Jennies Softball to Celebrate Senior Day this Weekend

WARRENSBURG, Mo. - Central Missouri Jennies softball (21-19, 10-8) wraps up a season-long six game homestand this weekend against Northeastern State, Friday, April 8 and Central Oklahoma, Saturday, April 9. The Jennies will also be celebrating Senior Day Saturday with a special presentation between games.

Leading Off
• The Jennies snapped a four-game losing streak Tuesday defeating Pittsburg State in game one of a doubleheader. The Gorillas lead the MIAA and were previously unbeaten in the MIAA.
• The doubleheader against the Gorillas was the start of a season-long six game homestand. The homestand wraps up this weekend with doubleheaders against Northeastern State and Central Oklahoma. UCM is 6-4 at home this season.
• Now that the Jennies are finished with early season tournaments, UCM has one nonconference opponent left, at William Jewell on April 13.
• Central Missouri is 10-8 in their first 18 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 RiverHawks
• Jennies Head Coach Susan Anderson has been in charge of UCM Softball since the RiverHawks entered the MIAA in 2013. The two teams also played a pair of nonconference games in 2012 and Anderson has gone 6-5 in her career vs. Northeastern State.

Anderson vs. the Bronchos
• During her tenure as coach of the Jennies, Susan Anderson has struggled against the Bronchos. UCO is 4-8 against Anderson's Jennies, though UCM snapped a six game losing streak to the Bronchos, sweeping a doubleheader last season.

Jennies at Home
• Central Missouri concludes their season long six game homestand this weekend. The Jennies are 6-4 this season playing in Warrensburg and were 17-2 in 2015.  

Opening Acts
• Jennies leadoff hitters are hitting .383 (102-266) this season. Ali Jo Rogers, the team's leadoff hitter for all 40 games is 27-66 (.409) 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) and Lauren Mabe is hitting .553 (8-15) leading off an inning.
• The Jennies are also doing a good job of getting on the board early in games. UCM has 36 first inning runs, their most in any inning. When leading after one inning UCM is 12-4 and 12-2 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 25 RBI and 10 of her 30 hits have gone for extra bases. Over her last 16 games, she is hitting a team-best .385 and has a team-high six multi-RBI games this season.  

Streaks Ahead
• Emily King lost a 14-game on base streak in the Jennies game one loss to Washburn, but has started another, hitting safely in the five games since. The 14-game streak is the longest by a Jennie this season. The Jennies record (in existence since 2003) is 22 games set by Ali Jo 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.

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 33 this season. She set the Jennies single-season record last season with 49 and is the career leader, currently with 123. She has an outside chance as well to catch the all-time MIAA leader, Christen Belcher from Truman State, who stole 153 bases from 2005-08.

Glove is Love
Over their last 19 games UCM has turned up the defense committing only 14 errors for a .975 fielding percentage. The teams fielding was at .947 before the current 19 game stretch.

Flirting with Disaster
Central Missouri pitching has done a great job of bearing down with the bases loaded, holding opposing teams to a .153 batting average with the bags full.  For all the good the Jennies have done getting out of those jams, opponents have had 72 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 .220 off of Robinson (22-100), while Tonyan has fared even better, allowing just a .197 batting average (12-61).

In Succession
The three primary pitchers for the Jennies, Jordan Johnson, Allison Tonyan and Emily Robinson are all separated by two one-hundredth's of a point in ERA. Johnson leads the team with a 3.27 earned run average, while Tonyan comes in at 3.28 and Robinson at 3.29.

Scouting the Opposition
Northeastern State
Series History:  One of the Jennies newer rivals, the RiverHawks joined the MIAA in 2013. The two teams had met prior to Northeastern joining the conference and the Jens hold an 11-8 all-time lead. The two teams split last year in Tahlequah.
Scouting Report: The RiverHawks are right in the middle of the MIAA with a 9-7 conference record and are 24-17 overall. Northeastern has won seven of their last nine games, including a six game winning streak in that span. NSU is just 5-6 on the road though.

The RiverHawks are led by MIAA wins and ERA leader Kayce Woodridge. She's gone 18-6 this season with a microscopic 1.26 ERA. She has struck out 125 batters in 160 innings while walking just 26. NSU has struggled to find another pitcher to compliment Wooldridge though, as the rest of the staff is a combined 6-11. Taryn Gray has received the most starts with 12 and is 4-6 with a 5.28 ERA.

Offensively, Northeastern has three in their lineup with a batting average greater than .300. Madison Boyd leads the team at .317 and is also their stolen base leader with eight. Ryan Martin supplies the power with a team-best home home runs and is hitting .310 and slugging .584. Jessica Boone also has some pop in her bat with four home runs and 12 doubles.  

The RiverHawks are one of the patient teams at the plate, having walked 135 times this season, second-most in the MIAA. They are also one of the better fielding teams in the conference, tied for the top fielding percentage at .966.

Central Oklahoma
Series History:  Central Oklahoma also joined the league in 2013. Before last season when the Jennies swept the Bronchos in Edmond, UCO had won six straight over the Jennies dating back to 2012. Central Missouri still leads the all time series, 15-12.
Scouting Report: The Bronchos are fourth in the MIAA with a 10-4 conference record and are 27-13 overall. They've won four of their last five conference games and are 7-5 on the road.

Unlike Northeastern State, the Bronchos are all about offense. They lead the MIAA in: batting average, on base percentage, slugging percentage, runs, hits, doubles, triples, home runs, RBI, total bases, walks and hit by pitches. The team has mashed 55 home runs, 1.45 per game which is second in the country. They've scored 295 runs on 415 hits and have 76 doubles and 17 triples with a .376/.455/.624 team slash line. Their team OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) is 1.087.

All seven of their offensive qualifiers and one non starter has hit at least five home runs. Lexi Watson leads the team with 10 and 49 RBI. Carli Jones sits atop the MIAA in batting average at .477. She's also popped five home runs and has 29 RBI. Morgan Heard is number two in the MIAA hitting .472. She too has five home runs and is tied for the team lead with eight stolen bases and has scored 49 runs.

On the mound, the Bronchos have relied on Jessi Walker. She's started 20 games and pitched 111.1 innings with a 12-6 record and 3.77 ERA. Nicole Brady is at 100 innings even on the season with a 10-2 record and 4.41 ERA. Walker leads the team with 100 strikeouts, but has also walked 70 batters.