Bears Softball Stays on the Road at Ole Miss Classic

Friday, March 3

Oxford, Miss.

10:30 a.m.

Missouri State University

SEMO

Bears Softball Stays on the Road at Ole Miss Classic

March 01, 2023 | Softball

Game Notes (PDF)Watch (Game 2)Watch (Game 4)Live Stats

Missouri State Bears (5-8) at Ole Miss Classic
Dates	Friday-Sunday, March 3-5, 2023
Location & Site	Oxford, Miss. \| Ole Miss Softball Complex
Game 1	Friday, 10:30 a.m. vs. SEMO \| Live Stats
Game 2	Friday, 3:30 p.m. at Ole Miss \| Watch \| Live Stats
Game 3	Saturday, 10:30 a.m. vs. Mount St. Mary's \| Live Stats
Game 4	Saturday, 3:30 p.m. at Ole Miss \| Watch \| Live Stats
Game 5	Sunday, 10 a.m. vs. Mount St. Mary's \| Live Stats
Missouri State	Game Notes (PDF) \| Softball Home Page
Ole Miss	Softball Home Page
SEMO	Softball Home Page
Mount St. Mary's	Softball Home Page
Bears Mobile App	App Store (Apple Devices) \| Google Play Store (Android Devices)
Up Next	March 11-12 at Shocker Classic \| Wichita, Kan.

The Starting Lineup - Storylines for the Ole Miss Classic

Missouri State is off to a 5-8 start this season. Last weekend, they went 2-2 at the Michelle Short Collegiate Classic hosted by Central Arkansas with an 8-6 win over South Dakota State and a forfeit victory against Mississippi Valley State. The Bears dropped two contests to host UCA. In the win over SDSU, Olivia Krehbiel knocked a sixth-inning and ultimately game-winning grand slam.
Krehbiel's grand slam against SDSU marked the third of her career, as she joined Staci Wattie and Jessica Acton as one of only three Bears in program history to accomplish the feat in their careers. She also became just the third player in program history to drive in six or more runs in a single game with six RBI versus SDSU.
Freshman Abby Ford (Fr., Ozark, Mo.) leads the way for the Bears offensively so far this season with a .387 batting average, 12 hits and 8 runs scored. She also leads the Missouri Valley Conference and ranks 6th naitonally with 13 stolen bases on the season.
Head coach Holly Hesse is in her 35th season at the helm of the Bears program. She ranks second in the MVC in overall career victories with 877 and second in MVC career victories with 379 league wins. Hesse entered the season ranked 17th among all active NCAA Division I coaches in career victories (877-845-2).
Missouri State was picked to finish fourth in the Missouri Valley Conference this season by the MVC coaches.
The Bears return 11 position players and 3 pitchers from last season's squad, while welcoming five newcomers (four freshmen, one transfer). At the plate, the Bears return two of their top four hitters from a season ago in Alex Boze and Olivia Krehbiel, who batted .325 and .282 respectively, as they both led the team with 11 home runs and 31 RBI. In the cirlce, Missouri State will look a lot different as it lost 83% of its innings pitched from a year ago, with the departures of Steffany Dickerson and Madison Hunsaker. The Bears return three pitchers from last season's staff, while adding two new arms to the mix for 2023.
Fifth-year senior Alex Boze (Sr., Swansea, Ill.) returns to the Missouri State lineup this season following a career season in 2022. She was named to the MVC All-Defensive Team and earned Third Team NFCA All-Region honors after setting the single-season record in MSU program history with a .684 slugging percentage and posting career-highs in batting average (.325), hits (38), home runs (11), RBI (31) and on-base percentage (.448). Boze is also tied for fifth in career home runs with 19, with the current record set at 27 by Jessie Smith (2006-09).
With the retirement of long-time associate head coach Sue Frederick, the Bears welcome assistant coach, Kasey Griffth, to the tenured staff of head coach Holly Hesse and associate head coach Beth Perine. Griffith spent the last 10 years at Drake, where she served as assistant coach since the start of the 2015 season. Griffith works closely with the MSU hitters and infielders, and serves as the first base coach.
Missouri State finished the 2022 season with a 28-20 overall record and finished second in the Missouri Valley Conference regular season standings with an 18-7 conference ledger. The Bears went on to take home the MVC Tournament title and advanced to their seventh NCAA Tournament in program history. In the Columbia Regional, the Bears picked up a 2-0 win over Illinois, while losing two close contests to No. 15 national seed Missouri.

Series Histories
Missouri State leads the all-time series against SEMO, 32-11, including a 13-1 neutral site advantage. MSU and SEMO met last season at the Jayhawk Invitational hosted by Kansas and the Bears took home a 10-8 victory.
MSU trails the all-time series against Ole Miss, 3-4, as the Bears own an 0-2 ledger in Oxford. The teams last met on Feb. 29, 2020 with Ole Miss defeating the Bears 1-0 in the Ole Miss Classic. MSU's last win in the series was a 1-0 victory on Feb. 17, 2006 at the Florida Atlantic Tournament.
Missouri State and Mount St. Mary's have never met.