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Steffany Dickerson

Softball MSU Athletics Communications

Softball Makes First Trip to Valpo for Key MVC Series

Missouri State Bears (19-11, 5-3 MVC) vs. Valparaiso Crusaders (10-13, 1-5 MVC)
Dates Sunday, March 31 - Monday, April 1, 2019
Site | Location Valpo Softball Complex (500), Valparaiso, Ind.
Game 1 Sunday, 2:00 p.m. (canceled) | Listen | Live Stats | MSU Game Notes
Game 2 Monday, 11:00 a.m. | Live Stats | MSU Game Notes
Game 3 Monday, 1:30 p.m. | Listen | Live Stats | MSU Game Notes
Missouri State Softball Home Page | Twitter | Facebook | MSU Media Guide

The Prime Nine
  • After a 5-2 home stand, Missouri State returns to the Valley road this weekend for a three-game conference series at Valparaiso in the Bears' first-ever trip there. Due to weather considerations, the teams are scheduled to play one game Sunday afternoon (2 p.m.) before an 11 a.m. doubleheader on Monday at the Valpo Softball Complex.
  • With a walk-off win over Northern Iowa on Sunday, March 24, Missouri State head coach Holly Hesse reached her 800th career victory (all at Missouri State). As of Monday, Hesse is just the 30th active Division I coach to reach 800 victories, and is just the second Missouri Valley coach (along with Illinois State's Melinda Fischer) to reach that milestone. Hesse is now 800-778-2 (.507) in her 31 seasons with the Bears.
  • Bears' right-hander Steffany Dickerson (So., Oklahoma City, Okla.) is 7-1 in March with a 1.61 ERA, 39 strikeouts and just 6 walks over 51.1 innings of work. Her season strikeout total (81) has already surpassed her total from 2018 and ranks fifth in the Valley. Likewise, her 12 wins and 23 total appearances are second-best in the MVC, while her 1.85 season ERA ranks fifth in the conference.  
  • Missouri State leads all Missouri Valley Conference teams with 19 wins on the season and enters the Valpo series looking to become the league's first 20-win team.
  • The Bears started the week with an RPI of 50, which is the second-best national ranking in the MVC behind defending champion Drake (26).
  • Kyana Mason (Sr., Independence, Mo.) is hitting .523 (23-for-44) in the month of March with a team-high 10 RBI in those 13 games. Her .419 overall batting average and 55 total bases both rank 2nd in the MVC, while her 39 hits leads all Valley players. Mason hit safely in all four of the team's games last week, batting .416 (9-for-16) in that span with the club's first 4-hit game of the season in Sunday's win over UNI.
  • In Missouri State's 19 victories this season, Dickerson is hitting .400 (22-for-55) with 13 RBI, 5 doubles and 3 home runs. Mason leads the squad with a .525 average in the team's wins, driving in 12 with 7 extra-base hits.
  • The Bears' 3-2 victory over Northern Iowa last Sunday marked the sixth time this season MSU has captured victory in its final at-bat. It was also MSU's second true walk-off win over the year -- both in Valley play. Missouri State is now 5-1 on the campaign in one-run games.
  • Alex Boze (Fr., Swansea, Ill.) hit .300 with a team-high 4 RBI last week. She smacked her second home run of the season in the mid-week win over Saint Louis (A-10) and then went 2-for-3 against UNI on Saturday with a go-ahead two-run single in the second inning. On Sunday against UNI, she crushed a game-tying single in the bottom of the sixth en route to a come-from-behind win over the Panthers
  • Darby Joerling (Jr., Defiance, Mo.) hit .421 (8-for-19) in the Bears' recent seven-game home stand, scoring a team-high 5 runs with a .450 on-base pct.

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 800-778-2 (.507) record. She began the 2019 season ranked 32nd among all active NCAA Division I coaches in career victories.
  • Coach Hesse is 3-3 all-time against Valparaiso.
  • 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
  • The all-time series between the two teams is tied, 3-3, but this is MSU's first-ever trip to Valparaiso.
  • Last year in Springfield (March 24-25), the Crusaders took two out of three at Killian Stadium. In Game 1, Valparaiso broke open a 1-1 game with a three-run rally in the top of the seventh to snap MSU's five-game winning streak, 4-1. Kelsie Packard (1-1) earned the win for Valpo, striking out four in a complete-game. MSU's only run came on an RBI single to left by Madison Jones that plated Madison Hunsaker... In Game 2, Valparaiso scored twice in the top of the first to set the pace in a 3-2 win over the Bears. An RBI double by Carly Trepanier preceded a sacrifice fly by Magnifico to give the visitors an early 2-0 advantage. MSU tied the game in the bottom of the fourth on a solo homer to center from pinch hitter Darby Joerling. In the top of the fifth, Valparaiso went ahead for good behind a leadoff triple by Taylor Lawson ... In Game 3,home runs by Kelly Metter and Kaitlin Beason helped Missouri State to a 6-2 win to salvage the final game of the three-game series.
     
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Players Mentioned

Kaitlin Beason

#10 Kaitlin Beason

P/1B
5' 8"
Senior
Madison Jones

#1 Madison Jones

2B
5' 8"
Senior
Steffany Dickerson

#13 Steffany Dickerson

P
5' 8"
Sophomore
Madison Hunsaker

#15 Madison Hunsaker

P/1B
5' 8"
Sophomore
Darby Joerling

#5 Darby Joerling

OF
5' 9"
Junior
Kyana Mason

#2 Kyana Mason

3B
5' 4"
Senior
Kelly Metter

#22 Kelly Metter

2B
5' 9"
Sophomore
Alex Boze

#10 Alex Boze

C
5' 8"
Freshman

Players Mentioned

Kaitlin Beason

#10 Kaitlin Beason

5' 8"
Senior
P/1B
Madison Jones

#1 Madison Jones

5' 8"
Senior
2B
Steffany Dickerson

#13 Steffany Dickerson

5' 8"
Sophomore
P
Madison Hunsaker

#15 Madison Hunsaker

5' 8"
Sophomore
P/1B
Darby Joerling

#5 Darby Joerling

5' 9"
Junior
OF
Kyana Mason

#2 Kyana Mason

5' 4"
Senior
3B
Kelly Metter

#22 Kelly Metter

5' 9"
Sophomore
2B
Alex Boze

#10 Alex Boze

5' 8"
Freshman
C

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