Softball Bears Set for Five-Game Tournament at UCA

Thursday, February 28

Conway, Ark.

5:00 p.m.

Missouri State University

Arkansas-Pine Bluff

Softball Bears Set for Five-Game Tournament at UCA

February 27, 2019 | Softball

By: MSU Athletics Communications

Missouri State at Adam Brown Memorial Shamrock Classic, Conway, Ark.
Dates	Thursday-Saturday, February 28-March 2, 2019
Site \| Location	Farris Field (1,000), Conway, Ark. \| Tourney Central
Game 1	Thursday (5:00 p.m.) \| vs. UAPB \| Live Stats
Game 2	Thursday (7:00 p.m.) \| vs. Louisiana Monroe \| Live Stats
Game 3	Friday (1:30 p.m.) \| vs. Coppin State \| Live Stats
Game 4	Saturday (11:15 a.m.) \| vs. SE Missouri St. \| Live Stats
Game 5	Saturday (1:30 p.m.) \| vs. Central Arkansas \| Live Stats \| Watch
Missouri State	Softball Home Page \| Twitter \| Facebook \| Season Preview Video

The Prime Nine

Madison Hunsaker (So., Peculiar, Mo.) ranks 18th nationally and leads the Missouri Valley Conference in doubles with 6. Her 21 total hits also ranks 23rd nationally. She leads the Bears with a .447 batting average.
Missouri State's pitching staff has been active over the season's first three weeks, throwing an MVC-best 98.0 innings in the circle while striking out 71 batters -- second in the league.
Steffany Dickerson (So., Oklahoma City, Okla.) has been MSU's top hurler to date, turning in a 4-3 ledger in 13 appearances with a 2.05 ERA and 34 strikeouts. She leads the MVC in relief appearances with 9.
The top-hitting freshman in the MVC last season, Daphne Plummer (So., Lee's Summit, Mo.) leads the MVC in plate appearances (54) and at-bats (51) so far in 2019, while batting .294 through the first 15 games.
Two-thirds of Missouri State's 18 active players are freshmen (7) or sophomores (5). Rachel Weber (Fr., Lincoln, Neb.) leads MSU's crop of rookies, batting .256 with 4 RBI and 15 starts out of the gates.
Madison Hunsaker (So., Peculiar, Mo.) and Alex Boze (Fr., Swansea, Ill.) were named to the all-tournament team a at the Easton Bama Bash in Tuscaloosa last weekend. Hunsaker led the Bears with a .400 average in five games, going 6-of-15 with a double and a pair of RBI. She also struck out four batters in two relief appearances on the weekend. Boze smashed her first career home run in MSU's second game against No. 6 Alabama, a three-run shot that pulled the Bears within 6-4 of the the Crimson Tide in the fifth inning.
Missouri State was picked fourth in the Missouri Valley Conference preseason poll, coming off a 32-20 campaign that culminated in a 17-8 run in the MVC and regular-season runner-up finish. Drake, last year's MVC regular-season and tournament champion, was tabbed as the 2019 league favorite in the annual coaches' poll, ahead of Southern Illinois, Northern Iowa and Missouri State.
The Bears open the Adam Brown Memorial Shamrock Classic against Louisiana Monroe on Thursday in what will be the third meeting between the teams over the last six games. MSU defeated the Warhawks, 4-3, on Feb. 22, and earned a 4-1 decision on Feb. 23, both in the Easton Bama Bash.
Holly Hesse is in her 31st season as head coach of the Bears. She has a career record of 789-774-2 (.505) and ranks 32nd among all active NCAA Division I coaches in career victories.

Head Coach Holly Hesse

Bears head coach Holly Hesse is in her 31st season leading the Bears' program as the second-winningest coach in Missouri Valley Conference history with a 789-774-2. She began the 2019 season ranked 32nd among all active NCAA Division I coaches in career 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 then picked up her 750th win on Feb. 9, 2018 with a 4-0 win over Mississippi Valley State at the Bulldog Kickoff Classic in Starkville, Miss.
She is the winningest coach in Missouri State history, and her tenure includes two regular-season MVC titles, five MVC tournament crowns and five NCAA Tournament appearances.
The most notable program wins under Hesse have come against Michigan (1996), Alabama (2006) and Oklahoma (1995, 1998, 1999, 2008) all of which have gone on to win NCAA DI National Championships.
Hesse has coached 34 different first-team all-conference players which have received 49 first-team all-conference honors. Twenty-one of Hesse's players have gone on to earn NFCA All-Midwest Region honors.
Recent statewide honors for Hesse include induction into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2018 and the Staff Excellence in Public Affairs Award, presented to her in 2016 by the Missouri State University Board of Governors for distinctive work and accomplishments in support of Missouri States public affairs mission.

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