May 7, 2015
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The Missouri State softball team (29-24, 17-9) heads to this weekend's Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in Wichita, Kansas, as the two-seed. The two-seed gives MSU a bye into the semifinals with the Bears scheduled to take the field at 2:34 p.m. on Friday against a yet-to-be-determined opponent. The last time that MSU was the two-seed was in 2006 and the Bears won three-straight 4-0 decisions to take the title and advance to the NCAA Tournament. This year, MSU will need just two wins to reach the NCAA Tournament.
Freshman Erika Velasquez Zimmer took home MVC Newcomer of the Year and first-team All-MVC honors to headline the six awards the Bears received at the league's award banquet on Wednesday. Velasquez Zimmer led the Bears with a .375 average and 19 stolen bases during the regular season.
Senior Chelsea Jones won 13 games in the circle and hit .321 on her way to a first-team selection. Jones enters the MVC Tournament among the top-5 in school history in starts, innings pitched and appearances. She led the Bears in doubles this season and hit clean for most of the conference season while pitching and playing right field.
Senior Rebecca McPherson added to her school record by hitting her 12th home run of the year at Southern Illinois last weekend. She was named to the inaugural MVC All-Defensive Team after being the only Missouri State player to start all 53 regular season games.
Junior Erin Duewel capped a stellar conference season with her tie-breaking home run in the sixth inning of the season finale at SIU on Sunday. Nine of her 10 home runs on the year were in conference play and earned her a first-team All-MVC accolade.
Sophomore Erin Struemph tossed her team-high eighth complete game of the season on Sunday to wrap up the two-seed for MSU. It was her 14th win of the year, surpassing her freshman season total. She picked up first-team All-MVC honors after striking out 148 and holding the third-best ERA in the league at 2.99.
Head coach Holly Hesse earned her 700th win at Missouri State earlier this season. She leads all caoches with 69 wins during MVC Tournament play.
QUICK HITS
- Missouri State tied a program high with four players named to the All-MVC first team. All four classes were represented with senior Chelsea Jones (UT/P), junior Erin Duewel (SS), sophomore Erin Struemph (P) and freshman Erika Velasquez Zimmer (OF).
- Velasquez Zimmer earned MVC Newcomer of the Year honors after leading Missouri State with a .375 batting average and 19 stolen bases.
- Senior Rebecca McPherson added to her school record by hitting her 12th home run of the season on Saturday at SIU.
- Junior Erin Duewel hit her ninth home run in conference play on Sunday, breaking a 1-1 tie in the sixth inning and propelling the Bears to a win solidifying second place in the league standings.
- The Bears as a team have clubbed 46 home runs, the best single season total in program history.
- Missouri State pitchers Erin Struemph and Chelsea Jones both rank in the top-4 in the MVC in ERA. Struemph's 2.99 ERA is third while Jones' 3.20 ranks fourth.
- Struemph leads the Valley with six saves and ranks sixth in the nation in the category.
- Mary Stephens is fourth in the league with 31 walks drawn on the season, the third-best single season total in school history.
- At least one MSU player has had multiple hits in 46 of the 53 games this season. Freshman Erika Velasquez Zimmer leads the team with 19 multi-hit games.
- The Bears have turned a league-best 22 double plays this season, surpassing the previous program high of 20 set back in 2006.
NOT "TWO" BAD
Missouri State finished the regular season in second place in 2015. Historically, that finish has been kind to the Bears in the postseason. Both prior second-place finishes (2006 and 1998) have resulted in MVC Tournament titles and NCAA Tournament appearances.
700 AND COUNTING
Head Coach Holly Hesse is second in all-time wins by an MVC coach with 703. With a 4-0 victory over Illinois State on April 18, 2015, Hesse earned milestone win 700. She trails only current Illinois State coach Melinda Fischer (957 wins).
RECORD SETTING SQUAD
The 2015 squad has broken four team records already this season. On April 22, the Bears hit three home runs giving them 36 as a team, the highest single season total in program history. MSU has clubbed 46 home runs through the regular season.
Missouri State has also drawn plenty of free passes. The 176 walks drawn this season is a team record besting the 2006 total of 170.
The Bears have turned 22 double plays this season. The previous team-best was 20 set in 2006. MSU also has earned 10 saves with all four hurlers recording at least one save. The Bears had seven saves in 2005 and 2006, the highest total prior to this season.
HISTORIC BLAST
Senior Rebecca McPherson set the individual single season school record with her 11th home run of the year on Sunday, April 26 against UNI. Her two-run shot to left-center in the fifth inning broke a 4-4 tie as the Bears won the finale to take the series from the Panthers. The home run also extended McPherson's team-long hitting streak to 15 games.
Junior Erin Duewel belted her 10th home run of the season on Sunday. Along with freshman Chelsea Thomas, the Bears have three players with nine or more home runs on the season. Prior to 2015, only three players in the history of the program had hit at least nine long balls in a season (Stevie Pierce, 2013; Samantha Fleeman, 2006; Ashley Meredith, 2004).
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.
