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Missouri State

Madison Hunsaker

Softball MSU Athletics Communications

Bears Wrap Regular Season with Three-Game Valley Set at Indiana State

Missouri State Bears (28-19, 12-10 MVC) at Indiana State Sycamores (16-32, 4-19 MVC)
Dates Friday, May 3 to Saturday, May 4, 2019
Site | Location Price Field (700), Terre Haute, Indiana
Game 1 Friday, 11:02 a.m. (CT) | ESPN+ | Live Stats | MSU Game Notes
Game 2 Friday, (approx.) 1:30 p.m. (CT) | ESPN+ | Live Stats | MSU Game Notes
Game 3 Saturday, 10:00 a.m. (CT) | ESPN+ | Live Stats | MSU Game Notes
Missouri State Softball Home Page | Twitter | Facebook | MSU Media Guide
Up Next The 2019 MVC Tournament runs May 8-11 in Peoria, Illinois | Tourney Central

The Prime Nine
  • Missouri State wraps up the 2019 regular season Friday and Saturday when the Bears travel to Terre Haute to take on the Indiana State Sycamores in a key three-game Valley softball stint. MSU is 12-10 in the MVC and in contention for a top-four seed in next week's Missouri Valley Tournament in Peoria. MSU is 9-6 on the road this season and is looking for its fifth MVC series win of the campaign.
  • Weather permitting, Saturday's single game against the Sycamores will mark the 1,600th career game for Bears' head coach Holly Hesse. Now in her 31st season at the helm of the Missouri State program, Hesse is 809-783-2 in her career (all at MSU). She earned her 800th career win on a walk-off win against UNI on April 24 in Springfield.
  • A series win for MSU would give the Bears 30 wins in back-to-back seasons, a milestone that has eluded the program since 1996-98 when Hesse's squad made three straight NCAA Tournament appearances.
  • Senior third baseman Kyana Mason (Sr., Independence, Mo.) enters the final week of the regular season with 61 hits, which ranks third in the MVC and is just 3 away from a top-five effort in MSU program history. Mason is just the 10th Bear to rack up 60 or more hits in a season. She ranks 45th nationally in hits and is 18th in the NCAA in triples (5). Last year,
  • Daphne Plummer (So., Lee's Summit, Mo.) set a new Missouri State freshman record with 63 hits, accumulating the most tallies by a Bear in a single season since Diedre Shores (64) in 1997.
  • Steffany Dickerson (So., Oklahoma City, Okla.) picked up her 18th win of the season in last Saturday's 4-2 victory over Drake, the most wins by any Bears' pitcher since Natalie Rose won 22 games in 2011. Dickerson allowed just two Drake hits in the complete-game victory, which gave MSU its fifth win of the year against an RPI Top-50 foe. Dickerson also eclipsed 200 career strikeouts in the win over Drake. She enters the final weekend of the regular season second in the MVC in innings pitched (163.2), second in strikeouts (132) and third in victories (18).
  • Daphne Plummer (So., Lee's Summit, Mo.) starts the weekend one RBI shy of 50 for her 98-game career. Last year, she was 5-for-7 (.714) against Indiana State with a double and a pair of runs to earn MVC Player of the Week.
  • Freshman catcher Alex Boze (Swansea, Ill.) lifted the Bears to a 4-2 victory over Drake on April 27 with a two-out, two-run single in the bottom off sixth off Bulldog ace Nicole Newman. Boze's timely single was the sixth hit of the game for MSU, which accounted for three of its four runs and four of its six hits in the game from its freshmen.
    Payton Minnis (Fr., Blue Springs, Mo.) is hitting .414 (12-for-29) over the last 11 games (with 5 RBI) and .533 (8-for-15) over the last 6 contests with a 2B and a 3B.
  • In true road games, the Bears are 9-6 this season with Kyana Mason batting a team-best .392 (8 RBI, 7 EBH), and Madison Hunsaker (So., Peculiar, Mo.) hitting .364 (8 RBI) in those 15 away contests.
  • Hunsaker and Plummer led the Bears with 9 RBI apiece during the month of April and each collected 13 hits.
  • Erin Griesbauer (Jr., Blue Springs, Mo.) needs 4 strikeouts to reach 100 for her career. She has a team-best 3.18 ERA in road games this year, posted a 1.91 ERA in April (3-1) and is 0-0 lifetime against Indiana State with a 3.32 ERA (6.1 IP).

