Feb. 19, 2015
Notes | Live Stats | Watch Louisiana Game Live | Follow @MSUSoftball | Tournament Central
The Missouri State softball team (6-4) will head to the state of Louisiana for the second time in three weeks to take part in the Ragin' Cajuns Invitational. MSU will play a doubleheader at McNeese State (7-3) on Friday as part of the tournament. Then the Bears will face the No. 6 team in the country on their home field before wrapping the weekend with two games against Big Ten foe Iowa (3-5). The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns (9-0) are the first of two 2014 Women's College World Series participants the Bears will play in the next three weeks.
Freshman Chelsea Thomas continued her offensive barrage at the Texas A&M Aggie Classic last weekend. She topped the Bears with five hits, six runs batted in and two home runs after being slotted in the clean-up spot in the batting order. She responded with the second two home run game by an MSU freshman this season (Kaitlin Beason, Feb. 6 vs. ULM).
Thomas was awarded for her efforts by being named the MVC Newcomer of the Week for the second-consecutive week on Monday. She leads all MVC freshman in home runs (4) and RBI (11) and is second overall in both categories.
Senior pitcher Chelsea Jones had another fantastic week in the circle for the Bears. She had a miniscule 1.37 earned run average over three outings at the Aggie Classic. In the opening game of the weekend, Jones took a perfect game into the sixth inning against Eastern Michigan before a one-out bloop single broke up the no-hit bid. She surrendered just three hits in the game and did not allow a walk. Erin Struemph recorded the final two outs of the game and MSU had its first shutout of the season.
Struemph also had a great weekend in the circle. She hurled the Bears' first complete game of the season, but was the unfortunate losing pitcher on an unearned walk-off run in the seventh against Penn State. Struemph picked up saves on both of MSU's wins in Texas to double her league-leading total to four saves on the year. No other Valley pitcher has more than one save this season.
Junior Jessie Van Es completes a triumvirate of Bears' pitchers atop the league leaders in earned run average. Van Es earned a win in her only start of the weekend and lowered her ERA to 2.03, second behind teammate Struemph (1.94) and just ahead of Chelsea Jones (2.05) among the league leaders.
QUICK HITS
- Freshman Chelsea Thomas earned her second-consecutive MVC Newcomer of the Week after a two home run game against Eastern Michigan at the Aggie Classic.
- Thomas' 11 RBI are the most by any Valley freshman this season.
- Thomas became the second MSU freshman to hit two home runs in a game when she blasted two vs. Eastern Michigan on Feb. 14 (Kaitlin Beason, Feb. 6 vs. ULM).
- Senior Chelsea Jones had a perfect game through 5.1 innings against Eastern Michigan (Feb. 13).
- Missouri State pitchers Erin Struemph (1.94), Jessie Van Es (2.03) and Chelsea Jones (2.05) are 1-2-3 in the MVC in ERA this season.
- Struemph leads the Valley with four saves. No other league pitcher has more than one.
- Chelsea Jones became the second Bear in as many weeks to earn MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Week honors.
- At least one MSU player had multiple hits in each of the first nine games this season.
- Louisiana is the first of two 2014 Women's College World Series participants the Bears will face in the next three weeks.
IN THE OTHER DUGOUT
McNeese State Cowgirls: The Cowgirls are off to a 7-3 start and are coming off a title at the Houston Hilton Invitational last weekend. McNeese State took down Valley rival UNI as part of last weekend's games and have lost only one game to a team outside of the top-25. Junior pitcher Emily Vincent has a 4-0 record with a 0.64 ERA on the year to lead a staff with a 2.57 ERA. Freshman Hailey Drew has three of MSU's eight home runs and is one of three Cowgirls' starters hitting over .400 this season. Missouri State and McNeese State last met in 1998 with the Bears winning a 10-9 game to take a 2-1 all-time series lead.