Senior Rebecca McPherson tagged two long balls on March 11 against UMKC. Her second dinger of the game was a three-run walk-off in a six-run seventh inning.
Junior Erin Duewel joined the list of multi-homer games with a pair of long balls against UNI in game one of the doubleheader on April 25. Those were two of the four home runs she hit on the week and propelled her to the MVC Player of the Week honor as a result.
ALUM CHAPIN TO BE RECOGNIZED
Missouri State softball alumnus Caitlin Chapin will be honored as part of the Diamond 9 at the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame luncheon on May 27 at University Plaza. The Diamond Nine Award recognizes individuals who exhibited outstanding talent or made significant contributions at the high school, collegiate, amateur or professional levels of baseball or softball. Chapin hit 18 home runs during her four seasons with the Bears, tied for fourth on the career list. She was also a standout at Ozark High before playing at MSU.
GOT EACH OTHERS BACKS
All four Missouri State pitchers have recorded a save this season. The staff of Chelsea Jones, Jessie Van Es, Erin Struemph and Kaitlin Beason have combined for a league-high 10 saves. Struemph's six saves lead the league and rank sixth in the nation this season. It is the most saves by a Missouri State team in program history surpassing the previous high of seven team saves set in 2005 and 2006.
DOUBLE-DIGIT HITTING STREAKS
Four different Missouri State hitters have had double-digit hitting streaks at one point during the 2015 season. Senior Rebecca McPherson had a team-high 15-game streak snapped at Tulsa on Wednesday.
Fellow senior Chelsea Jones had a 12-game streak from March 28 through game one at Wichita State on April 15. She increased her average by 101 points during the hitting streak. vFreshman Erika Velasquez Zimmer had a 13-game hitting streak which ran from March 31 through April 22. She hit a robust .511 during the streak.
Redshirt sophomore Mary Stephens hit safely in the first three games of 2015 to extend her hitting streak to 11 games. Stephens' hitting streak spanned three seasons after she was limited to two games - she hit safely in both - in 2014.
PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE
Patience at the plate by MSU hitters is paying dividends this year. Led by Stephens' 31 walks, Missouri State has drawn a program-record 176 bases on ball already this season, well above the 128 given up by the Bears' pitching staff. Stephens and McPherson have each drawn three walks in a game this year, a feat that was not accomplished by any MSU hitter in 2014. Stephens' 31 walks this season are the third-highest single season total in school history.
An example of how valuable the free pass has been this season is the Bears' game at #22/23 Texas A&M on Feb. 15. MSU dropped a close 2-1 decision, but all three runs scored in the game reached base via walk.
HIGH FIVE
Mary Stephens has turned in two separate 5-for-5 displays at the plate this season. No other player in the previous 27 seasons had a five-hit game. Stephens first accomplished the feat in game two against UMKC on March 11. Ten days later, she turned in another dazzling 5-for-5 outing at Bradley on March 21. In the 3-2 win over the Braves, Stephens hit a solo home runs, drove in another run with a single and doubled for what would become the winning run.
WILD WALK-OFF WEDNESDAY
Game two of Missouri State's home-opening doubleheader against UMKC on March 11 saw the Bears put up some eye-popping figures. MSU pounded out 19 hits in the 15-14 victory. The only other time since 1988 that the Bears had 19 hits in a game also came against UMKC on April 22, 1993.
Senior Rebecca McPherson performed the late game heroics with a three-run walk-off home run with a full count and two outs in the bottom of the seventh to cap a six-run inning. It was McPherson's second home run of the game, the third different Missouri State hitter with two long balls in the same game. Her four RBI in the game were a season-high for a Bear hitter.
Mary Stephens put her name in the history books as well. She became the only player since 1988 to record five hits in a game with her 5-for-5 performance.
NEWCOMER DE JA VU
Missouri State freshman third baseman Chelsea Thomas began her career with consecutive stellar weekends at the Louisiana Tech Invitation, the Texas A&M Aggie Classic and the Ragin' Cajuns Invitational. She hit two home runs over each weekend and led the Bears in runs batted in at two of the tournaments. For her solid performances, Thomas was named MVC Newcomer of the Week two-consecutive weeks to begin the year.
On Saturday, Feb. 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.
MSU earned its third Newcomer nod when Erika Velasquez Zimmer took home the honor on April 13. She hit a grand slam and went 7-for-10 during the prior weekend's games versus Loyola.
INITIAL IMPACT
Five MSU freshmen made immediate impacts in the Bears' lineup with their first career hits. Beason and Thomas each slammed home runs on opening weekend for their first career hits.
Erika Velasquez Zimmer had a bunt single against Abilene Christian (Feb. 6) and promptly stole second base. On the next play, she scored on a base hit. Velasquez Zimmer's first career home run was a grand slam against Loyola on April 11.
Hailee Vigneaux notched two hits in her first career start against UAPB (Feb. 7) and scored a run. Catcher Molly Fields broke through against Iowa on Feb. 21. Her first career hit was a bases-loaded walk-off single in the eighth inning against the Hawkeyes.
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 to move 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.).
