Feb. 24, 2016
Trojan Warrior Tournament Notes 
Missouri State at Trojan Warrior Tournament
Troy Softball Complex - Troy, Ala.
Live Stats | Watch Live | Tournament Central | Follow @MSUSoftball
The Missouri State softball team (4-4) looks to get back to its winning ways with a weekend trip to Troy, Ala., for the Trojan Warrior Tournament. MSU will face Mercer twice and Austin Peay along with the first-ever meetings with host Troy and Dayton. The Bears have been in every game this season, have not trailed for a single inning during the four wins and have trailed at the end of just 10 innings all season.
Senior pitcher Jessie Van Es tossed a career-long 8.0 innings in her start against Murray State on Saturday. She did not allow a run against the Racers and lowered her season earned run average to a league-best 0.53. She scattered four hits and struck out three in aiding the MSU staff in lowering the team ERA to an MVC low 1.71.
Junior Erin Struemph was the pitcher of record for all three games in Kentucky last weekend. She started the Friday game against Western Kentucky and struck out 10 Hilltoppers, her fifth career game with double-digit strikeouts.
Missouri State's defense has been phenomenal through the first eight games of the season. The Bears enter this week with the third-best fielding percentage (.988) in the country. MSU has also turned five double plays in the first eight games, the 12th-best per-game average in the nation.
Junior Olivia Roark had a career-high three hits in the Bears' 11-3 win over Western Kentucky on Feb. 19. She also picked up her first career extra-base hit with one of MSU's six doubles in the game. The Bears racked up 17 hits against the Hilltoppers, the third-highest single game output in program history. The six doubles in the game tied a program record.
The inspirational story of redshirt sophomore Allie Alvstad continued at Western Kentucky last week. Alvstad pinch hit in the seventh inning against WKU and put the first pitch she saw into play. The ground out with two runners in scoring position resulted in the first RBI since Alvstad returned to the team. In her first plate appearance since being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, Alvstad drew a four-pitch walk on Feb. 13 versus Northern Colorado.
QUICK HITS
- Missouri State enters the week ranked third in the country with a .988 fielding percentage and 12th in double plays turned per game.
- Following her career-long 8.0 shutout innings against Murray State last week, senior Jessie Van Es leads all MVC pitchers with more than an inning pitched with a 0.53 ERA.
- Every starter recorded at least one hit against Western Kentucky on Feb. 19. The team totalled 17 hits in the win, tied for the third-highest single game output in program history.
- Despite a 4-4 record this season, the Bears are out-scoring opponents 41-19, two of MSU's losses have been in extra innings and three have been by a single run.
SCOUTING REPORT
Mercer Bears: Mercer enters the weekend in Alabama on a four-game skid and have dropped six of the last seven games. MU pitchers have completed five of their starts, but have a hefty 7.71 ERA and have allowed 17 home runs. Freshman Megan Lane leads Mercer with a .333 batting average and is one of seven Bears to have a successful stolen base on the year. The Bears were picked to finish fourth in the Southern Conference this season after reaching the SoCon title game a year ago. In the only previous meeting between Missouri State and Mercer, MSU broke a 3-3 tied with 11 runs in the top of the seventh in a 14-3 victory in 2000.
Austin Peay Lady Govs: Austin Peay went 1-2 at the Holiday Inn Hilltopper Classic last weekend with identical results as MSU, beating WKU in opening day action and falling to WKU and Murray State on day two. Junior Sidney Hooper leads the Lady Govs with a .556 batting average, but is 0-1 with a team-high 8.81 ERA in three starts in the circle. Opponents are hitting .384 off of APSU pitching this season and have drawn more walks than strikeouts. In five games this season, the Lady Govs offense has genrated one long ball and one stolen base. Missouri State has won all three previous meetings, the last of which was in 1996.
Troy Trojans: Troy will travel to Tuscaloosa for a midweek tilt with #4 Alabama before hosting this weekend's Trojan Warrior Tournament. Senior Kate Benton is hitting a team-best .458 and is 9-of-10 in stolen base attempts this season. Fellow senior Hannah Day and junior Becca Hartley have combined for 11 of Troy's 16 home runs. Another senior, Ashley Rainey leads a solid staff with a 3.00 ERA. She has an impressive 3-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio and has earned four of Troy's seven wins. This weekend's game will mark the first-ever meeting between Troy and Missouri State.
Dayton Flyers: Dayton will stop in Knoxville to face top-20 squad Tennessee before joining the field at the Trojan Warrior Tournament this weekend. After the Flyers' opening weekend in North Carolina was cancelled, Dayton went 3-2 in Chattanooga, Tenn. Senior Kathryn Hess was one of two Flyers to hit .429 in Tennessee and she belted three of Dayton's four home runs. Sophomore pitcher Manda Cash started four of UD's five games. She has a measly 0.48 ERA in 14.2 innings pitched and has struck out more than twice as many as she has walked. This weekend's game will mark the first-ever meeting between Dayton and Missouri State.
