Missouri State at Kajikawa Classic
Dates	Friday-Sunday, Feb. 11-13, 2022
Tournament Central	Kajikawa Classic
Location & Site	Tempe, Ariz. | Alberta B. Farrington Softball Stadium
Game 1	Friday, 5:30 p.m. at #21 Arizona State  | Watch (Pac-12 Networks) | Live Stats
Game 2	Friday, 8:00 p.m. vs. Utah | Live Stats
Game 3	Saturday, 12:30 p.m. vs. #3/4 Oklahoma State | Live Stats | Listen (OSU Broadcast)
Game 4	Saturday, 3:00 p.m. vs. California Baptist | Live Stats
Game 5	Sunday, 2:00 p.m. at #21 Arizona State | Watch (Pac-12 Networks) | Live Stats
Missouri State	MSU Game Notes (PDF) | Softball Home Page
Up Next	Feb. 18-20, Texas A&M Invitational

The Starting Lineup - Storylines

?     Missouri State finished the 2021 season with a 26-17 overall record and a 16-6 Missouri Valley Conference record. The Bears concluded the regular as the third-place team in the MVC and advanced to the semifinals of the MVC Tournament         before they were knocked off by the No. 2 seed, Northern Iowa, 3-2.
?    Head coach Holly Hesse is entering her 34th season at the helm of the Bears program. She ranks second in the MVC in overall career victories with 844 and second in MVC career victories with 361 league wins. The coaching staff of Hesse,         Sue Frederick and Beth Perine has been together since the 1996 season, making them the longest-tenured staff in the nation. Hesse enters the season ranked 22nd among all active NCAA Division I coaches in career victories (844-817-2).
?     Missouri State was picked to finish third in the Missouri Valley Conference this season by the MVC coaches, while D1 Softball recently pegged the Bears to place second in the MVC and make an NCAA Tournament appearance. Hesse has         led MSU to the NCAA Tournament five times in her career, with the Bears' last appearance coming in 2011. 
?     The Bears return 13 position players and 4 pitchers from last season's squad, while welcoming six newcomers (five freshmen, one transfer). In the circle, the Bears return all but one member of their staff that ranked third in the MVC last         season with a 2.66 ERA. Meanwhile in the batter's box, Missouri State will have its top four hitters from last season (Plummer, Krehbiel, Weakly and Hunsaker) back for 2022.. MSU's veteran presence is highlighted by the return of three         seniors for their fifth years: Steffany Dickerson, Madison Hunsaker and Daphne Plummer). 
?     Daphne Plummer (Sr., Lee's Summit, Mo.) finished last season as the team leader in batting average (.420), OPS (1.064), runs (36), hits (55), triples (5), slugging percentage (.588), on-base percentage (.476) and stolen bases (16).         Plummer's .420 batting average ranked 4th in the MVC and 38th nationally, while her five triples ranked 1st in the MVC and 16th in the naiton. She earned second-team all-MVC honors last season and was named to the Preseason all-MVC         team for 2022. Plummer ended the 2021 season on a 13-game hitting streak, as well. 
?     Entering her fifth season, Madison Hunsaker (Sr., Peculiar, Mo.) is looking to improve on one of her most successful seasons in a Bears uniform. Hunsaker, who played in every game last season, batted .268 at the plate, went 10-5 in the         circle with a 1.91 ERA and boasted a 1.000 fielding percentage. Her 2021 performance earned her a spot on the NFCA All-Region first team, MVC All-Defensive Team and all-MVC second team. Hunsaker was also named to the 2022         Preseason all-MVC team. 
?     Olivia Krehbiel (Jr., Lee's Summit, Mo.) earned NFCA All-Region second team honors last season after posting a .342 batting average and leading the Bears in RBI (30) and walks (24). Krehbiel also tied for the team lead with 5 home runs. 
?     The Bears will face a challenging non-conference schedule in 2022, as they will take on 8 Power Five squads with 11 games against those opponents. Four teams on Missouri State's schedule are ranked in the ESPN.com/USA Softball         Preseason Top 25 (#4 Oklahoma State, #9 Arkansas, #21 Arizona State and #25 Wichita State).
?     The coaching staff of Hesse, Sue Frederick and Beth Perine has been together since the 1996 season, making them the longest-tenured staff in the nation.


Series Histories

• Missouri State and Arizona State have met just once in the programs' histories, with ASU taking home the lone victory, 2-0, back in 1977. 
•     Utah owns a 4-0 all-time series advantage over Missouri State. The team's last met on March 30, 1997 with Utah winning by a score of 1-0. 
•     Oklahoma State has the advantage in the overall series against Missouri State with a 32-8 record. The Bears' last two meetings with the Cowgirls came in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, with OSU winning the contests, 15-1      and 11-0.
•     Missouri State and California Baptist are tied at 1-1 in the series' history. Both of the meetings came in 2020 at the Ole Miss Classic. MSU won the first matchup in the tournament 1-0, before CBU bounced back to win the second      game, 3-1.