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Softball Tyler Madsen, Asst. Director of Media Relations

Softball Heads to First GLVC Tournament

Truman Softball Weekly Notes (May 2-4, 2014)
Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament (Tournament Website)
2013-14 Schedule || 2013-14 Statistics || Career Statistics
 Game 50: #22 Truman (40-9, 30-6 GLVC) vs. Lewis (23-22, 17-15 GLVC)
Date/Location: Friday, May 2, 2014 (12 p.m.) || East Peoria, Ill.; EastSide Centre (Field B)
Weather Forecast (as of Thursday AM): Partly Cloudy, Mid-50s, Winds 10-15 mph
Live Stats: GLVC
 
Series Record: Truman leads, 3-1.
Last Meeting: Truman swept DH (7-0, 4-1) on March 15, 2014, in Kirksville.
Series Streak: Truman, W-3.
 
Social Media/Team Info: @TrumanAthletics || @TrumanSoftball || 2014 Record Book/Media Guide
 
Last Game Batting Order
No.Pos.NameHt.Yr.Extra
#4CFDanielle Lewellen5'7"SR.352 AVG; .397 OBP; 39-45 SB-SBA
#32BAndrea Klipsch5'6"JR.385 AVG, 15 2B, 5 HR, 42 RBI
#12RFKelsey Bollman5'8"SR.393 AVG, 1.000 OPS, 19 XBH, 33 runs, 36 RBI
#153BCate Simon5'9"JR.394 AVG, 1.148 OPS, 9 2B, 9 HR, 34 RBI
#6DPJessica VanNostrand5'6"SR.276 AVG, 10 2B, 4 HR, 28 RBI
#5CAlexis VanNostrand5'6"FR.374 AVG, 9 2B, 4 HR, 23 RBI
#81BLiz Leath5'8"JR.333 AVG, 10 2B, 5 HR, 24 RBI
#13LFAlly McReynolds5'9"JR.330 AVG, 18 runs, 25 BB/HBP, 6 SB
#2SSCorey Niblett5'1"SR.225 AVG, 8 runs, 3 RBI, 2-3 SB
 
Starting Pitching
No.Pos.NameHt.Yr.Extra
#19RHPKindra Henze6'1"SO28 APP/25 GS, 21-4 record, 0.65 ERA, 167 SO
#11RHPKelsea Dorsey5'4"r-SO25 APP/24 GS, 19-5 record, 1.68 ERA, 129 SO
 
Off the Bench
No.Pos.NameHt.Yr.Extra
#1OFNikki Moss5'1"SO11 GP, 6 runs, 2 SB
#7OFHannah Wehar5'3"JR22 GP/4 GS, 6 runs, 1 RBI, 1 SB
#10UTHaley Wells5'5"FR7 GP, 3 runs
#17OFKelsey Jacques5'4"SO17 GP, 9 runs, 1 2B
#20CCaroline Gatti5'10"r-FR13 GP/11 GS, .250 AVG, 1 2B, 1 RBI
#21DPWhitney Richardson5'6"SO40 GP/39 GS, .213 AVG, 9 2B, 2 HR, 21 RBI
 
Staff
Head Coach: Erin Brown
Division II Career Record: 184-200 || .479 || 8th season (all at Truman)
GLVC Record: 30-6 || .833 || 1st season

Assistant Coach: Cathy Monroe (8th season)
Athletic Trainer: Cassie DeBlauw (6th season)
The First Pitch:
The 22nd-ranked Truman State University softball team heads to its first Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament this Friday through Sunday, as the Bulldogs carry the No. 3 seed into Friday's first-round game against Lewis (Ill.) in East Peoria, Ill.
 
The Bulldogs (40-9, 30-6 GLVC) will take on a Lewis (23-22, 17-15 GLVC) squad that enters the tournament having won 13 of its last 15 games after starting the season with a 10-20 record. It will have been six weeks since Truman and Lewis last met on the diamond, with the Bulldogs earning wins of 7-0 and 4-1 in Kirksville on March 15.
 
Truman, meanwhile, has gone 11-4 in its last 15 games, including wins against both top-seeded Indianapolis and No. 2 seed Missouri-St. Louis. The 40 wins marks only the fifth time in program history that a Bulldog unit hit that standard,  while the team's 30 GLVC wins were the most by any team in the league this season.
 
The Bulldogs have been well-rounded in all facets this season, leading the GLVC in all three major categories – hitting (.333 average), pitching (1.15 ERA), and fielding (.972 efficiency). Truman has seven regular starters all hitting better than .330 on the season, while the sophomore tandem of Kindra Henze and Kelsea Dorsey have struck out 298 hitters in 322 innings of work. The duo has combined to throw all but 1.2 of the team's defensive innings this year, leading to 44 complete games and 18 shutouts.
 
Junior Cate Simon is the team's leader in batting average (.394), narrowly edging out senior teammate Kelsey Bollman (.393), while having also blasted a squad-best nine home runs. Bollman, meanwhile, has 12 doubles and six home runs, with junior Andrea Klipsch sitting in the top-10 of six GLVC individual categories. She is hitting .385 with a team-best 38 runs scored, 15 doubles, and 42 RBI out of the No. 2 spot in the lineup.
 
The Bulldogs are under the direction of eighth-year head coach Erin Brown, who rejoined her alma mater in August of 2006 after serving as the head coach at Westminster (Mo.) College. She was a three-time letterwinner at Truman and played on three NCAA regional finalist teams.
 
Regional Poll Release:
The Bulldogs slipped one spot to No. 4 in this week's NCAA Midwest regional ranking, announced by the Div. II softball national committee on Wednesday afternoon.
 
