WARRENSBURG, Mo. (March 16, 2018) - The weather has caused some changes to their schedule, but Jennies softball will take the field this weekend against four Northern Sun Opponents
Opponents: Upper Iowa Peacocks
Concordia-St. Paul Golden Bears
Northern State Wolves
Wayne State (Neb.) Wildcats
When: Saturday-Sunday, March 17-18
Upper Iowa - March 17, 1 p.m.
Concordia-St. Paul - March 17, 3 p.m.
Northern State - March 18, 1 p.m.
Wayne State - March 18, 3 p.m.
Where: Maryville, Mo. - Bearcat Field
Leading Off
• Central Missouri last more than one week ago, defeating Rockhurst in a doubleheader in their home opener, and splitting at Southwest Baptist to start MIAA.
• At 1-1 in the MIAA, the Jennies are tied for eighth in the league standings.
• The Jennies schedule, as it has done all season, has changed for this weekend. Games originally scheduled for Friday-Sunday in St. Joseph, Mo. have been rescheduled for Saturday-Sunday in Maryville, Mo. The Jennies will take on Upper Iowa and Concordia St. Paul Saturday afternoon and Northern State and Wayne State on Sunday.
• Central Missouri was picked to finish fourth in the 2017 MIAA Preseason Coaches Poll. The Jennies tallied 133 points in the poll.
• 2018 will mark the 47th season of Jennies softball. It will also be the 12th season under the direction of Head Coach
Susan Anderson
Quick Hits
Anderson vs. the Opponents
• Coach Anderson has had success with the Jennies when taking on Northern Sun opponents, especially these four. The Jens are a collective 19-5 under Anderson vs. this weekend's opponents. Only Wayne State has defeated Anderson's Jennies more than once as UCM is 5-3 vs. the Wildcats.
Jennies at Neutral Sites
• Central Missouri has played plenty of neutral site games so far this season, 13 of their first 21. They are 5-8 in those games. These are the Jennies final scheduled neutral site games of the regular season.
Milestones
• There are a handful of Jennies closing in on 100 career hits.
Makayla Schoonover is the closest with 98. She also could become the second Jennie to ever steal 100 career bases. She stands at 73 which is the fourth-most in team history, and three shy of third place.
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Allie Dishinger has 90 hits and
Hailey Crabtree, a junior has 73 hits.
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Emily King, who has already surpassed 100 career hits, is also three home runs away from joining the all-time top-10 list.
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Alexa Bradley, who made five saves last year is already tied for fourth all-time and
Katie Giacone's four are tie for sixth. The UCM record is 12, set by Mandee Berg. Bradley also needs 13 more strikeouts to reach 100 for her career.
Streaks Are Us
• Senior outfielder
Courtni Smith has kicked it into high gear lately. She has picked up at least one hit in her last seven games, the longest hitting streak of the season for the Jens. In terms of reaching base, freshman shortstop
Kaitlyn Markin is right behind her with a six game streak, and has reached base in seven of her eight games since returning from injury.
Running with the Deer
• One of the most consistant Jennies this season has been sophomore outfielder
Lauryn Deer. She not only leads the team with a .361 batting average, but she's swiped 13 bags out of the leadoff spot. The Jennies have combined for nine three-hit games this season, not only is Deer the only player with multiple, she has four of the nine.
Worm Killer
• One thing that has not changed in two seasons is that
Alexa Bradley is a ground ball machine. In 28.1 innings, Bradley has induced 56 ground balls, while also striking out 16 and getting 10 to fly out. Of her 82 outs this season, 69% have come on ground balls.
Stolen Base Success
• The Jennies haven't hit many extra-base hits this season, but any way they get on base, gives them the opportunity to move up via their legs. The Jennies have 38 stolen bases this season which is the most in the MIAA. Deer leads the way having stolen 13 bases and three others have at least five steals.
Courtni Smith has swiped seven bases and
Makayla Schoonover and
Taylor Dames have each stolen five.
Leadoff Leaders
• The Jennies are hitting .397 leading off an inning.
Lauryn Deer and
Courtni Smith both have more than 10 hits leading off innings and
Alexis Koop is hitting .571 (8-14) in such situations. Both the Jennies and their opponents are 58-146 when leading off an inning.
Model of Consistency
• Only one Jennie has started a game this season at catcher, that's
Allie Dishinger. That's a trend that has continued for a while. Dishinger was the only Jennie that started at catcher last year as well, starting in 55 games. Dating back to 2016, Dishinger has started in 81 straight games at catcher.
Cut in Half
• The best pitched game of the Jennies season so far came from an unlikely source. In their last game, junior
Shelby Clark threw a complete game shutout, defeating Southwest Baptist 8-0. She tossed all seven innings and allowed just five hits with two strikeouts. Clark also cut her season ERA nearly in half. She entered the game with an ERA of 10.04 and by the end of it, was down to 5.25. The Jennies have a 3-1 record this season when Clark starts a game, tied for the most wins of UCM's starters.
