Saturday, May 6
Carbondale, Ill
12:00 p.m.
Missouri State University
at
Southern Illinois
Softball Bears Head to Carbondale for Regular-Season Finale
May 02, 2017 | Softball
Missouri State Softball - Games 45-47
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The Starting Lineup
  Holly Hesse (Creighton, 1982) is 748-744-2 (.501) in her 29th season as head coach at Missouri State and overall. She is 31-47 all-time against Southern Illinois. Â
  She the second-winningest coach in Missouri Valley Conference history and joined the 700-victory club with a 4-0 win at Illinois State on April 18, 2015 as part of a doubleheader sweep in Normal.
  She is also the winningest softball coach in Missouri State history. Her tenure includes two regular-season MVC titles, five MVC tournament crowns and five NCAA Tournament appearances. Hesse recorded her 300th win in 2000, her 400th win in 2004, her 500th in 2007 and victory number 600 in 2012. Missouri State leads all schools with 70 wins in the MVC Tournament and Hesse has the second-most MVC Tournament wins with 49. Hesse started the 2017 campaign ranked 36th among all active NCAA Division I coaches with 726 career victories.
  Hesse's 2016 squad finished ranked 13th in the country with a .973 fielding percentage. The Bears went 22-30 and earned a spot in the MVC Tournament in a do-or-die series to end the regular season. Her team rallied to the challenge and carried the momentum to the MVC Tournament quarterfinals.
The Series
  Southern Illinois leads the all-time series, 53-45, in a maroon rivalry that dates back to 1979. The Bears are 13-30 all-time in Carbondale and are looking for their first series win in Carbondale since 1998.
  Last season, SIU took two of three from the Bears in Springfield, including a 7-6 MSU win in a game one slugfest. Mary Stephens hit a home run and drove in two in that game, while Olivia Roark went 3-for-5 with a walk-off single. SIU went on to claim games two (6-3) and three (8-6), despite a 6-for-8 effort by Erika Velasquez Zimmer in those two games.
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Scouting the Opponent
  Carrying a 14-8 record in the Missouri Valley Conference, SIU enters Saturday's doubleheader with a 27-22 overall record. The Saluki offense is led by senior Shaye Harre – the newly crowned RBI leader in program history – who boasts a .322 batting average and seven home runs on the season. In the circle, sophomore Brianna Jones leads the SIU pitching staff with a 2.20 ERA, 117 strikeouts and 13-12 record. Sitting third in the conference, the Salukis are led by head coach Kerri Blaylock.Â
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#MSUBears
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| Missouri State (22-22, 10-13 MVC) vs. Southern Illinois Salukis (27-22, 14-8 MVC) | |
| Dates | Saturday, May 6 (Doubleheader} | Sunday, May 7 |
| Times | Saturday 12 p.m. (DH) | Sunday, 11 a.m. | Central Time |
| Location | Charlotte West Stadium (capacity 502) | Carbondale, Ill. |
| Live Stats | Live Stats |
| Follow Along | ESPN3 (Sat.)Â |Â ESPN3 (Sun.) | @MSUSoftball |
| Missouri State | Game Notes | Softball Home Page | Twitter | Facebook | Media Guide |
| Up Next | MSU at MVC Tournament, May 11-13, Normal, Ill. |
The Starting Lineup
- MSU head coach Holly Hesse is just two wins shy of reaching 750 for her career. Starting the 2017 season, only 33 active Division I coaches had reached 750 career victories. Hesse is in her 29th season as MSU head coach and is the second-winningest coach in MVC history behind Illinois State's Melinda Fischer.
- Elena Gambill (Sr., Broken Arrow, Okla.) enters the weekend with 95 career hits (180 games).
- Mary Stephens (Sr., Sachse, Texas) is tied for fourth on MSU's career RBI list (100) and is now tied for fifth on the club's career at-bat chart (593). She needs five RBI to catch Jessie Smith (2006-08) for the No. 3 spot on the RBI list and five at-bats to catch Diedre Shores (1995-98) for the No. 4 spot on the at-bat list.
- The Bears are 20-4 this season when out-hitting their opponents this season.
- Kaitlin Beason (Jr., Webb City, Mo.) ranks 15th nationally with an MVC-best eight shutouts on the season. She is 12-10 and enters the final league weekend ranked fifth in The Valley with a 2.11 ERA.
