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Missouri State

Joerling Slide

Softball MSU Athletics Communications

Softball Bears Prepare for MVC Tournament

Missouri State Bears (30-20) at MVC Tournament
Dates Wednesday, May 8 - Saturday, May 11, 2019
MVC Tournament *Single-elimination bracket | Tournament Central
Site | Location Petersen Hotels Field (1,200), Peoria, Ill.
Game 1 Thursday (vs. Indiana St.), 11:02 a.m. | ESPN+ | Live Stats | MSU Game Notes
Game 2 * Thursday (vs. Bradley), 4:00 p.m. | ESPN+ | Live Stats | MSU Game Notes
Game 3 * Friday (vs. Drake), 11:00 a.m. | ESPN+ | Live Stats | MSU Game Notes
Game 4 * Saturday (Championship), 1:00 p.m. | ESPN+ | Live Stats | MSU Game Notes
Missouri State Softball Home Page | Twitter | Facebook | MSU Media Guide

The Prime Nine
  • Missouri State heads to Peoria, Ill., this week for the 2019 Missouri Valley Conference Softball Championship. The Bears are the No. 5 seed and will take on the winner of Loyola and Indiana State on Thursday at 11 a.m. If they advance in the single-elimination bracket, the Bears would play subsequent games against No. 4 seed Bradley (Thursday, 4 p.m.), No. 1 seed Drake (Friday, 11 a.m.) and the championship game (Saturday, 1 p.m.).
  • Missouri State has won the MVC Tournament 6 times -- 1983, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2006 and 2011. The six tourney titles matches Illinois State and Creighton for the most by any school in league history. The Bears have also finished as tournament runners-up four times, most recently in 2015. MSU is 72-47 (.605) all-time in the MVC Tournament, some 13 more victories than Illinois State (59) which is in second place in that list.
  • All-MVC First Team and MVC All-Defensive Team selection Kyana Mason (Sr., Independence, Mo.) enters the postseason as the MVC leader in assists (124) and ranks third in the league (65th nationally) in hits (63). The third baseman is 1 hit away from a top-five single-season effort in MSU program history. Last year, Daphne Plummer (So., Lee's Summit, Mo.) set a new MSU freshman record with 63 hits. Mason and Plummer now share the honor for the most hits by a Bear in a season since Diedre Shores had 64 base knocks in 1997.
  • Missouri State enters this week's MVC Tournament with a 30-20 overall ledger, giving the club 30 wins in back-to-back seasons for the first time in 21 years after going 32-20 a year ago. MSU posted 30 wins in three straight seasons in 1996 (34-22), 1997 (36-26) and 1998 (31-22) when MSU made three straight NCAA Tournament appearances. The 2019 campaign marks the 10th 30-win season under coach Holly Hesse and the 13th in program history.
  • All-MVC First Team pitcher Steffany Dickerson (So., Oklahoma City, Okla.) led the MSU staff in nearly every statistical category and ranked near the top of the league rankings in several more. She enters the weekend ranked third in the MVC in wins (20), fifth in ERA (2.22), second in innings pitched (179.2), third in strikeouts (140), second in saves (4), and is tied for first in appearances (41). She ranks 29th nationally in victories, 26th in saves and 89th in strikeouts among all Division I players.
  • With last week's CG, 9-inning victory at Indiana St., Dickerson (20-10) joined an elite club of eight Bears to reach 20 pitching victories in a season. She is the first MSU player since Natalie Rose (2011) to reach 20 wins and the first sophomore since 1978 (Penny Clayton).  
  • Payton Minnis (So., Blue Springs, Mo.) has reached base safely in a team-best 9 straight games heading into the MVC Tournament. The standout newcomer ranks second on the MSU roster in hitting (.348) and is 12-for-26 (.462) with 5 RBI since April 19.
  • Daphne Plummer (So., Lee's Summit, Mo.) hit safely in 34 of 50 games this year and is the MSU leader in RBI (26). She is 2 hits shy of 50 for the season, while classmate Madison Hunsaker (Peculiar, Mo.) is 1 hit away from 50. Hunsaker (.322) is third on the team in average and second in RBI (23) behind Plummer.

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 811-787-2 (.508) record. She began the 2019 season ranked 32nd among all active NCAA Division I coaches in career victories.
  • 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.
  • Including two this year, Hesse has coached 36 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. 
 
 
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Players Mentioned

Kaitlin Beason

#10 Kaitlin Beason

P/1B
5' 8"
Senior
Holly Kelley

#9 Holly Kelley

P
5' 9"
Senior
Steffany Dickerson

#13 Steffany Dickerson

P
5' 8"
Sophomore
Madison Hunsaker

#15 Madison Hunsaker

P/1B
5' 8"
Sophomore
Kyana Mason

#2 Kyana Mason

3B
5' 4"
Senior
Daphne Plummer

#14 Daphne Plummer

SS
5' 7"
Sophomore
Payton Minnis

#11 Payton Minnis

2B/OF
5' 5"
Freshman

Players Mentioned

Kaitlin Beason

#10 Kaitlin Beason

5' 8"
Senior
P/1B
Holly Kelley

#9 Holly Kelley

5' 9"
Senior
P
Steffany Dickerson

#13 Steffany Dickerson

5' 8"
Sophomore
P
Madison Hunsaker

#15 Madison Hunsaker

5' 8"
Sophomore
P/1B
Kyana Mason

#2 Kyana Mason

5' 4"
Senior
3B
Daphne Plummer

#14 Daphne Plummer

5' 7"
Sophomore
SS
Payton Minnis

#11 Payton Minnis

5' 5"
Freshman
2B/OF

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