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Missouri State

Darby Joerling

Softball MSU Athletics Communications

MSU Softball Starts Valley Play at Southern Illinois

Missouri State (13-7) at Southern Illinois (12-6)
Date Tuesday, March 12, 2019
Site | Location Charlotte West Stadium (502), Carbondale, Ill.
Game 1 12:00 p.m. | ESPN+ | Live Stats | MSU Game Notes
Game 2 2:00 p.m. | ESPN+ | Live Stats | MSU Game Notes
Missouri State Softball Home Page | Twitter | Facebook | Season Preview Video

The Prime Nine
  • Kyana Mason (Sr., Independence, Mo.) ranks 10th in the Missouri Valley Conference in hitting as she enters the week batting .410. She is batting .786 (11-for-14) during her current four-game hitting streak and leads Missouri State with 8 multi-hit games. Mason was named MVC Player of the Week on March 4 after batting .688 and slugging 1.188 over five games at the UCA Adam Brown Memorial Shamrock Classic. She collected 11 hits, eight runs, seven RBI and a pair of home runs over the tournament.
  • Missouri State's current 5-game win streak is the longest in The Valley and matches the Bears' longest hot streak from last season. The last time MSU won six games in a row was during the 2015 campaign when Coach Holly Hesse's troops reeled off eight straight victories from March 31 to April 15.
  • Missouri State ranks 42nd nationally in double plays per game (0.45) having turned a league-high 9 twin killings over their first 20 games.
  • Madison Hunsaker (So., Peculiar, Mo.) hit safely in 17 straight games to open the 2019 campaign before going 0-for-4 against SEMO on March 2. Her hitting streak was the longest by any Bear since 1996. Hunsaker leads the MVC in doubles per game (0.35) and ranks 84th nationally with 7 doubles in 20 contests.
  • The Bears were 11-0 when scoring first this season and 8-0 when scoring in the first inning. Likewise, MSU is 12-1 this year when out-hitting its opponents -- after compiling a 23-3 record in 2018 when racking up more hits than its foes.  
  • Payton Minnis (Fr., Blue Springs, Mo.) was named MVC Newcomer of the Week on March 4 after hitting an incredible .727 at the UCA Tournament, going 8-for-11 at the plate with five RBI and a perfect 4-for-4 in stolen bases. She produced multiple hits over her last three games -- all starts.
  • The Bears have a dozen freshmen and sophomores on their 2019 roster, making them one of the youngest programs in The Valley this season. MSU has seven freshmen, five sophomores and a junior transfer among its active players.
  • Southern Illinois and Missouri State rank third and fourth, respectively, in the league in both team batting and pitching heading into the week. The Salukis are hitting .296 as a team with a 2.89 ERA, while the Bears are batting .294 with a 3.06 ERA.
  • MSU had four players recognized on all-tournament teams to start the year. Madison Hunsaker and Alex Boze were named to the all-tourney squad in Tuscaloosa (Feb. 22-24) after Steffany Dickerson and Morgan Greenlee earned laurels at the Sand Dollar Classic in Gulf Shores (Feb. 8-10).

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 794-774-2 record. She began the 2019 season ranked 32nd among all active NCAA Division I coaches in career victories.
  • Coach Hesse is 31-51 all-time against Southern Illinois, including a 2-1 mark last season.
  • 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.
 
Series History
  • Southern Illinois leads the all-time series between the two clubs by a 58-47 margin, including a 33-13 ledger in games played in Carbondale.
    Last year, the Bears snapped a six-game losing streak to the Salukis with a two-game sweep of the regular-season series in Springfield. SIU then ousted MSU from the MVC Tournament in Des Moines.
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Players Mentioned

Steffany Dickerson

#13 Steffany Dickerson

P
5' 8"
Sophomore
Morgan Greenlee

#12 Morgan Greenlee

OF/C
5' 7"
Senior
Madison Hunsaker

#15 Madison Hunsaker

P/1B
5' 8"
Sophomore
Kyana Mason

#2 Kyana Mason

3B
5' 4"
Senior
Alex Boze

#10 Alex Boze

C
5' 8"
Freshman
Payton Minnis

#11 Payton Minnis

2B/OF
5' 5"
Freshman

Players Mentioned

Steffany Dickerson

#13 Steffany Dickerson

5' 8"
Sophomore
P
Morgan Greenlee

#12 Morgan Greenlee

5' 7"
Senior
OF/C
Madison Hunsaker

#15 Madison Hunsaker

5' 8"
Sophomore
P/1B
Kyana Mason

#2 Kyana Mason

5' 4"
Senior
3B
Alex Boze

#10 Alex Boze

5' 8"
Freshman
C
Payton Minnis

#11 Payton Minnis

5' 5"
Freshman
2B/OF

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