700 AND COUNTING
Head coach Holly Hesse is second in all-time wins by an MVC coach with 708. She entered 2016 with the 37th-most wins among active Division I head coaches. 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 (962 wins).
BEARS SOFTBALL IS ON THE AIR
The Missouri State softball team will see all of its home games live streamed through Bears All-Access on MissouriStateBears.com.
Some MSU home games will air on KBFL (1060 AM) and can be heard online via RadioSpringfield.com.
2016 Broadcast Schedule
Friday, March 25 vs. Bradley (G1) [KBFL]
Wednesday, April 13 vs. Tulsa [KBFL]
Wednesday, April 20 vs. Wichita St. (DH) [KBFL]
Wednesday, April 27 vs. SIU Edwardsville [KBFL]
LEGACY WEEKEND UPCOMING
Missouri State will celebrate the championship teams from 1996, 1997, 1998 and 2006 during Legacy Weekend at Killian Stadium. The Bears will bring back players from those title teams on April 9-10 with on-field celebration slated for Saturday, April 9. Tickets for Legacy Weekend can be purchased at the Killian Stadium gates on game day.
TRIUMPHANT RETURN
The Bears eagerly anticipated the inspirational return of redshirt sophomore Allie Alvstad. She missed the entire 2014-15 academic year to battle through acute myeloid leukemia. She received a bone marrow transplant in December 2014 and returned to the team in 2015-16.
In her first plate appearance of the season, Alvstad drew a four-pitch walk against Northern Colorado on Feb. 13. On Feb. 19, she drove in her first run of the season with a pinch-hit ground out at Western Kentucky.
PRESEASON PICK
Missouri State received more first-place votes than any other Valley squad, but finished second in a top-heavy Missouri Valley Conference preseason coaches poll released by the league office on January 27. The Bears also were well represented on the preseason All-MVC team with senior Erin Duewel, junior Erin Struemph and sophomore Erika Velasquez Zimmer earning nods. All three players were All-MVC first team members in 2015.
FROM START TO FINISH
Missouri State saw its starting pitcher toss a complete game in five of the Bears' first eight games on 2016. Struemph opened the season with a complete game against Texas Southern (Feb. 12). Beason tossed a career-long nine inning game later in the day against Detroit. Struemph and Beason returned later in the weekend with identical three-hit complete game shutouts of Northern Colorado.
ROARING INTO BLUEGRASS STATE
Missouri State made its first-ever trip to the state of Kentucky for the second weekend of play. The Bears left little doubt that they were ready to play when the team racked up 17 hits and scored in all but the first inning in a 11-3 win over host Western Kentucky (Feb. 19). Junior Olivia Roark had a career-best three hits and had one of MSU's six doubles in the game, tying a single-game program record.
In day two action, senior Jessie Van Es pitched a career-long 8.0 innings of shutout ball, but a walk-off sac fly by Murray State spoiled the party in a 1-0 nine-inning defeat. In the weekend's finale, MSU got a pair of doubles from Stephens and Roark extended her hitting streak to three games, but the Bears suffered a second-straight walk-off loss to end a weather-shortened trip to the Bluegrass State.
LONE STAR STUD
Sachse, Texas-native Mary Stephens had yet another fantastic weekend in her home state on opening weekend. She blasted a seventh-inning game-tying home run against Detroit on Feb. 12. The next day, she hit another home run, a two-run shot in the first inning of a win over Northern Colorado. After recording a single against host UT Arlington, she ran her hitting streak to four games with a 3-for-4 outing on Feb. 14 versus UNC.
On the weekend, Stephens hit .400 with a team-leading two home runs and four RBI. She also drew three walks, scored four runs and had a .800 slugging percentage.
BEASON'S BEAST WEEKEND
Sophomore Kaitlin Beason had a breakout weekend in Texas to open the season. The Webb City, Mo.-native notched three career-best on the weekend. In the season opener versus Texas Southern, she drove in four runs for the first time in an MSU uniform. That same day, she took to the circle and pitched all nine innings against Detroit, three innings longer than her previous long outing. Then on Sunday (Feb. 14), Beason drew three walks against Northern Colorado, her first career multi-walk game.
CATCH US IF YOU CAN
Aided by a season-high six-run first inning in the season opener against Texas Southern, the Bears have out-scored opponents 10-1 in the first inning of games this season. It is a trend that held over from last year when MSU out-sccored opponents 50-34 in the first inning in 2015.
FOLLOWING UP RECORDS
Missouri State set team records in home runs (48), walks drawn (181) and double plays turned (22) in 2015. In the first two weekends of the season, the Bears belted three home runs, turned five double plays and drew 28 walks. In Saturday's (Feb. 13) game versus Northern Colorado, MSU drew 12 walks, one shy of the single-game program record set in 2004.
WAITING IN THE WINGS
Head coach Holly Hesse has commitments from three players to join the 2017 squad. Joining the Bears for the 2016-17 academic year are Erin Griesbauer (Blue Springs, Mo.), Darby Joerling (Defiance, Mo.) and Carsten Warner (Nevada, Mo.).