Truman moved down one slot after holding the No. 3 ranking for the previous two weeks, with only action at this weekend's GLVC tournament remaining before the selection show on Monday, May 5. Truman was by-passed by Wayne (Mich.) State this week, with GLVC-foes Indianapolis and Missouri-St. Louis holding firm in the top two spots.
 
Grand Valley (Mich.) State moved up two spots to No. 5, while Ashland (Ohio) dropped one spot to No. 6. Northwood (Mich.) moved up one to No. 7, with a fifth GLIAC program – Saginaw Valley – slipping two to No. 8.
 
GLVC-member Bellarmine held steady at No. 9, while GLIAC-member Ohio Dominican entered the rankings at No. 10.
 
The top eight teams in the region will qualify for the NCAA Midwest regional, which begins on May 9 at two campus sites. Seeds one, four, five, and eight will compete at one site in a double-elimination format, while seeds two, three, six, and seven will do the same at a second site. Each sub-regional winner will advance to the Midwest super-regional the following weekend for a best-of-three showdown, with the advancing team moving on to the NCAA Div. II College World Series – held in Salem, Va., from May 22-26.
 
Breaking Records:
The 2013-14 version of Bulldog softball has already re-written two of the program's top marks, setting new single-season bests in runs (277) and doubles (86) entering the conference tournament.
 
Truman is just 10 away from tying the top RBI total (249), 11 back of the hit record (463), and 26 total bases back of the top mark of 680.
 
In addition, Kindra Henze's 14 shutouts set a new individual mark in that category, breaking the previous-high set back in 2000.
 
Henze Named GLVC Pitcher of the Week:
Sophomore Kindra Henze became a four-time recipient this season of the Great Lakes Valley Conference's Pitcher of the Week honor, as the Palmyra, Mo.-native earned three victories and helped the Bulldogs reach the 40-win mark on the season during last week's action.

Henze went 3-0 with a 0.65 ERA after tossing three complete games against Quincy, No. 4 Missouri-St. Louis, and Maryville, respectively. In four appearances, she fanned 14 hitters in 21.2 innings pitched. After opening the week with a 5-2 complete game against Quincy, Henze was stellar against UMSL, dealing a three-hit complete game shutout (5-0) while striking out five. She allowed just four base runners in becoming just the fourth starting pitcher all season to blank the Tritons. 

The following day, Henze was nearly perfect against Maryville in her final regular season start, as the Saints came up with only an infield single in the top of the sixth to break up her perfect game bid. For the game, she struck out six, allowed only the one base runner, and used just 74 pitches in Truman's 1-0 victory. 

During her three weekend appearances, she threw 14.2 shutout innings with a 0.34 walks plus hits per inning pitched (WHIP) and 11 strikeouts. Henze went 21-4 during the regular season and tossed a program single-season record 13 complete game shutouts. She struck out more than a batter an inning and held opponents to a .183 batting average.

Already once the National Fastpitch Coaches' Association's Pitcher of the Week, Henze logs her fourth GLVC Pitcher of the Week award (Feb. 24, March 10, March 18) of the year.
 
Great Lakes Valley Athletes of the Week:
 Player of the WeekPitcher of the Week
DateNameSchoolNameSchool
Feb. 17Rachel ScrumQuincyHannah PerrymanMissouri-St. Louis
Feb. 24Kelsey MorganWilliam JewellKindra HenzeTruman
March 3Molly ManiettaIllinois SpringfieldMurphi ArmstrongQuncy
March 10Samantha RissIllinois SpringfieldKindra HenzeTruman
March 18Andrea KlipschTrumanKindra Henze*Truman
March 24Jenna BoudreauMissouri-St. LouisHannah PerrymanMissouri-St. Louis
April 1Alex JacobsonRockhurstAlly FosterBellarmine
April 8MacKenzi DorsamSouthern IndianaHannah PerrymanMissouri-St. Louis
April 14Carson ForgeDruryMorgan FoleyIndianapolis
April 22Brianna ButlerMissouri-St. LouisHannah PerrymanMissouri-St. Louis
April 29Taylor RussellIndianapolisKindra HenzeTruman
*-Named National Pitcher of the Week by the National Fastpitch Coaches' Association
 
Bulldogs Hold Steady in Top-25:
Truman held firm at No. 22 in this week's NFCA top-25 coaches' poll, landing as one of three GLVC teams once again in the national ranking.
 
Indianapolis jumped eight spots and cracked the Top 10 at No. 9, while UMSL dropped seven spots to No. 11. Bellarmine received votes just outside the top-25.
 
The NFCA Division II Top 25 Poll is voted on by 16 NCAA Division II head coaches with two representing each of the eight NCAA regions.
 
Bulldogs Picked Third in GLVC West Preseason Poll:
The Bulldogs will kick off its inaugural season as a GLVC member having been picked third in the West division in the league's preseason poll. Selected by all 16 conference coaches, the preseason poll landed Truman (89 points) just three points behind second-place William Jewell (Mo.) in the West division, with both squads trailing preseason favorite Missouri-St. Louis.
 
UMSL, who claimed its first-ever GLVC Championship last season en route to a spot in the NCAA Midwest Regional, received 120 points and was the league's unanimous selection to win the West. Drury (Mo.), Quincy (Ill.), Missouri S&T, Rockhurst (Mo.), and Maryville (Mo.) round out the eight-team West division.
 
Up Next:
The Bulldogs will have a guaranteed two games on Friday at the GLVC tournament, and, depending on the results, could continue on to action both Saturday and Sunday.
 
Should Truman not capture the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Div. II tournament with a conference title this weekend, the purple and white will look to garner an NCAA bid via an at-large selection. The NCAA Div. II softball selection show is on Monday, May 5, at 9 a.m. (CT) via a webcast at NCAA.com.
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