- MSU outfielders Olivia Roark (Sr., Ottumwa, Iowa) .455 and Erika Velasquez Zimmer (Jr., Coppell, Texas) are hitting .455 and .565, respectively, against SIU in their careers. Roark was 8-for-14 against the Salukis last season and is 10-for-22 career against SIU. Velasquez Zimmer hit .643 9-for-14 against SIU a year ago with 3 RBI and is 13-for-23 in her career against Southern.
- The Bears have outscored their opponents by a 30-13 margin in the sixth inning this season. The club's 30 runs in the sixth also represents the most runs MSU has scored in any inning. Likewise, the 13 opponent tallies in the sixth matches the fewest runs allowed by the Bears in any frame this season. MSU has also allowed just 13 runs in the seventh inning.
- The Bears' defense ranks 31st nationally (3rd in MVC) in double plays per game (0.45) and is 44th nationally (2nd in MVC) in fielding percentage (.970).
- Missouri State is 16-4 this season when scoring three or more runs. During their current seven-game losing streak, the Bears have scored three runs just once -- a 5-3 loss at Illinois State on April 22.
- MSU's four seniors -- Elena Gambill (Broken Arrow, Okla.), Roark, Stephens, and Bethany Sullinger (Kansas City, Mo.)Â have combined for 698 games, 458 hits and 648 total bases.
- Missouri State has won its Valley finale series five of the last six seasons. The only blemish during that stretch was a 2-1 series loss at SIU in 2015, the Bears' most recent-trip to Carbondale.Â
- Sullinger has been a stabilizing force for Missouri State during the Bears' current seven-game slump. The third base sensation is hitting .391 in those seven games, going 9-for-23 with a double, two home runs and a team-high four RBI.
  Holly Hesse (Creighton, 1982) is 748-744-2 (.501) in her 29th season as head coach at Missouri State and overall. She is 31-47 all-time against Southern Illinois. Â
  She the second-winningest coach in Missouri Valley Conference history and joined the 700-victory club with a 4-0 win at Illinois State on April 18, 2015 as part of a doubleheader sweep in Normal.
  She is also the winningest softball coach in Missouri State history. Her tenure includes two regular-season MVC titles, five MVC tournament crowns and five NCAA Tournament appearances. Hesse recorded her 300th win in 2000, her 400th win in 2004, her 500th in 2007 and victory number 600 in 2012. Missouri State leads all schools with 70 wins in the MVC Tournament and Hesse has the second-most MVC Tournament wins with 49. Hesse started the 2017 campaign ranked 36th among all active NCAA Division I coaches with 726 career victories.
  Hesse's 2016 squad finished ranked 13th in the country with a .973 fielding percentage. The Bears went 22-30 and earned a spot in the MVC Tournament in a do-or-die series to end the regular season. Her team rallied to the challenge and carried the momentum to the MVC Tournament quarterfinals.
The Series
  Southern Illinois leads the all-time series, 53-45, in a maroon rivalry that dates back to 1979. The Bears are 13-30 all-time in Carbondale and are looking for their first series win in Carbondale since 1998.
  Last season, SIU took two of three from the Bears in Springfield, including a 7-6 MSU win in a game one slugfest. Mary Stephens hit a home run and drove in two in that game, while Olivia Roark went 3-for-5 with a walk-off single. SIU went on to claim games two (6-3) and three (8-6), despite a 6-for-8 effort by Erika Velasquez Zimmer in those two games.
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Scouting the Opponent
  Carrying a 14-8 record in the Missouri Valley Conference, SIU enters Saturday's doubleheader with a 27-22 overall record. The Saluki offense is led by senior Shaye Harre – the newly crowned RBI leader in program history – who boasts a .322 batting average and seven home runs on the season. In the circle, sophomore Brianna Jones leads the SIU pitching staff with a 2.20 ERA, 117 strikeouts and 13-12 record. Sitting third in the conference, the Salukis are led by head coach Kerri Blaylock.Â
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MVC Standings
| STANDINGS | CONF | OVERALL |
| Illinois State | 20-3 | 30-17 |
| UNI | 17-6 | 29-18 |
| Southern Illinois | 14-8 | 27-22 |
| Wichita State | 13-9 | 28-19 |
| Evansville | 11-12 | 20-29 |
| Missouri State | 10-13 | 22-22 |
| Loyola | 9-14 | 26-22 |
| Drake | 8-15 | 25-25 |
| Indiana State | 6-17 | 21-27 |
| Bradley | 6-17 | 20-30 |
#MSUBears
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Players Mentioned
P/1B
/ Softball
SS/3B
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
1B
/ Softball
1B/3B
/ Softball
OF
/ SoftballMonday, June 22
Wednesday, June 17
Wednesday, June 17
Wednesday, June 17