#6 Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns: The sixth-ranked team in the country has had little trouble en route to a 9-0 start. The Ragin' Cajuns have allowed a single run against in nine games and have shutout opponents in five-inning fashion on four occasions. As a team the Cajuns have hit 20 home runs and have two starters, Aleah Craighton (.531) and Meagan Thomas (.500), hitting .500 or better on the season. Louisiana has a team batting average of .384. Missouri State has played the Cajuns close in five of the seven previous meeting but have yet to defeat Louisiana.
Iowa Hawkeyes: Iowa is coming off an 0-3 weekend at the University of Florida Tournament. The Hawkeyes were shut out in both losses to the host Gators. Iowa is 1-1 so far this season against MVC schools with a shutout loss to Drake in the season opener and rebounded to beat UNI in game two. The Hawkeyes' pitching staff has a sizeable 5.89 ERA this season and has surrendered 11 home runs and 32 walks in 44 innings of action. Redshirt sophomore Sammi Gyerman leads Iowa with a .348 average, but the Hawkeyes as a team have a .228 average. The Bears hold a 4-2 series advantage, but have dropped two straight against Iowa since a victory in the 1982 AIAW Region 6 Tournament
EXTENDING HER LEGACY
Head Coach Holly Hesse is second in all-time wins by an MVC coach with 680. With a 7-1 victory over South Dakota State on February 15, 2014, Hesse earned milestone win 650. She trails only current Illinois State coach Melinda Fischer (938 wins).
NEWCOMER DE JA VU
Missouri State freshman third baseman Chelsea Thomas began her career with back-to-back stellar weekends at the Louisiana Tech Invitation and the Texas A&M Aggie Classic. She hit two home runs over each weekend and led the Bears in runs batted in at both tournaments. For her solid performances, Thomas was named MVC Newcomer of the Week two-consecutive weeks to begin the year.
On Saturday, February 14, Thomas became the second MSU freshman this season to hit two home runs in a game (Kaitlin Beason, Feb. 6 vs. ULM). In the win over Eastern Michigan, Thomas drove in three runs, the second time in 2015 that she had three RBI in a game. No other Bears has driven in three runs in a game yet this season.
TWO FROSH, TWO HOME RUN GAMES
Freshmen Kaitlin Beason and Chelsea Thomas made immediate power impacts to the Bears' lineup. Both hit home runs for their first career hits. Beason hit two home runs against ULM (Feb. 6), her first career hits. Thomas hit her first long ball the next day against UAPB.
Then on Feb. 14, Thomas had her own two home run game. She hit home runs in her first and third at-bats in a 3-for-3 game against Eastern Michigan. It was her second three-RBI game of the season.
HITTING STREAKS
Senior Rebecca McPherson hit safely in each of the five games at the Louisiana Tech Invitational to begin the season. After hitting safely in each of her final three games of 2014, she had extended her hitting streak to eight games.
Redshirt sophomore Mary Stephens hit safely in the first three games of 2015 to extend her hitting streak to 11 games. It was the longest hitting streak by a Bear since Jessie Smith had a 12-game streak to end 2008 and begin 2009. Stephens' hitting streak spanned three seasons after she was limited to two games - she hit safely in both - in 2014.
PRESEASON PICK
Missouri State was selected seventh in the MVC preseason poll released on January 21. After finishing eighth in the league last season, the Bears aspirations are moving up more than one place in the final league standings this season.
Sophomore pitcher Erin Struemph was named to the preseason all-conference team. It was the second-consecutive season that an MSU sophomore was named to the preseason honor roll (Mary Stephens, 2014).
WAITING IN THE WINGS
Head coach Holly Hesse has commitments from five players to join the 2016 squad. Joining the Bears for the 2015-16 academic year are Darian Frost (Lee's Summit, Mo.), Morgan Greenlee (Snohomish, Wash.), Hannah Heinrichs (Broken Arrow, Okla.), Kyana Mason (Independence, Mo.) and Kara Powelson (Rosendale, Mo.).
