Season Stats

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - Central Missouri entered the MIAA tournament as the No. 1 seed and looked the part, on their way to wins in the opening two rounds in Overland Park, Kan. The Jennies defeated Fort Hays State 5-3 in the opening round before picking up their second win against Northwest Missouri, 4-1.

The two wins give the Jennies (41-13) their first 40-win season since 1995. 

Although the outcome was the same, the way they got there couldn't have been more different. UCM needed to come-from-behind in game one to beat eighth seeded Fort Hays. In game two they took an early lead and never trailed as they took care of the No. 5 seeded Bearcats.

The one constant was senior pitcher Katie Shockley. Shockley, who in the pre-game ceremony was named First Team All-MIAA for the first time in her career, earned the win in both games. She threw a combined 12.2 innings allowing just one earned run on eight hits while striking out 10. Her two wins improve her to 20-5 for the season. Her 20 wins tie her for fifth all-time in UCM history and she is just the fourth Jennies pitcher to ever win 20 games in a single season and the first since 2008.

UCM continues its quest for the MIAA Tournament championship tomorrow afternoon against Pittsburg State. The Gorillas also went 2-0 on day one of the tournment. Tomorrow's action gets underway at 3 p.m.

Game One - UCM 5, FHSU 3

Fort Hays jumped out of the gates early, scoring three runs in the first two innings off of Jennies starter Jakki Prater. The damage could have been more, but Shockley entered and stranded three Tigers on base.

UCM began to chip away in the third inning when Katie Giacone lifted her sixth home run of the season to right center. The Jens added another run in the fourth on a sacrifice fly from Madison Hood, scoring Carlie Rose who tripled, cutting the lead to 3-2.

The score stayed that way as Shockley had her way with the Tiger lineup. UCM capitalized in a big way in the sixth inning off of a pair of costly Tigers errors. Prater led off the inning reaching on error to first base. Lauren Mabe then connected for a double and Prater tied the game with some heads up baserunning. Noticing the ball got away from the third baseman, Prater raced for home with the tying run. Two batters later, the Jens grabbed their first lead when Rose ripped a single to right to score Mabe. Hood picked up her second RBI of the day and gave the Jennies some insurance with with a long double to right center to score Rose.

Shockley set the Tigers down in order in the seventh to successfully complete the Jennies comeback. She earned the win throwing 5.2 innings of hitless relief while striking out four and walking two.

Rose had a big game at the plate, collecting three of the Jennies eight hits. She was 3-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored. 

With her double in the sixth, Mabe became just the third Jennie to ever record at least 70 hits in a season. 

Game Two - UCM 4, NWMSU 1

Game two was another nail biter, but the Jennies never trailed along the way.

Both Shockley and Bearcat starter Kendle Schieber matched zeroes through the first two-and-a-half innings. UCM got on the board first in the third playing small-ball. Makayla Schoonover worked the count for a one-out walk. Ali Jo Rogers then layed down a bunt single back to the pitcher. With Lindsey Dawson up, Rogers and Schoonover stole second and third respectively, their 39th and 30th steals of the season. Dawson drove home one run with an RBI single to right and Prater followed with a sacrifice fly, giving the Jennies a 2-0 lead.

The Bearcats quickly got one run back an inning later on a two-out double from Baylee Scarbrough, but that was as much as Shockley would allow.

UCM padded their lead with two more runs in the sixth inning, for the 4-1 win.

Shockley went the distance to pick up a win in her 15th straight start. She allowed one run on eight hits with six strikeouts and no walks. 

The Jennies collected only four hits but made them count. They also stole three bases in the game. Rogers was 1-for-3 with a run and a stolen base. The run was her 47th this season, putting her just one behind the all-time single season record.