Jennies Hit the Road For Nonconference Matchup with William Jewell

WARRENSBURG, Mo. - Central Missouri Softball (22-22, 11-11 MIAA) completes their nonconference schedule with a doubleheader at William Jewell Wednesday, April 13. First pitch from Liberty, Mo. takes place at 1 p.m.

Leading Off
• The Jennies salvaged the weekend with an 8-inning win against Central Oklahoma. UCM had dropped four in a row before the win.
• Central Missouri went 2-4 on their season long six game homestand.
• Now that the Jennies are finished with early season tournaments, UCM has one nonconference opponent left, at William Jewell on April 13.
• The doubleheader with William Jewell are the Jennies only games this week as the schedule gives them a reprieve this weekend.
• Central Missouri is 11-11 in their first 22 MIAA games of 2016. They went 21-5 last year on their way to the MIAA regular season and tournament crowns.
• The Jennies had arguably their most successful season in 2015 with a 49-16 record and MIAA regular season and tournament wins as well as a trip to the NCAA Elite Eight.

Quick Hits
Anderson vs. the Cardinals
• Jennies Head Coach Susan Anderson hasn't had to square off with William Jewell often, but when she does, the Jennies skipper is 2-0 lifetime, including a win last season.

Jennies on the Road
• Central Missouri hits the road after a season-long six game homestand. UCM is 7-6 away from Warrensburg this season, but have lost four in a row on the road.

Opening Acts
• Jennies leadoff hitters are hitting .369 (109-295) this season. Ali Jo Rogers, the team's leadoff hitter for all 40 games is 31-73 (.425) when starting an inning. She also has led off two games with home runs. In a small sample sizes Madison Hood is batting .583 (7-12) leading off an inning.
• The Jennies are also doing a good job of getting on the board early in games. UCM has 39 first inning runs, their most in any inning. When leading after one inning UCM is 13-5 and 13-3 when leading after two. Against Pittsburg State the Jennies put up five runs in the opening inning in both games.

Little Alex is Still a Big Hit
• Standing at five feet, one inch there's no wonder why teammates call her "Little" Alex Leonhart. There's been nothing "little" about her bat though this season. It actually started in 2015 when Leonhart would routinely come up with timely hits, including two walk-off singles and a game-winning home run to clinch the MIAA regular season. This season, Leonhart may be the shortest cleanup hitter in the NCAA. She leads the Jennies with 27 RBI and 10 of her 32 hits have gone for extra bases. She also has a team-high six multi-RBI games this season.  

Queen of Steals
• Ali Jo Rogers continues to step on the gas when she gets on base. She's tied for the MIAA lead with 35 this season. She set the Jennies single-season record last season with 49 and is the career leader, currently with 125. Christen Belcher from Truman State is the MIAA all-time stolen base leader with 153 steals from 2005-08.

Glove is Love
• Over their last 23 games UCM has turned up the defense committing only 17 errors for a .974 fielding percentage. The teams fielding was at .947 before the current stretch.

Flirting with Disaster
• Central Missouri pitching has done a great job of bearing down with the bases loaded, holding opposing teams to a .169 batting average with the bags full.  For all the good the Jennies have done getting out of those jams, opponents have had 77 at bats with the bases loaded this season, almost two per game. All of last season, in 65 games, opponents had just 56 at bats with three ducks on the pond.

Crossover Pitching
• Jennies starters Emily Robinson and Allison Tonyan have both had success this season pitching to left-handed batters. Lefties are hitting just .212 off of Robinson (24-113), while Tonyan has fared even better, allowing just a .169 batting average (12-71). Lefties went hitless against Tonyan last weekend.

Streaks Ahead
• Emily Robinson is the latest Jennie to have an extended reached-base streak this season. The freshman is in the midst of a season-high eight game streak while Ali Jo Rogers has a six game run of her own, including a four game hitting streak. The Jennies record (in existence since 2003) is 22 games set by Rogers last season and Rachel Adams in 2007. King is hitting .358 with a team-high .585 slugging percentage and 11 RBI over her last 18 games.

Career Records
A handful of Jennies are closing in on some career milestones:
• Emily King and Alex Leonhart are inching closer to 100 career hits. King is at 94 hits while Leonhart stands at 90. The Jennies have had 47 student-athletes reach the 100 hit milestone.
• Lauren Mabe is also climbing up the Jennies all-time leaderboards. At 169 hits, Mabe is already in the top-15 all-time. She is also third all-time in home runs with 26 and is looking to become the third Jennie to ever hit 30 in a career. Finally, Mabe is just two doubles shy of cracking the top-10. She currently has 31 two-baggers while at UCM.
• Ali Jo Rogers hit 200 career games played last weekend, becomming the 11th Jennie to hit that mark. With two more games, Rogers will move into 10th place all-time.

Scouting the Opposition
William Jewell
Series History:  Central Missouri leads the all-time series with William Jewell 11-1. The Jennies needed eight innings to beat the Cardinals last season, 4-3 in their fourth game of the year.
Scouting Report: William Jewell is 19-21 this season and 10-12 in the Great Lakes Valley. Most recently, the Cardinals dropped a pair of close games to Truman State, but had won the previous three before that.

William Jewell's offense is led by Brooke Bernard. She leads the team in most offensive categories including average at .457 and home runs with seven. She enters the doubleheader with a .507 on base percentage and 44 RBI. As a team, the Cardinalds have hit 33 home runs and 53 doubles with a .285 team batting average.

In the circle, Shelby McGraw has gotten a majority of the starts. She's appeared in 32 games and has a 12-12 record with a 2.99 ERA. After McGraw, Anna Biondo and Taylor Friesen have each seen action in 14 games with Biondo making nine starts and Friesen seven. Biondo's pitched to a 5-4 record and 4.94 ERA while Friesen sports a 2-4 record and 5.62 earned run average.