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Softball Tyler Madsen, Athletics Communications

Softball Postseason Notes: Truman vs. Ashland (Friday/1:30 p.m.)

Truman Softball Weekly Notes (May 8-10, 2015)
NCAA Div. II Midwest Regional No. 2 – Indianapolis, Ind.
2014-15 Schedule || Weekend Bracket || Regional Website
 2014-15 Statistics || Career Statistics
Game 48: Truman (33-14) vs. Ashland (38-8)
Date/Location: Friday, May 8, 2014 (1:30 p.m. CT) || Baumgartner Field
Weather Forecast (as of Thursday AM): Mostly Cloudy, Highs in mid-80s, SSW-11 mph

Series Record: Series tied, 2-2.
Last Meeting: Ashland won 1-0 on March 9, 2010, in Kissimmee, Fla.
Series Streak: Ashland, W-2.
 
Social Media/Team Info: Live Stats || @TrumanAthletics || @TrumanSoftball 
Last Game Batting Order
No.Pos.NameHt.Yr.Extra
#14SSJamie Fowle5'5"FR.306 AVG, 4 2B, 5 HR, 6 SB
#32BAndrea Klipsch5'6"SR.331 AVG, 10 2B, 17 HR, 2nd-tm GLVC
#5CLex Van Nostrand5'6"SO.385 AVG, 9 2B, 6 HR, 16 SB, 1st-tm GLVC
#81BLiz Leath5'8"SR.391 AVG, 9 2B, 12 HR, 2nd-tm GLVC
#13LFAlly McReynolds5'9"SR.338 AVG, 9 2B, 27 RBI, 8 SB
#213BWhitney Richardson5'6"JR.229 AVG, 8 2B, 2 HR, 21 RBI
#18DPAshley Murphy5'7"FR.280 AVG, 3 2B, 9 RBI
#10RFHaley Wells5'5"SO.246 AVG, 4 2B, 2 HR, 22 RBI
#1CFNikki Moss5'1"JR.232 AVG, 14 R, 1 2B, 1 3B, 7 SB
 
Starting Pitching
No.Pos.NameHt.Yr.Extra
#11RHPKelsea Dorsey5'4"JR17-5, 2 SV, 2.35 ERA, 128 SO, 2nd-tm GLVC
#19RHPKindra Henze6'1"JR16-9, 1 SV, 3.01 ERA, 130 SO, 3rd-tm GLVC
 
Off the Bench
No.Pos.NameHt.Yr.Extra
#2OFHannah Wehar5'3"SR13 GP, 0-for-1, 1 SB
#4UTHaley Zenner5'7"JRHas not played
#6SSValerie Schmidt5'4"SO27 GP, 13 runs, 3 SB
#7OFRiley Cook5'8"FR14 GP/6 GS, .231 AVG, 4 R, 1 SB
#9C/1BDevin Gudehus5'10"SO34 GP, .284 AVG, 6 2B, 3 HR, 18 RBI
#12UTAlyssa Spoerer5'8"FR15 GP, .161 AVG, 4 R, 1 2B
#153BCate Simon5'9"SRRedshirting the 2015 season
#20P/UTKadie Orenstein5'7"FR13 GP, .214 AVG, 1 2B | 5 APP, 10.1 IP
 
Staff
Head Coach: Erin Brown
Division II Career Record: 220-218 || .502 || 9th season (all at Truman)
GLVC Record: 51-13 || .797 || 2nd season

Assistant Coach: Cathy Monroe (9th season)
Student Assistant: Corey Niblett (1st season)
The First Pitch:
For the second straight season, the Truman softball team remains as one of the final 64 teams standing across the Div. II landscape, as the Bulldogs are set to kick off the 2015 NCAA tournament on Friday afternoon against Ashland (Ohio) on the University of Indianapolis campus.
 
The 6th-seeded Bulldogs come into Friday's contest at 33-14 overall – a few wins shy of last season's squad who checked into the tournament with 41 victories. However, this year's team will enter the tournament easily as battle-tested – if not more-so – than the 2014 unit, as the Bulldogs finished fourth during the GLVC regular season and used a dominating trip to Florida in early March to propel themselves into the regional discussion from the outset.
 
Truman will face third-seeded Ashland, an NCAA tournament regular for each of the past seven seasons. The Eagles head to Midwest Regional No. 2 at 38-8 overall and ranked No. 23 in the nation after going 2-2 in last weekend's Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament.
 
Joined by regional No. 2 seed (and weekend host) Indianapolis along with No. 7 seed Trevecca Nazarene (Tenn.), Truman is slated for just one game on Friday, with potentially two games on Saturday before championship Sunday. The advancing team from this weekend's double elimination tournament will face the winner of the Midwest region's other four-team bracket – hosted by No. 1 seed Missouri-St. Louis – next weekend in a best-of-3 super-regional. UMSL – recently crowned as the nation's No. 1 team in the NFCA top-25 – is joined in St. Louis by No. 4 seed Grand Valley (Mich.) State, No. 5 seed Southern Indiana, and No. 8 seed Wayne (Mich.) State.
 
This is Truman's 16th NCAA tournament appearance as a program, with the Bulldogs holding a 23-32 all-time post-season record. Last year, The Bulldogs went 2-2 in the UMSL Midwest sub-regional, getting wins against Bellarmine and Ohio Dominican, while losing to ODU and host-UMSL.
 
