SPRINGFIELD – After sweeping Illinois State, the 2018 Missouri Valley Conference preseason favorite, the Missouri State softball team (16-10) returns to Killian Stadium on Tuesday at 5 p.m. for a contest against the UMKC Kangaroos.
 

Missouri State (16-10) vs. UMKC (7-17)
Date | Time	Tuesday, Mar. 20 | 5 p.m.
Site | Location	Killian Stadium | Springfield, Mo.
Follow Along	Live Stats | ESPN3 | Tickets
Missouri State	Game Notes | Softball Home Page | Twitter

 The Starting Lineup

• The Bears' three-game, series win over preseason favorite Illinois State marks the first MSU sweep since the 2005 season. Two of the Bears' wins came in walk-off fashion, where Darian Frost recorded the game-winning hits.
• Senior Erika Velasquez Zimmer leads the MSU lineup and ties for fourth in the Valley with 30 hits on the season. She leads the Bears with nine multi-hit games and 11 steals. Hitting .345 at the plate, she has scored 18 times this season and has tallied four doubles and one triple.
• MSU ranks 22^nd in the nation in triples per game. Madison Jones and Kyana Mason have recorded two triples apiece, while Erika Velasquez Zimmer, Darian Frost, Daphne Plummer and Hannah Heinrichs have each tallied one.
• Nationally, senior Holly Kelley ranks 15^th in shutouts and 32^nd in hits allowed per seven innings. She leads the MSU pitching staff with an impressive 1.94 ERA, 6-2 record and 54 strikeouts. Kelley has put together four shutouts over the course of the season and has allowed just 34 hits in 54 innings.
• The Bears' sweep over Illinois State marks the first time MSU has gone a perfect 3-0 in the opening week of Valley play since the 2006 season. In 2006, the Bears earned three consecutive wins against Indiana State at home to begin action in the league.
• Madison Hunsaker and Darby Joerling hit the first home runs of their careers this weekend against Illinois State. Hunsaker's blast came in game two while Joerling lifted her homer out of the park in game three. Frost hit the Bears' third dinger of the week in game three in the bottom of the ninth to complete the MSU sweep.
• In conference action, Darian Frost leads the MSU lineup with six hits – including one walk-off home run – while hitting .545 at the plate. The Bears notched 27 hits in the opening weekend of Valley play and combined for a .300 average at the plate.
• On February 9, 2018, MSU head coach Holly Hesse eclipsed the 750 career-victory mark thanks to the Bears' 4-0 win over Mississippi Valley State. Only 37 active Division I coaches have reached 750 career victories. Hesse is in her 30th season as MSU head coach and is the second-winningest coach in MVC history behind Illinois State's Melinda Fischer. Hesse was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame on January 28th, 2018.
• The Bears boasted an impressive 3.648 team grade-point average to rank No. 2 among the nation's major programs in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association's annual academic release.

 
Head Coach Holly Hesse
Head coach Holly Hesse enters her 30th season leading the Bears' program as the second-winningest coach in Missouri Valley Conference history with 751 victories. Hesse joined the 700-victory club with a 4-0 win at Illinois State on April 18, 2015, completing a doubleheader sweep in Normal, Ill.
 
She is the winningest coach in Missouri State history with a 765-757-2 record. 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 72 wins in the MVC Tournament and Hesse is tied with the most tournament wins at 50. Hesse was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame on January 28th, 2018.
 
The National Fastpitch Coaches Association has recognized her program four times as a NFCA Division I Top 10 All-Academic Team including 1999, 2000, 2016 and 2017. The 2017 Bears ranked second in the nation with a 3.648 team GPA.
 
In 2017, the Bears finished with three all-conference selections, including first-team pick Bethany Sullinger, and three MVC Scholar-Athlete selections in Kaitlin Beason, Erika Velasquez-Zimmer and Sullinger. Velasquez Zimmer also represented the Bears on the NFCA All-Region Team. Junior Holly Kelley also stood out, earning a spot on the MVC All-Tournament Team after tossing an opening-round no-hitter against Drake, the first at the Valley Tournament in 27 years. Likewise, senior Mary Stephens earned NFCA National Player of the Week on Feb. 14 after a sensational opening weekend.
 
In 2016, the Missouri State University Board of Governors honored coach Hesse with the Staff Excellence in Public Affairs Award in recognition of her distinctive work and accomplishments in support of Missouri States public affairs mission. 
 
Knocking Off the Kangaroos
Facing three MVC teams already this season, the Kangaroos hop into Tuesday's contest with a 7-17 overall record. UMKC earned wins over Drake and Northern Iowa, but fell twice to Bradley earlier in the year. Ashlin O'Brien leads UMKC's efforts at the plate and carries a team-leading .340 batting average while Olivia Fluehr leads the lineup with 21 hits and 23 RBI. Fluehr and Lynsey Conner have seen the most amount of innings in the circle for the Kangaroos, combining for 31 strikeouts this season. The UMKC pitching staff maintains a 5.55 ERA and has surrendered 217 hits in 24 games. The Kangaroos are led by Meredith Smith, who is in her 12^th season as the head coach of the UMKC softball program.
 
Series History
Boasting a 39-10 all-time series lead over UMKC, the Bears have won the last eight matchups against the Kangaroos. The teams faced each other twice at the "We Back Pat" Tournament in Kansas City, Mo., last season, where MSU won both games by a score of 8-0. The Bears ended the last contest in five innings after Beason followed a two-run homer from Frost with a walk-off grand slam to right field.
 
Final Details
First pitch on Tuesday is scheduled for 5 p.m. at Killian Stadium. Live stats, live updates and a live stream will be available for the matchup. For all the latest information on the Missouri State softball team, visit missouristatebears.com or follow @MSUSoftball on Twitter.