Shocker SB at Missouri State

[flyingMoose]

The Shockers complete their series with Missouri State with a single game in Springfield on Tuesday starting at 5pm.

Missouri State has an overall record of 22-19 with a 10-10 mark in the Valley. In conference play, the Bears have swept Loyola, won two from Bradley and Indiana State, won one game from Northern Iowa and Evansville and were swept by Illinois State. They split their two games last week with the Shocks.

Using conference-only stats, the offense for Missouri State is led by Bethany Sullinger with an OPS of 1.156 and three homers. Elena Gambill is next at .871. Kaitlin Beason (ERA of 1.58 and a WHIP of 1.16) and Holly Kelley (3.00 and 1.32) are the primary pitchers for the Bears.

The Shocker records are now 27-17 and 12-7. The offensive leader in conference play is now Mackenzie with an OPS of 1.201 and four homers. Next are McKenzie (1.078), Madison (1.004 and four homers), Laurie (.984 and five homers) and Kelli (.946).

Katie has an ERA of 2.08 and a WHIP of 1.24. Jenni's numbers continue to drop. They are now 2.33 and 1.36.


I would expect to see a matchup of Jenni and Beason in this game as they both pitched shutouts in their respective games of the two games played last week.

[flyingMoose]

Illinois State has the best RPI in the Valley at 48 with the Shockers next at 72. The Redbirds are the only Valley team with a shot at the NCAA Tournament as an at-large.

[1972Shocker]

I would expect to see a matchup of Jenni and Beason in this game as they both pitched shutouts in their respective games of the two games played last week.

Another accurate prediction by the all-seeing @flyingMoose The Magnificent.

Scoreless after 2 innings. The Shockers threatened in the 3rd loading the bases with 2 outs but Asia Weber batting 4th struck out to end the inning. Not sure why Asia is batting 4th. I would prefer the next 4 hitters (Hitz, Derrico, Perrigan, or Luellen) in that situation.

Missouri State also threatened in the bottom half of the 3rd putting runners on the corners with only 1 out. A grounder to 3rd and a strike out got Jenni out of the inning unscathed.

After 3 complete it is still scoreless.

[1972Shocker]

Shocks go down in order in the top of the 4th.

Back-to-back singles leading off the 4th put MSU back in business with runners at 1st and 2nd and no outs.

Some hard to picture stuff based on the live stats happened after that. The next batter reached on a FC to the catcher with the runner on 2nd, Beason, out at 2nd C to SS and with the runner on 1st advancing to 2nd.

With runners still at 1st and 2nd but now with 1-out the next batter, Mary Stephens, reached on a grounder to SS who threw to 2nd for the force out. However, the runner from 2nd somehow managed to score on the play.

Stephens was put out 3-4-3. It was shown as a separate play but perhaps it was part of the FC to SS with the force at 2nd. Maybe Stephens intentionally got in a run down and the run scored before they could tag Stepehns out.

Not real sure but in any case Missouri State leads 1-0.

[1972Shocker]

Big Mack ties the score at 1-all with a 2-out solo home run in the top of the 6th.

[1972Shocker]

In the top of the 7th Madison Perrigan lead off with a single to left. Kennedy Long was inserted as a pinch runner for Madison. Paige Luellen laid down a successful sacrifice bunt to move Kennedy to 2nd.

Ryleigh Buck, who was pinch hitting for Ashley Johnson, worked a walk to put runners on 1st and 2nd. Ashley was then reinserted for Ryleigh to run the bases.

That bring up the top of the lineup in Mackenzie Wright. Mackenzie responded with a single down the LF line to score Kennedy wiht the go ahead run and move Ashley to 2nd. Kelly Spring then walked to load the bases.

Mckenzie Adams singled to left with all runners moving up a base and giving the Shocks a 3-1 lead.

Asea Webber duplicated that with a single up the middle to make it 4-1 with the bases still loaded and forcing ptiching change.

Big Mack doubled to left center to score 2 more runs making it 6-1 with runners on 2nd and 3rd and still only 1 out.

Laurie Derrico grounded to 3rd and Asea was caught in a run down between home and 3rd. Madison then grounded out to end the big inning for the Shocks.

[1972Shocker]

Jenni gave up on infield hit to open the 7th but then got the next 3 batters ending the game with a strike out.

Final Score: Shockers 6 - Bears 1

Another very fine outing by Jenni and 2nd straight good outing agaisnt the Lady Bears. Great to see.

Co-Players of the game IMO are Jenni and Big Mack with an honorable mention to Mackenzie Wright. Big Mack and Mackenzie combined for 6 of the Shocks' 10 hits. Mackenzie was 3-3 plus a walk and Macklin was 3-4 with 3 RBI.

Very nice and a badly needed win for the Lady Shocks.

Hopefully the late rally might re-ignite the Shocker offense again.

[ShockTalk]

Needed this win.....badly.

[flyingMoose]

Other Mid-Week Scores

Illinois State 6-2 Bradley

Drake 2-5 Northern Iowa

Evansville 0-1(10) Southern Illinois


All of the teams at the top of the standings won their games. Loyola and Indiana State play their game on Wednesday.

[1972Shocker]

Huge series coming up this weekend at 2nd place Northern Iowa. The Shocks currently trail UNI by 1.5 games thanks to losing a game at Carbondale. At a minimum the Shocks need to take 2 out of 3. Obviously a sweep would be ideal but unlikely. Looking forward to the series lead-in report by @flygingMoose.

This is by far the key series of the weekend in the Valley as the reamining contenders are all playing the teams down in the standings. Maybe EVansville can sneak up on Illinois State at home but Illinois State is really playing well.

The weather in Cedar Falls is not looking too good this weekend. Saturday a high of 51 with NE winds at 16 mph and a 20% chance of rain (after showers on Friday). Sunday a high of 46 with NE winds at 21 mph and a 100% chance of rain. Not sure when those rains are supposed to start. Just to be safe the Shocks need to sweep the Saturday DH.

[WuDrWu]

The weather in Cedar Falls is not looking too good this weekend. Saturday a high of 51 with NE winds at 16 mph and a 20% chance of rain (after showers on Friday). Sunday a high of 46 with NE winds at 21 mph and a 100% chance of rain. Not sure when those rains are supposed to start. Just to be safe the Shocks need to sweep the Saturday DH.

Fortunately, outside of typical weather anomalies, we're about to say bye bye to weather reports on the conference road trails in the foreseeable future.

I suppose Cincinnati, Temple and UCONN could possible have less than palatable weather this time of year but...........

[1972Shocker]

Fortunately, outside of typical weather anomalies, we're about to say bye bye to weather reports on the conference road trails in the foreseeable future.

I suppose Cincinnati, Temple and UCONN could possible have less than palatable weather this time of year but...........

True for the most part but knowing that probably won't make things feel any better this weekend in Frostbite Falls especially for our 2 senior pitchers, Katie on Jenni.

The weather in Wichita this weekend doesn't look any better. Last Sunday was just Mother Nature giving us a big tease I guess. What a gorgeious day that was. Next week looking decidely better right now.