About the Bulldogs:
The Bulldogs are batting .305 as a team, with a .488 slugging percentage and a .384 on-base percentage on the year. Five players are hitting better than .300 with four also totaling more than 25 RBIs.
 
Senior Liz Leath is the team's batting average leader, as the second-team all-GLVC selection enters the post-season at .391 overall with 12 home runs and nine doubles. She's joined in the GLVC's top-10 in hitting by sophomore Lex Van Nostrand, as the first-team all-GLVC catcher is batting .385 with nine doubles, 37 runs scored, and a team-leading 16 stolen bases.
 
Senior Andrea Klipsch is the squad's leader in home runs with 17, which puts her one away from Elizabeth Economon's single-season record of 18 – set in 2004. Senior Ally McReynolds (.338) and freshman Jamie Fowle (.306) also are hitting better than the .300 mark.
 
Truman's junior pitching tandem of Kelsea Dorsey (2nd-team all-GLVC) and Kindra Henze (3rd-team all-GLVC) have combined to start all 47 games this season and pitch 27 complete games. The duo have struck out 258 batters in 300.1 innings and have four shutouts each.
 
The Bulldogs are under the direction of ninth-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.
 
Meeting the Opponents:
#2 Seed Indianapolis (42-12)
  • U-Indy finished second in the GLVC regular season standings at 23-5 in league play. The Greyhounds went 17-3 at home this season.
  • Four players were named all-GLVC, including first-team selections Morgan Foley (JR/P; 33-7, 1.09 ERA, 370 K's in 236 IP), Erika Goodwin (JR/OF, .364 AVG, 10 2B, 12 SB), and Casey Williamson (SR/OF, .353 AVG, 12 HR, 8 2B, 46 RBI).
  • Truman and U-Indy have played three games during the past two weekends, with U-Indy going 2-1.
  • The all-time series between the schools is tied, 6-6.
 
#3 Seed Ashland (38-8)
  • AU finished second in the GLIAC regular season standings at 21-5 in league play. The Eagles went 26-4 in road/neutral site games this season.
  • Six starters hit better than .300, including first-team all-conference players Taylor Menhart (SR OF, .423, 16 2B, 7 HR, 41 RBI) and Jen Moore (JR C/1B, .396, 10 2B, 10 HR, 41 RBI).
  • First-team all-GLIAC junior pitcher Sarah Alley went 12-1 with a 1.94 ERA.
  • Truman and Ashland played against eight combined opponents this season. Truman went 7-1; Ashland went 12-4.
 
#7 Seed Trevecca Nazarene (38-8)
  • TNU won the Great Midwest Athletic Conference regular season and conference tournament, going 20-1 in league play before posting a 4-0 record in the league tournament. The Trojans went 20-4 in road/neutral-site games this season.
  • Seven regular players are batting .309 or better, including SR/IF Lindsey Stephens (.414 AVG, 14 2B, 7 HR, 45 RBI) and JR/IF Ansley Brantley (.370 AVG, 13 2B, 13 HR, 33 RBI)
  • Junior P Haley Fagan is the team's top pitcher, making 24 starts and posting a record of 21-4 with an ERA of 1.15.
  • Truman and Trevecca played against just one combined opponent this season. Both teams lost to Southern Arkansas in February in Arkansas.
 
Up Next:
Should the Bulldogs capture this weekend's sub-regional championship, Truman would advance to face the winner of the second Midwest sub-regional next Friday and Saturday at a site to-be-determined. That would be a best-of-3 format, with the advancing team moving on to the NCAA Div. II World Series – held May 21-25 in Oklahoma City.
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Players Mentioned

Kelsea Dorsey

#11 Kelsea Dorsey

P
5' 4"
Junior
R/R
Kindra Henze

#19 Kindra Henze

P
6' 1"
Junior
R/R
Andrea Klipsch

#3 Andrea Klipsch

2B
5' 6"
Senior
R/R
Liz Leath

#8 Liz Leath

1B
5' 8"
Senior
R/R
Ally McReynolds

#13 Ally McReynolds

OF
5' 9"
Senior
L/R
Nikki Moss

#1 Nikki Moss

OF
5' 1"
Junior
L/R
Whitney Richardson

#21 Whitney Richardson

IF
5' 6"
Junior
R/R
Cate Simon

#15 Cate Simon

3B
5' 9"
Senior
R/R
Lex Van Nostrand

#5 Lex Van Nostrand

C
5' 6"
Sophomore
R/R
Hannah Wehar

#2 Hannah Wehar

OF
5' 3"
Senior
L/R

Players Mentioned

Kelsea Dorsey

#11 Kelsea Dorsey

5' 4"
Junior
R/R
P
Kindra Henze

#19 Kindra Henze

6' 1"
Junior
R/R
P
Andrea Klipsch

#3 Andrea Klipsch

5' 6"
Senior
R/R
2B
Liz Leath

#8 Liz Leath

5' 8"
Senior
R/R
1B
Ally McReynolds

#13 Ally McReynolds

5' 9"
Senior
L/R
OF
Nikki Moss

#1 Nikki Moss

5' 1"
Junior
L/R
OF
Whitney Richardson

#21 Whitney Richardson

5' 6"
Junior
R/R
IF
Cate Simon

#15 Cate Simon

5' 9"
Senior
R/R
3B
Lex Van Nostrand

#5 Lex Van Nostrand

5' 6"
Sophomore
R/R
C
Hannah Wehar

#2 Hannah Wehar

5' 3"
Senior
L/R
OF