Saturday, March 20
Springfield
12:00 p.m.
Missouri State University
vs
Northern Iowa
Softball Bears Host UNI in Valley Opener
March 19, 2021 | Softball
| Missouri State Bears (9-8)Â vs. Northern Iowa (9-10) | |
| Dates | Saturday, March 20 – Sunday, March 21, 2021 |
| Site | Location | Killian Stadium | Springfield, Mo. |
| Game 1 | Saturday, 12:00 p.m. | Live Stats | Watch (ESPN3) | Game Notes |
| Game 2 | Saturday, (approx.) 2:30 p.m. | Live Stats | Watch (ESPN3) | Game Notes |
| Game 3 | Sunday, 11:00 a.m. | | Live Stats | Game Notes |
| Missouri State | Game Program | Softball Home Page | Season Stats Roster | Twitter | Facebook |
| Up Next | March 24 | at Southern Illinois (DH) | Carbondale, Ill. |
The Prime Nine
- Missouri State (9-8) opens up Missouri Valley Conference play with a weekend series against Northern Iowa (9-10), beginning with a doubleheader on Saturday, March 20 (12 p.m.) and the finale on Sunday, March 21 (11 a.m.). This marks the first conference game for the Bears since going 14-11 in 2019 after the remainder of the 2020 season was canceled prior to league play.
- The Bears are 14-13 in MVC openering games, including winning three straight conference openers to begin their last three league campaigns with a 1-0 record.
- MSU won in dramatic fashion at Saint Louis on Tuesday (March 16) with Alex Boze smashing a three-run home run in the seventh inning to lift the Bears to a 5-4 victory over the Billikens. The Bears preceded Tuesday's winning result with a string of five non-conference tournaments that opened up their 2021 campaign. MSU finished with tournament records of 3-1 at Mississippi State (Feb. 21-22), 3-2 at UCA (Feb. 25-27), 2-3 at UT Arlington (March 5-7) and 0-2 at Wichita State (March 11).
- The Bears have hit five triples on the season – tied for best in the MVC – with all of them coming in a four-game stretch (Feb. 26-March 5), including Darian Frost and Daphne Plummer earning triple-baggers against Western Illinois on Feb. 26. Plummer has five triples in her four-year career with the Bears after hitting two in both the 2018 and 2019 seasons.
- Madison Hunsaker (Sr., Peculiar, Mo.) ranks second in the MVC with a 1.31 ERA on the season. With a 4-2 record, she has pitched 32 innings while allowing six earned runs and tallying 39 strikeouts, which rank fifth-best among Valley pitchers. At the plate, Hunsaker is hitting .283 and has a team-best five extra-base hits with three doubles, a triple and a home run. She garnered conference Pitcher of the Week honors on Feb. 22.
- Leadoff hitter Daphne Plummer (Sr., Lee's Summit, Mo.) paces the MSU lineup with a .306 batting average and a team-high 15 hits. She has nine runs scored on the season, setting the stage by going a perfect 9-for-9 on stolen base attempts. Her nine swipes rank fourth in the conference.
- Tuesday's hero Alex Boze (Jr., Swansea, Ill.) delivered the game-winning home run for Missouri State after her seventh-inning three-run blast catapulted the Bears to victory. It was her second dinger of the season and gives the junior slugger five for her career. She is slugging .480 on the year with a double to go along with her two homers.
- Along with Hunsaker, pitchers Steffany Dickerson (Sr., Oklahoma City, Okla.) and Gracie Johnston (So., Augusta, Kan) provide the Bears a three-headed attack from the circle. The trio has contributed scoreless outings to help MSU record four shutouts in 2021, which is second most in the league. The Bears boast three pitchers among the Valley's ERA leaders with Johnston (2.26, 10th) and Dickerson (2.74, 11th) joining Hunsaker (1.31, 2nd) in the top-11.
- Missouri State softball was picked third in the Missouri Valley Conference preseason poll that was revealed on Tuesday (March 16). The Bears received 78 votes in the 10-team poll, sitting one spot ahead of weekend foe UNI (70) who was predicted to finish fourth.
- Bears head coach Holly Hesse is in her 33rd season leading the Bears' program as the second-winningest coach in Missouri Valley Conference history with a career record of 827-808-2 (.506). She began the year ranked 30th among all active NCAA Division I coaches in career victories.
- Coach Hesse is 42-43 vs. Northern Iowa in her career.
- Hesse joined the elite 800-win club on March 24, 2019 with the Bears' 3-2 come-from-behind win over Northern Iowa at Killian Stadium to make her the 30th active Division I coach at the time 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. In 2019, Hesse led the Bears to a 4-3 win at No. 16 Auburn.
- Hesse has coached 36 different first-team all-conference players which have received 51 first-team all-conference honors. Twenty-three of Hesse's players have gone on to earn NFCA All-Midwest Region honors, including Steffany Dickerson in 2019.
- Recent statewide honors for Hesse include induction into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2018 and the Missouri State University 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.
- Northern Iowa leads the all-time series, 51-49, in a rivalry that dates back to 1977. MSU is 27-26 alltime at home against the Panthers and 9-12 at Killian Stadium.
- The last time the two teams played in Springfield (March 23-24, 2019), the Panthers took two out of three in the series. In the opener, the Bears came out on the wrong end of a pitching duel with Steffany Dickerson going 6.1 innings and allowing just one earned run and the MSU lineup failing to convert a run out of its nine hits. In game two, MSU took a 2-1 lead following an Alex Boze two-run single, but UNI answered with three runs in the third and two in the sixth to sweep the doubleheader. In game three, a walkoff on a wild pitch delivered Hesse the 800th win of her illustrious career. The Bears scored a run in each of the final three innings to take the series finale and earn the milestone moment for Hesse
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Players Mentioned
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Wednesday, June 17
