SOFTBALL PREVIEW/COMMENT THREAD: Mizzou welcomes Roos to CoMo one day later than planned

It was a good weekend, y’all! I wrote an extensive recap of the “Great South Carolina Sweep,” in the links. Enjoy!

The team was in really good spirits at the weekend’s conclusion, as you would expect. There’s still work to be done, and there’s a lot of season left, but the Tigers seem to be getting back to their “brand” of softball.

WHEN: Wednesday, April 6 at 4pm

WHERE: Mizzou Softball Stadium, Columbia, Mo.

TV/STREAMING/RADIO: SEC N+, KTGR (Tiger Radio Network)

STATS: StatBroadcast (scroll to down to game and click on Live Stats)

HISTORY BETWEEN MIZZOU/OPPONENT:

Mizzou leads the all-time series over the Roos 52-1. According to MUTigers.com, the lone defeat came during the 1997 season... so better luck than the men’s basketball team, eh? (I kid). The last time the two teams were supposed to meet was last season, but it was canceled.

2021 RECORD: 42-17 (ranked #8 nationally)

2022 RECORD: 22-13 (3-5 in SEC), 3-4 in away games

PROJECTED CONFERENCE FINISH: 5th in SEC

RANKING: #25 (ESPN.com/USA Softball), #24 (D1 Softball), #22 (Softball America), #24 (USA Today/NFCA), #26 (RPI)

LAST 4 GAMES: South Carolina (W 2-1, W 7-3, W 4-2), @ kU (L 11-7)

2022 TOP PERFORMERS:

• Casidy Chaumont, OF: .409 BA / 1.140 OPS / 20 R / 27 H/ 5 2B / 1 3B / 4 HR / 17 RBI / .697 SLG% / .443 OB%
• Kim Wert, DP: .360 BA / 1.111 OPS / 18 R / 36 H / 5 2B / 9 HR / 29 RBI / .680 SLG% / .431 OB%
• Jenna Laird, SS: .348 BA / .887 OPS / 25 R / 39 H [team high] / 7 2B / 2 3B / 1 HR / 12 RBI / .473 SLG% / .414 OB% / 18-19 SB
• Kendyll Bailey, 2B: .343 BA / 1.017 OPS / 11 R / 36 H / 4 2B / 8 HR / 23 RBI / .610 SLG% / .407 OB%
• Alex Honnold, RF: .309 BA / .917 OPS / 16 R / 30H / 7 2B / 3 3B / 2 HR / 14 RBI/ .505 SLG% / .412 OB%
• Laurin Krings, SP: 2.87 ERA / 1.21 WHIP / 97.2 IP / 11-5 record / 8 CG / 4 SHO / 85 H / 40 ER / 33 BB / 122 SO / 26 XBH / 12 HR / 8 WP / 6 HBP / .231 Opp BA
• Jordan Weber, SP: 3.10 ERA / 1.20 WHIP / 70 IP / 6-3 / 3 CG / 1 SHO / 53 H / 31 ER / 31 BB / 66 SO / 17 XBH / 6 HR / 5 WP / 8 HBP / .213 Opp BA
• Megan Schumacher, RP: 2.80 ERA / 1.40 WHIP / 40 IP / 4-2 record / 41 H / 16 ER / 15 BB / 25 SO / 7 XBH / 1 HR / 5 WP / 1 HBP / .258 Opp BA

NOTES:

• Kim Wert recorded a first inning RBI in all three games of the South Carolina series. She is also now in sole possession of the all-time Mizzou home run record as she crushed the 48th of her Mizzou career. Wert broke the record previously held by Jen Bruck, which she initially broke on May 18, 2007 with her 33rd homer of the year.
• Not only did Wert break that record, she also was ON FIRE all weekend, batting a red hot .667 with a double, a homer, and four RBI. She drove in a run in every game of the weekend.
• Kendyll Bailey has extended her hit streak to seven games, and has reached base safely in 11-straight games. She’s got eight homers now, which is a career-best, and nine multi-hit games.
• Laurin Krings’ 11th win and 122nd strikeout on Sunday matches her season total from a year ago. This was also the first multi-series win of her career.
• On moving Jenna Laird to the leadoff role, Coach Anderson said she needs to run free. “Being behind Brooke (Wilmes), she was restrictive in her running. She doesn’t have to worry about someone being ahead of her. It’s giving her more freedom to be who she is.” We really did see a difference in Jenna this weekend as a result of this, so it was a great decision.
• Kara Daly hits a lot of balls hard and a lot out of the ballpark, but pitchers have picked up on this. She’s still trying to hit un-hittable pitches, Coach said. She’s got to learn not to change her approach and only swing at the stuff she can hit hard. I did notice she had some walks this weekend, so that seemed to be an improvement.
• In regards to Jordan Weber, who’s been hooked pretty quickly the last couple weeks, Anderson said practices have been limited by the amount of games they’re playing, and since the Tigers haven’t been getting that much run support, she’s had to keep bringing in another pitcher rather than allowing Jordan to work through her issues on the mound. For reference:

