April 23, 2012

Kansas vs. UMKC

Maggie Hull became the new Big 12 batting average leader over the weekend, hitting .424 in 2012.   Wednesday, April 25, 2012 Location Lawrence, Kan. Game One 3 p.m. CT Game Two 5 p.m. CT Live Stats Kansas GameTracker Live Audio AT&T Jayhawk All-Access Game Notes Kansas

LAWRENCE, Kan. -A red-hot offensive weekend coupled with a Big 12 series win has the Kansas softball team riding momentum into a midweek matchup when the Jayhawks pause conference action to host UMKC at Arrocha Ballpark on Wednesday.

SCHEDULE
Wednesday, April 25: 3 p.m. CT
Wednesday, April 25: 5 p.m. CT

AROUND THE BALLPARK
Wednesday:Jay Days, Rock Chalk Rewards Double Pts, Free hot dogs to first 50 students

FOLLOW THE HAWKS
AT&T Jayhawk All-Access will stream live audio of both games of the doubleheader free of charge. Weston Pletcher and Kyle Larson will have the call. Fans can also follow the action on GameTracker, located on the softball schedule page on kuathletics.com. Live scoring updates can also be found by following @JayhawkSoftball on Twitter.

SERIES HISTORY
Kansas and UMKC have met 29 times prior to this week's matchup, with the Jayhawks owning a commanding 27-2 all-time series lead. KU is protecting an unblemished 16-0 mark at home against the `Roos.

KU and UMKC have squared off at least once every year since 1999. The Jayhawks have won 17 of the last 18 matchups as the teams split a doubleheader last season.

DUE UP
• Kansas (28-16, 5-13) brought an explosive offense to Arrocha Ballpark to take the series from Iowa State, winning 2-of-3 against the Cyclones for its second conference series win of the season. During the three-game series, KU cranked out 25 runs and hit an impressive .418 on the weekend to move to third in the Big 12 with a .297 team batting average. Only top-10 Texas (.338) and Oklahoma (.317) rank higher as a team. In Big 12 play alone, Kansas' team average (.249) checks in at fourth in the league.

• KU nearly picked up its first series sweep of the season, jumping out to a 6-0 lead in game two against Iowa State. Tori Torrescano, however, hit the home run that made her the Cyclones' all-time, single-season leader to spark the 10-9 comeback victory.

• The Jayhawks are No. 35 in the lastest NCAA RPI projections (4/16), with this week's not yet posted. Four of the Big 12's nine softball schools check-in in the top 20 and all but one are in the top 40. KU is 8-13 this year against top-100 RPI opponents, and 18-16 facing schools in the top half of the RPI list (No. 1-144).

• Junior left fielder Maggie Hull stretched her hit streak to 12 games, the team's longest of the season, over the weekend and cranked out eight hits in 11 at bats. During the ISU series, Hull took over as the Big 12's batting leader with a .424 average, surpassing Texas' Lexy Bennett (.411). If the season ended today, Hull would crush KU's previous single-season batting average record of .400 set in 1979.

• On the other side of the plate, freshman Alicia Pille is keeping hitters at a .208 mark and leads the team with a 2.31 ERA. In her last outing, the freshman threw her third one-hitter of the year for her 15th win of the season. Two more wins tie her for third all-time among KU rookies (Stephani Williams, 17, 1991).

ABOUT KANSAS (28-16, 5-13 Big 12 Conference)
Completely focused on its season goal of an NCAA Tournament bid, Kansas has hit its offensive stride at the perfect time. In six of their last nine matchups, the Jayhawks have punched out double digits in the hit column while building their team average to .297. Four top-25 teams in the league rank behind the Jayhawks' mark.

The production comes from rookies and veterans alike as KU overwhelmed ISU with a .418 average as a lineup last weekend. Captains Liz Kocon, Maggie Hull and Mariah Montgomery all hit .625 or better against the Cyclones. Meanwhile, Jayhawk rookies Maddie Stein, Lexi Bryant and Chanin Naudin posted consistent .300-plus numbers during the series.

Storylines for the KU hitters only continue to mount. On the team's longest hit streak of the season, Maggie Hull's 12 game span includes nine multi-hit performances. With eight games remaining, the junior needs five runs and 18 hits to become Kansas' all-time single season leader in both categories.

Stein, who moved right behind Maggie Hull in the lineup last weekend, broke loose for her first career homer - and then some. She became the second Jayhawk to belt two homers in a game this season (Montgomery vs. Delaware State) in game two against Iowa State and tacked on number three in the series finale. She leads the team with a .421 average in Big 12 play.

The dominant offense was supported by an equally overriding pitching performance from freshman Alicia Pille, who needed only 58 pitches to throw her first one-hit shutout in conference play on Sunday against Iowa State. Pille's 15 wins marks the most by a Jayhawk pitcher since Val George won 18 decisions in 2008.

Head coach Megan Smith noted after Sunday's commanding 8-0, five-inning run rule to close out the Iowa State series, that she had not seen her team put together a more convincing, well-balanced performance in her three seasons at Kansas.

ABOUT UMKC (19-25, 7-11 Summit League)
Led by last year's Summit League Coach of the Year, Meredith Smith, the Kangaroos head to Lawrence following a 6-4, 12-inning victory at North Dakota State on Sunday, snapping a three-game skid. A team that battles, UMKC has been run ruled only once this season. The `Roos lost a close 2-0 game at Arkansas on April 17 and took two of three from Missouri State earlier this season.

UMKC is hitting at a .238 clip with eight total home runs. Senior Kaelene Curry and junior Emily Ott are both hitting .322 to pace the offense and mark the only `Roos hitting over .300.

In the circle, junior Deanna Friese (9-13) and freshman Cinda Ramos (9-11) take on the majority of the innings, starting all but one game this season. Friese leads the staff with a 3.03 ERA, while Ramos is right behind her at 3.30. Friese is a dominant threat in the circle with 183 strikeouts on the year.

HEAD COACH Megan Smith
On facing UMKC:
"UMKC is always tough. We always get great games from them and they've got a really good pitcher (Friese) that always gives us fits. We're going to work toward that as a team on Tuesday to get ready. They're a well-coached solid team that will play us tough."

"We know a lot about them; we always keep up with them. They're not having as good of a year record-wise, but they've still got really good pitching. It'll be a good matchup."

UP NEXT
Kansas will wrap up its home schedule against the Texas Tech Red Raiders, April 27-29. All five Jayhawk seniors will be recognized before game two on Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. Game one is set for Friday at 5 p.m. with Sunday's series finale slated for noon.