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 809-786-2 (.508) record. She began the 2019 season ranked 32nd among all active NCAA Division I coaches in career victories.
  • Coach Hesse is 56-22 all-time against Indiana State.
  • Hesse joined the elite 800-win club on Sunday, March 24 with the Bears' 3-2 come-from-behind win over Northern Iowa at Killian Stadium to make her the 30th active Division I coach with 800 wins at the time. Hesse 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., after earning her 700th victory 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, 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. Earlier this season, Hesse led the Bears to a 4-3 win at No. 16 Auburn.
  • 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, including two players -- Kaitlin Beason and Holly Kelley -- in 2018.
  • 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 MSU Board of Governors for distinctive work and accomplishments in support of Missouri State's public affairs mission.   
 
Series History
  • Missouri State leads the all-time series with Indiana State, 64-26, in a rivalry that dates back to 1980. The Bears are 25-12 all-time in Terre Haute and have won three straight season series against ISU.
  • Last year in Springfield (April 28-29), the Bears secured a three-game sweep of the Sycamores at Killian Stadium ... In game one, the Bears overcame an early deficit and captured their 30th win, 3-1. Holly Kelley (12-3) went the distance for MSU with her eighth complete game, striking out seven. A two-run single by Erika Velasquez Zimmer scored Kelly Metter and Kelley to win it ... In game two, Kaitlin Beason's walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh lifted the Bears to a 5-4 win. Beason and Daphne Plummer finished 3-for-4 to ignite the comeback and lift MSU to its 16th conference victory ... In the finale, a four-run rally by ISU in the sixth gave the visitors a 4-3 lead with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. But a two-out walk to Madison Jones preceded a Plummer single to left. ISU's Rebecca Gibbs then threw wildly into second base, allowing both runners to score on a strange walk-off sequence.
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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
Holly Kelley

#9 Holly Kelley

P
5' 9"
Senior
Erika Velasquez Zimmer

#24 Erika Velasquez Zimmer

OF
5' 5"
Senior
Steffany Dickerson

#13 Steffany Dickerson

P
5' 8"
Sophomore
Erin Griesbauer

#20 Erin Griesbauer

P
5' 9"
Junior
Madison Hunsaker

#15 Madison Hunsaker

P/1B
5' 8"
Sophomore
Kyana Mason

#2 Kyana Mason

3B
5' 4"
Senior
Kelly Metter

#22 Kelly Metter

2B
5' 9"
Sophomore
Daphne Plummer

#14 Daphne Plummer

SS
5' 7"
Sophomore
Alex Boze

#10 Alex Boze

C
5' 8"
Freshman
Payton Minnis

#11 Payton Minnis

2B/OF
5' 5"
Freshman

Players Mentioned

Kaitlin Beason

#10 Kaitlin Beason

5' 8"
Senior
P/1B
Madison Jones

#1 Madison Jones

5' 8"
Senior
2B
Holly Kelley

#9 Holly Kelley

5' 9"
Senior
P
Erika Velasquez Zimmer

#24 Erika Velasquez Zimmer

5' 5"
Senior
OF
Steffany Dickerson

#13 Steffany Dickerson

5' 8"
Sophomore
P
Erin Griesbauer

#20 Erin Griesbauer

5' 9"
Junior
P
Madison Hunsaker

#15 Madison Hunsaker

5' 8"
Sophomore
P/1B
Kyana Mason

#2 Kyana Mason

5' 4"
Senior
3B
Kelly Metter

#22 Kelly Metter

5' 9"
Sophomore
2B
Daphne Plummer

#14 Daphne Plummer

5' 7"
Sophomore
SS
Alex Boze

#10 Alex Boze

5' 8"
Freshman
C
Payton Minnis

#11 Payton Minnis

5' 5"
Freshman
2B/OF

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