Softball vs. Missouri Game Notes
4/27/2001 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 27, 2001
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The Lady Bears come into the Missouri series, their last regular-season games of the season, with a 36-20 record overall and 5-9 Big 12 record. They are cuttently in seventh place in the conference, one game behind Oklahoma State.
Baylor's three seniors, Naomi Fitzgerald, Meredith Miller and Jennifer Polk, will be honored prior to Sunday's game during Senior Salute.
Missouri cuttently sits in eighth spot, one game behind the Lady Bears. The Tigers are 27-24 overall and 4-9 in Big 12 play.
The Tigers will still have one game against Kansas remaining (May 6) after the Baylor series.
BAYLOR LADY BEARS
Ryan Stukel (junior, Cochise, Ariz.) and Naomi Fitzgerald (College Grove, Tenn.) keep trading the team-lead in hitting back and forth but after the UT-Arlington doubel-header, they're tied at .354. Fitzgerald, an All-American, leads the team in at bats (175), hits (62), doubles (9), triples (3) and on base percentage (.415). Stukel, a catcher, leads the team in home runs (8),, RBI (35) and slugging percentage (.579). Sophomores Stacey Hundley (Mesa, Ariz.) and Sarah Caudle (Gilroy, Calif.) are also tied with a batting average of .312. Baylor pitchers are led by sophomore Joni Miller (Edmond, Okla.). The rightie sports a record of 25-14 and an ERA of 1.47. She also has 10 shutouts and five saves to her credit. In 261.1 innings pitched she has struck out 146 and issued only 41 walks.
FIGHTING FOR THAT SIXTH SPOT
Baylor, as they did last year, is fighting to finish sixth in the Big 12, thus gaining an automatic berth into the Big 12 Tournament. The top six teams gain an automatic berth in the tournament, while the final four teams play-into the tournament. Baylor has never gained and automatic spot, they have always been involved in the play-in game.
MISSOURI TIGERS
The Missouri Tigers, 27-24 overall and 4-9 in Big 12 action, are coming off a two-game sweep of Southeast Missouri State (4-3, 5-1). Two players, Karen Williams and Mielanie Fisher, are hitting over .400. Williams checks in at .443 which ranks her No. 2 in the Big 12. FIsher is hitting .401 and ranks No.4 in the conference. Rachael McGinnis and Sara Vassmer check in at above .300. McGinnis averages .342 while Vassmer hits .322. Senior Stephanie Falk, like Baylor's Joni Miller, shoulders most of the mound duties. She has made an appearnace in 43 of Missouri's 51 games. She owns an ERA of 1.27, is 21-17 on the season and has pitched 28 complete games. Falk has struck out 171 batters while issuing only 61 walks in 243.1 innings pitched.
The Tigers are coached by Jay Miller. He is in his 14th season as head coach at Missouri (523-272) and owns a 19 year career record of 676-378.
THE SERIES
The Tigers lead the series 13-4. Since Baylor reinstated their program in 1996, the Lady Bears are 1-8 versus Missouri. That win came last season in Columbia, Mo., 2-1.
LAST MEETING
The two teams last squared off last year in Columbia, Mo. Despite Missouri's pitchers allowing only two hits, Baylor posted their first victory over Missouri in nine tries when they won the first game 2-1. The Lady Bears scored an unearned run in the top of the seventh when Ryan Stukel Walked and moved to second on Stacey Hundley's sacrifice bunt. Stukel scored on an error by Missouri's second baseman.
In the second game, which the Tigers won 3-2, Baylor took an early lead with one run in the third and another in the fourth inning. Missouri tied it up in the bottom of the fourth with two runs. They scored the winning run in the sixth when Linda Swarts doubled to left center and advanced to third on a passed ball. Swarts scored when Dara Throneburg singled to second base. Baylor had a scoring threat snuffed in the top of the seventh when pinch runner Vanessa Vandeburgt was thrown out at home trying to score.
