KU Home Opener Scheduled For Wednesday
March 7, 2006
LAWRENCE, Kan. –
FIRST PITCH
Kansas softball (9-10) opens its home season at Arrocha Ballpark with a doubleheader against Missouri State (11-5) Wednesday at 2 p.m. (Rain and thunderstorms are expected Wednesday in the Lawrence area.) The Jayhawks are coming off a 4-1 performance at the Best Western Airport Festival in Tulsa, Okla., to win their first tournament title of the season. KU will look for a second tournament crown this weekend when it hosts Minnesota, Eastern Michigan and Portland State in the 2006 Jayhawk Classic. The Jayhawks, who are picked to finish seventh in the Big 12 Conference this season, are slated to play 59 regular-season games this year with only 22 of those contests in Lawrence.
Live Gametracker will be available for all games.
KANSAS QUICK HITS
-Kansas returns eight letterwinners and six starters in 2006, including four All-Big 12 selections in Destiny Frankenstein (Sr., SS), Jessica Moppin (Sr., 2B), Heather Stanley (Sr., OF) and Serena Settlemier (Sr., P/DP).
-Three positions in the starting lineup are filled by freshmen — Val Chapple (3B), Erika Simington (C) and Stevie Crisosto (1B/OF).
-Settlemier holds the KU all-time home runs record with 31. Frankenstein is close behind with 30 for her career while Moppin (26) and senior Nettie Fierros (15) also rank in KU’s career Top 10.
-Head coach Tracy Bunge is just nine wins away from her 300th victory at Kansas and 17 away from her 400th career victory.
-KU has made nine trips to the NCAA Regionals in the last 25 years and gone three times under Bunge in the past nine seasons (most recently in 2005).
-The Jayhawks broke two program records last season when they hit 54 home runs and boasted a .973 fielding percentage.
BEST WESTERN AIRPORT FESTIVAL LEFTOVERS
Kansas softball finished 4-1 last weekend to win the Best Western Airport Festival in Tulsa, Okla. … KU defeated #17 Nebraska (4-0), Stephen F. Austin (5-0), Northern Iowa (15-2) and Tulsa (6-3) and lost to Notre Dame (5-2)… Senior middle infielders Jessica Moppin and Destiny Frankenstein led KU at the plate in Tulsa … Frankenstein hit .462 with three home runs while Moppin batted at a .444 clip and notched eight hits … Senior pitcher Serena Settlemier (5-3) posted a 3-0 record and 1.88 ERA in the circle while totaling 10 RBI and four homers (.385) … Freshman Val Chapple, Moppin, Frankenstein and Settlemier were named to the all-tournament team.
MISSOURI STATE… The Bears (11-5) are riding a five-game win streak after posting two wins on the final day of the Missouri State Spring Classic Sunday to win the tournament with a 4-0 record. The Bears defeated UMKC, 4-0, behind a stellar one-hit shutout by sophomore Melissa Porche (5-0), and beat Saint Louis, 4-3, in 10 innings, with a game-winning two-RBI single off the bat of Shannon Buslepp. Buslepp (3-2) leads the Bears’ offense with a .333 batting average, 15 hits and five doubles in 16 starts a pitcher (2.18 ERA, team-best 30 strikeouts) and designated player. Porche holds a 2.26 ERA in 34 innings of work and Samantha Fleeman (3-3) rounds out the pitching staff with a team-leading 0.57 ERA and .224 opponent batting average. KU leads the all-times series, 56-14, and has claimed the last four meetings with the Bears.
