel Adams in 2007.  

Running at Will
The Jennies have stolen 83 bases so far this season, led by Ali Jo Rogers' single-season record 31. In addition to Rogers, Makayla Schoonover (14) and Carlie Rose (12) have double digit steals and Lauren Mabe (8) and Austin Eickleberry (7) aren't far behind. The Jennies have an outside shot at the single-season team record for stolen bases which is 97 set in 1995 and have already surpassed last season's total of 66.

Jennies at Home
The Jennies are a 10-2 at home this season after their sweep of No. 9 Emporia State and split with Washburn last weekend. For her career, Coach Anderson is 87-35 (.713) in home games.

Jennies on the Road
The Jennies are a 11-4 in true road games this season. For her career, coach Anderson is 81-74 (.523) away from Warrensburg.

Preseason Ranking
The Jennies were picked to finish fourth in the MIAA Preseason Poll. In 2014, they finished fifth overall and had eight All-MIAA student-athletes. 

Jennies in the Postseason
UCM went back to the MIAA Championships in 2014 and have been in 20 of the last 21 conference championship tournaments. The Jennies have won seven MIAA Championships in their history, most recently in 2009 and have made 10 NCAA tournament appearances. 

Scouting the Opposition
Pittsburg State
Series History: The Jennies have hold a 52-39 all-time record against the Lions and have been even better recently. Since 2004, UCM is 22-7 and Coach Anderson is 13-6 against MSSU. The Jennies won four straight over parts of three seasons (2011-13), but the teams have split each of the last three seasons.

Scouting Report: The Lions enter Tuesday's doubleheader with a 4-14 record in the MIAA and 11-31 overall. They have dropped their last six conference games.

MSSU's pitching has been their strong suit this season. They have a 3.97 staff ERA led by Ashley Lutz. Lutz is 6-14 but has pitched to a 3.19 ERA with 86 strikeouts in 118.2 innings.

At the plate, Alana Hester leads the Lions with a .289 batting average. She's reached base at a .347 clip and has 23 stolen bases in 28 attempts. Kathryn Goins has a team-best four home runs and second-best 16 RBI. Myranda Stewart has 11 extra-base hits, most on the team.

Last Time Out
PITTSBURG, Kan. - The Jennies swept MIAA leaders Pittsburg State Wednesday afternoon 3-2 and 11-7. The wins put the Jennies in sole possession of first place for the first time this season at 14-4 in the MIAA and 32-12 overall.
    It was a tale of two different games. The Jennies took an early lead in game one before holding on for a low-scoring 3-2 win. In game two, UCM went up 9-0 before the Gorillas scored seven runs late. UCM added some insurance, plating a pair in the seventh to preserve the wild victory.
    Katie Shockley earned the win in game number one to improve to 14-5. She has wins in each of her last 10 appearances, tying the school record since that stat was first kept in 2003.
    Katie Shockley and Alex Leonhart paved the ways to a Jennies win in game number one. Shockley threw 5.1 no hit-innings before hanging on for a 3-2 win.
With the game scoreless in the third, Alex Leonhart launched a two-out, three-run home run, the first of her career to break the tie.
    The rest was all Shockley. The Gorilla's got their first hit off of the senior on a one-out single in the sixth. PSU then brought the game within one on the next batter with a two-run home run from Nicole Nease.
    The Gorilla's continued to threaten, loading the bases with one out before Shockley got out of the inning with back-to-back strikeouts.
    Shockley shut the Gorillas down in the seventh as the Jens held on for a 3-2 win. She pitched her 10th straight complete game allowing two earned runs on three hits while striking out six and walking five.
    Leonhart was 1-for-3 with all three RBI for the Jens. Lindsey Dawson reached base in all three of her plate appearances with a single and two walks.
    The Jennies jumped out early scoring three in the opening frame of game two. It was Leonhart again with the big hit of the inning, a two-out, two-run double. She came around to score an unearned run and the Jens were up by three before PSU came to bat.
    UCM scored another three runs in the third. Leonhart drove her second double of the day to score Lauren Mabe, making it 4-0. Leonhart then came around to score on Carlie
Rose's RBI double on the very next pitch. Katie Giacone scored Rose with a single for the third run of the inning.
    The Jens added another three-run inning in the fourth, all with two outs. Mabe got the inning started with a single to short. Two batters later, Rose found a hole on the left side of the infield for a run-scoring single. After she stole second to put runners on second and third, Keelia Martin came through with a two-RBI single for a 9-0 Jennies lead.
    PSU got on the board in the fourth with a two run home run from Kylie Guthier and continued to close the gap. They added another two in the fifth on back-to-back RBI singles and three more in the sixth on Jordan Bradshaw's two-run home run and a two-out RBI double.
    UCM pushed the lead back to four, 11-7 with some insurance runs in the seventh on a run scoring fielder's choice, and an RBI walk from Rose.
    Lauren Mabe was 4-for-4 and was on base all five plate appearances with a double, three runs scored and a walk. The four hits are a single-game high for the sophomore. Leonhart, Rose and Martin all collected two hits and drove in three runs.
    Prater threw the first five innings for the Jens. She allowed five runs (three earned) on 10 hits with five strikeouts and no walks. Shockley came on in the seventh and allowed the tying run to reach the plate, but coaxed a pop up to end the game.
    MARYVILLE, Mo. -- The Central Missouri Jennies split their MIAA doubleheader at Northwest Missouri on Friday afternoon and in the process stayed in first place in the MIAA standings with six games to play. The Jens won the opener 4-1, before falling 2-1 in the nightcap.
    The Jennies (33-13, 15-5 MIAA) got out to an early lead with three runs in the second inning. Madison Hood got things started for the Jens with a two-run double to center field, UCM would tack on another run on Ali Jo Rogers' infield single. Jakki Prater singled to lead off the fifth, went to second on a single, third on a double play and scored on a passed ball to give UCM a 4-0 lead.
    The Bearcats (21-21, 13-9 MIAA) got a run back in the seventh on Rebecca Maher's RBI single, but that is all they would get against UCM starter Katie Shockley (15-5). Shockley tossed a complete-game seven-hitter to earn the win. She walked three and struck out one. Sarah Baldwin (9-7) took the loss for NWMSU after allowing four runs on six hits in seven innings.
    The Jennies ran in to a buzzsaw in game two in the form of Bearcat starter Kendle Schieber (8-6). She allowed one run on two hits over seven innings while striking out 11. The Jennies lone run came on a Prater two-out home run in the top of the seventh.
    Northwest Missouri scored a pair of unearned runs off of Prater (12-7) to grab the 2-1 win. They scored once in the second on a UCM throwing error and another in the sixth when Maher reached on an error and later scored on Schieber's RBI single.
    Prater allowed the two unearned runs on five hits in six innings. She struck out three and walked one.