Biography
Truman
2018: Was once again the team's ace as she led the Bulldogs in innings pitched for a second-consecutive season with 142.1 in 2018 despite playing with an injury all spring ... in those 142 and a third frames, Dale was 11-10 with a 2.61 ERA, 25 appearances, 23 starts, 13 complete games, one shutout, 68 strikeouts, 28 walks, and a batting average against of .271 ... has begun to make some noise in the program's career record book as she is ninth in wins (37), ninth in innings pitched (384.1), ninth in winning percentage (.649), and 10th in appearances (75) ... suffered a bit of a slow start to her junior campaign as she was just 1-5 through her first eight starts before flipping a switch ... for the eight games after that opening stretch, Dale went 7-1 with a 1.67 ERA and six complete games in 50.1 innings to go with 23 punchouts, eight free passes and an opponent batting average of just .216 ... after that 1-5 start, she went 10-5 the rest of the way to finish above the .500 mark overall ... in game one vs. Wisconsin-Parkside on April 22, Dale struck out at least six batters in a game for the fourth time in her career as she had seven against just two walks ... however, that effort marked the first time that she didn't allow more than one earned run at the same time during those four appearances ... tied her career high in strikeouts with eight at Missouri-St. Louis on March 30 and at the time, those eight punchouts were five more than her previous season best ... had eight strikeouts in a game only one other time and that was when she was a sophomore vs. William Jewell on April 14, 2017 ... was named GLVC Pitcher of the Week for the second time in her career on April 23 ... to earn that award for a second time, Dale went 2-1 in three starts/18 innings pitched (0.39 ERA) with her 12th complete game of the season, five runs allowed, only one earned, five walks, 15 strikeouts, and a batting average against of just .217 ... named Third-Team All-GLVC on May 2 ... named Academic All-GLVC.
2017: At the conclusion of the 2016 season, Kelsea Dorsey (67 wins - second in program history) and Kindra Henze (60 wins - fourth in school history) graduated and left a gaping hole where Truman State University softball's ace used to be ... enter sophomore, Lauren Dale, and the marvelous second-year campaign she was able to turn in for 2017 ... Dale went 22-9 with a 2.41 ERA in 37 appearances (ties school record), 29 of which were starts, with 17 complete games, four shutouts, 203.1 innings pitched (most since Jen Hulsopple's school-record 229.2 in 2000), 98 strikeouts, 48 walks, and an opponent batting average of .265 ... along the way, Dale was named GLVC Pitcher of the Week on March 6, Second-Team All-GLVC on May 3 and D2CCA Second-Team All-Midwest Region on May 14 ... that week in which she received weekly honors from the league, Dale went 2-0 while giving up no runs on seven hits in 12 innings pitched with nine strikeouts, three walks and an opponent batting average of just .163 ... among the GLVC's leaders, the Knox City, Mo. native was tied for third in wins, fifth in innings pitched, tied for fifth in shutouts, 12th in complete games, 13th in strikeouts, 14th in ERA, and tied for 14th in opponent batting average ... after her sixth loss at Drury on April 1 (19th appearance), Dale was looking at a record of 10-6 and an ERA of 3.27 before flipping a switch down the stretch ... in her final 18 showings of the season, 14 of which were as a starter, Dale turned herself into an All-Region caliber player with a 12-3 record, 1.67 ERA, nine complete games, two shutouts, 109 innings pitched, 53 punchouts, 27 free passes, and an opponent batting average of just .222 ... in fact, to prove that Dale had become the team's ace, she took the pitching decision for Truman in 11 of its final 14 games including nine straight from the regular-season finale against Saint Joseph's through the win over Kentucky Wesleyan in the Midwest Regional Tournament ... struck out a career-best eight batters on April 14 against William Jewell with only three walks in a complete-game win over the Cardinals ... named Academic All-GLVC.
2016: After Kindra Henze and Kelsea Dorsey, she was the third option for the Bulldogs in the circle ... appeared in a total of 13 games with five starts, a 4-1 record and an ERA of 2.53 ... earned the first complete game of her career and it came against Wisconsin-Parkside on March 20 ... pitched a total of 38.2 innings with 21 runs given up, 14 earned, 23 strikeouts, 10 walks, and an opponent's batting average of .285 ... that Wisconsin-Parkside game represented her most punchouts in a single contest with five ... tallied five scoreless appearances including one for a third of an inning, one for two-thirds, one for two frames, and two for five innings ... started the game for five straight appearances from March 19-29 ... didn't give up a single hit on Feb. 26 against Huntington ... named all-Academic GLVC.
High School
A three-sport athlete at Knox County High School, Dale will join the Bulldog pitching staff after accumulating a 45-7 record and a 1.27 ERA in 250 career innings. She struck out 400 batters at the plate throughout her career, while also hitting better than .500 at the plate throughout her time at Knox County. She was a first-team all-state pitcher both her junior and senior seasons while helping guide her team to multiple conference, district, and sectional championships. Dale was also a two-time Kirksville Daily Express Player of the Year, while also picking up accolades from the Quincy Herald-Whig. She also excelled on the basketball court, earning two-time firs-team all-conference honors, as well as on the track, where she helped guide her squad to a third-place finish in the 4x800 meter relay in 2015. A member of the National Honor Society and Academia all-state.
Personal
Daughter of Dannie and Joan Dale ... has one older sister ... is majoring in Exercise Science .. birthday is November 27.