Scouting the Opposition
Upper Iowa Peacocks - 12-4
SERIES HISTORY: Central Missouri has had the upper hand in this series, holding a 7-1 all-time advantage over the Peacocks. The Jens are also 6-0 under Coach Anderson. The two teams met in this crossover last year, with the Jennies winning via shutout, 2-0.
SCOUTING REPORT: The Peacocks are off to one of their best starts in school history. At 12-4, they are already more than halfway to last season's win total of 19. They went 6-2 two weeks ago at the PFX Spring Games in Clermont, Fla.
The Peacocks have relied on two starters all year long. Both Jaclyn Thompson and Emily Kisch have made eight starts each. Kisch is 7-2 with a 3.06 ERA and 48 strikeouts in 53 innings. Thompson is 4-2 and sports a 2.88 ERA.
Three Peacocks have double-digit RBI totals. Katie Crogan leads the team with 14 and Julia Buffington has 12. They each have two home runs as well. Jenny Budds has 21 hits and a team-high .389 batting average and is 5-7 in stolen base attempts. The Peacocks do a good job of putting the bat on the ball. They've struck out just 67 times in 452 at bats, or once in every 15 at bats. They also have already hit 43 extra-base hits including 29 doubles. Crogan has picked up six two-baggers on the year.
Concordia-St. Paul Golden Bears - 13-5
SERIES HISTORY: Another team UCM has had success with is the Concordia-St. Paul Golden Bears. The Jens are 7-2 all-time and 5-1 with Coach Anderson on the bench. They last met in 2016, a 15-0 win for the Jennies.
SCOUTING REPORT: The Golden Bears are another team off to a hot start and doing much better than a year aga. CSP is 13-5 and winners of five of their last six games. They won just 16 total games a year ago.
Carlie Hart and Hannah Carlson has been the big bats for the Golden Bears. They are each hitting over .400 with Hart's .448 batting average leading the way. She is also a perfect 13-13 on stolen base attempts and has scored 19 of Concordia's 103 runs. Five Golden Bears have double-digit RBI. Haley Schanks leads the team with 12 and the other four all have 11.
Aryka Knoche has started nine games in the circle and has a 3.55 ERA with a 5-3 record. She has struck out 35 batters in 51.1 innings. Earlier this year, she was named the NSIC Pitcher of the Week going 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA and 13 strikeouts in 12 innings. kali Kaestner has a 5-2 record and 2.17 ERA mostly coming out of the bullpen. She is limiting hitters to a .229 batting average.
Northern State Wolves - 9-7
SERIES HISTORY: Northern State picked up their first ever win against the Jennies last year, a 4-3 win in eight innings. These two haven't met much. All-time, UCM is 3-1 against the Wolves.
SCOUTING REPORT: Northern State is off to a 9-7 start this year. They recently played 12 games in Clermont, Fla. where they went 7-5. They have won four of their last five games.
Jamie Fisher has been nearly unhittable for the Wolves. She has a 1.91 ERA in 66 innings and has pitched to a 6-3 record. She was named the NSIC Pitcher of the Week earlier this month after going 2-1 with three complete games and a save. Fisher has won or saved eight of the Wolves nine wins this season.
Northern State also has one of the hottest bats in the conference in Kennady Thompson. She is hitting .447 with 21 hits in 47 at bats. She has driven-in a team-best 13 runs and reached base 50% of the time. Katie Dawson has half of the Wolves home runs this season with three. She is hitting .378 and slugging .644, second-best on the team.
Wayne State Wildcats - 6-9
SERIES HISTORY: Wayne State is the one team this weekend that has historically given UCM the most trouble. The Jennies are 8-6 all-time against the Wildcats and 5-3 under Coach Anderson. Last year the Jennies picked up a six-inning 9-1 win.
SCOUTING REPORT: Wayne State is 6-9 to start the season. They most recently split with Truman State earlier this week. They have played five games against MIAA teams this season and are 1-4 in those games.
Pitching has been an issue for the Wildcats. They have a team ERA of 5.28 and have given up 116 runs in 103.1 innings pitched. Maddie Moser has a 3.74 ERA and a 2-3 record with a team-best 26 strikeouts. Riley Vanderveen leads WSC in wins with three. She has three complete games and 18 strikeouts and 19 walks in 45 innings.
Rachel Shumaker leads the Wildcats batting .383 with a 42.3% on base percentage. Emily Chandler has a team-best 20 hits and three home runs. Alyx Hagen is the only one in the lineup with 10 RBI. Of her 13 hits, five have been doubles. The Wildcats are not the best defensive team with 32 errors and a .932 fielding percentage.
