Kansas Travels to Missouri Wednesday for Softball Border Showdown

April 6, 2010

LAWRENCE, Kan. –

Game Notes in PDF Format

Facing its third-straight ranked Big 12 opponent, Kansas softball (16-19, 0-4 Big 12) travels to Columbia, Mo., on Wednesday, April 7 for a Border Showdown doubleheader versus No. 7/8 Missouri (25-6, 1-3 Big 12) beginning at 4 p.m.

Live stats for both games will be available via Gametracker on the KU Athletics website at www.KUAthletics.com/softball. In addition, Missouri will be providing a live video stream (for a fee) at www.MUTigers.com and a free radio broadcast available at www.KCOU.fm.

About Kansas

Four of Kansas’ last six contests have been versus top 20 teams as KU is 16-19 overall and 0-4 in Big 12 play. The Jayhawks are led offensively by freshman Rosie Hull’s .409 batting average. She has four hits over the last four games along with fellow freshman Alex Jones, who is second on the team hitting .357. Junior Brittany Hile has batted in a team-high 21 runs. Since the start of league action, sophomore Marissa Ingle paces the team with a .429 batting average and has two home runs in four Big 12 games. In the pitching circle, junior Allie Clark owns a team-best 3.55 ERA. Senior Sara Vertelka has six wins from the circle to go along with a team-high 48 strikeouts.

Scouting Missouri

Missouri lost its third-straight Big 12 game last weekend as it was swept by No. 15 Oklahoma State to drop to 25-6 overall and 1-3 in league games. Junior outfielder Rhea Taylor leads the Tigers with a .425 batting average and a conference-leading 18 stolen bases. Freshman shortstop Jenna Marston (.349) is one of two players with over 20 RBIs for MU having batted in 27 runs. She is also second on the team with 13 stolen bags. Sophomore Chelsea Thomas has seen the most time from the pitcher’s circle tossing 77 and 1/3 innings. She owns a 1.72 ERA and her 123 strikeouts are sixth in the conference.

Missouri is guided by head coach Ehren Earleywine, who is 162-59 in his fourth season with the Tigers and 305-114 in his seventh year overall.

Series Information

Kansas first baseman Amanda Jobe hit a walk-off home run in the nightcap of last year’s doubleheader versus Missouri to snap a five-game skid against the Tigers. KU trails MU in the all-time series 40-56, including 14-21 in games played in Columbia. The Jayhawks’ last victory in Columbia came on April 13, 2005.

Up Next

The Jayhawks continue their road stint into the weekend when they travel to Baylor April 10-11. From there, Kansas will make a brief stop at home on April 14 to host Nebraska in a single game before hitting the road again the next day at Creighton.