Weber pitched just 2.1 IP on Saturday and 3 IP in the Ole Miss loss on 3/25. She did get in 5 IP against Ball State (3/20), Stanford (3/19), and Illinois (3/16), but only 0.2 IP against Tennessee (3/13), and 4 IP total in two games against St Thomas (3/4-3/5).

While in the St. Thomas games, Jo was not removed for her performance, the other instances she was yanked at the first signs of trouble.

Here’s some info on Mizzou’s mid-week opponent:

2021 RECORD: 29-26 (11-13 conference)

2022 RECORD: 10-18 (4-2 in Summit League)

RECORD VS RANKED TEAMS: 0-9

LAST 6 GAMES: St. Thomas (L 2-3, W 4-3 in 9 inn., W 6-4), North Dakota (W 2-0, W 4-3 in 8 inn., L 0-2 in 8 inn.)

PROJECTED CONFERENCE FINISH: 2nd (tied) in Summit League

RANKING: #201 (RPI)

PLAYERS TO WATCH:

• Kloe Hilbrenner: .376 BA / 16 R / 38 H / 6 2B / 3 3B / 5 HR / 16 RBI / .644 SLG% / .423 OB% / 18-21 SB-ATT
• Delainey Fenoglio: .337 BA / 7 R / 30 H / 4 2B / 5 HR / 20 RBI / .551 SLG% / .410 OB%
• Marina Karnes: .309 BA / 8 R / 21 H / 4 2B / 1 HR / 7 RBI / .412 SLG% / .397 OB%
• Mia Hoveland, SP: 4.66 ERA / 4-11 record / 8 CG / 2 SHO / 82.2 IP / 109 H / 55 ER / 16 BB / 63 SO / 44 XBH / 20 HR / .309 Opp BA / 2 WP / 4 HBP
• Casey Stout, SP: 5.33 ERA / 2-4 record / 46 IP / 76 H / 35 ER / 20 BB / 26 SO / 18 XBH / 3 HR / .362 Opp BA / 1 Wp / 5 HBP

NOTES/ACCOLADES:

• Kansas City return five All-Summit League honorees from 2021, including: First Team All-Summit League senior Kloe Hillbrenner (.354 BA, 41 R, 68 H in 2021), First Team All-Summit League junior Ally Vonfeldt (.580 SLG%, 34 R, 49 H, 13 HR , 44 RBI in 2021), senior Mia Hoveland (2022 Preseason Second Team All-Summit League, Summit League All-Tournament team / 15 W in 191 IP, 3.17 ERA, CG W over no. 6 OK St, 193 K in 2021), and Alexis D’Ambrosio (240 PO at catcher in 2021).
• Outfielder Kloe Hilbrenner stole 45 bases last year — third in D1— and is almost halfway there already.
• The Roos have also been the victim of bad weather, and have had many a game canceled due to Mother Nature, including an entire 5-game series in mid-March, and a matchup with SLU on 3/30.
• Notable Roster Losses: Faith Willis (.319 BA / 36 R / 46 H / .472 SLG%, ), Lia Lombardini (.299 BA / 32 R / 46 H / 43 RBI / .472 SLG%) to graduation
• Kerry Shaw, a Bates City native, is in his third year at the helm of the Roos. In 2021, he led the team to a 29-26 record, marking the program’s first winning season in a decade. In 2021, under his tutelage, UMKC finished their their third best record and third most wins EVER. Prior to arriving in KC, Shaw was a hitting coach at the University of Texas-Austin for the 2019 season when they posted a 46-17 record, the most wins for the program since 2013, as well as a head coach for the Mary Marauders in Bismarck, ND (2016-18).

TEAM COMPARISONS:

As always, stay up to date on all things Mizzou Softball this season by following me, @KarenSteger, and @RockMNation. I’ll have previews for each of Missouri’s series, as well as recaps when available. When I’m at the ballpark or able to watch at home, I’ll also be firing off some tweets from both accounts.