Racers Set to Begin 11th Season with Five Games in Cedar Falls

Dates: Feb. 7-9, 2020
Site (Venue): Cedar Falls, Iowa (UNI-Dome)
Live Video: None
Live Audio: mixlr.com/msuracers (Games against UNI)
Live Stats: http://bit.ly/2GWMh8Z (All Games)
MSU Record (Streak): 0-0 (-)
Racers All-Time vs. The Field: 4-1 (2-0 vs. SDSU, 0-1 vs. UNI, 1-0 vs. South Dakota, 1-0 vs. Drake)
SDSU Record (Streak): 0-0 (-)
UNI Record (Streak): 0-0 (-)
South Dakota Record: 0-0 (-)
Drake Record: 0-0 (-)
MSU Next Game: Feb. 14 at Northwestern State
MSU Next Home Game: March 13, vs. Youngstown State

Murray State softball is set to open the 11^th season in program history this weekend, traveling to Cedar Falls, Iowa for five games at the Doc Halverson UNI-Dome Classic. The tournament, which will be played indoors at the aforementioned UNI-Dome, has the Racers scheduled for five games over three days against the likes of South Dakota State, Northern Iowa (twice), South Dakota, and Drake. Live audio coverage of Friday and Saturday's games against Northern Iowa will be available at: mixlr.com/msuracers

Season Preview:
The Racers enter the 2020 campaign after a 2019 season that saw a 26-27 overall record while going 16-6 in Ohio Valley Conference. Murray State finished just one game out of first place in the final OVC standings, and exceeded expectations after being selected to finish ninth in the 2019 OVC preseason poll. This season, the Racers will once again look to exceed preseason expectations after they were tabbed fourth in the 2020 poll – their highest preseason ranking since 2016.

Murray State will feature an experienced pitching staff in 2020, returning the reigning OVC Freshman of the Year in Hannah James, and OVC All-Newcomer selection Taylor Makowsky. James led the Racers with a team-best 2.58 ERA and 120 strikeouts through 157.2 innings of work in 2019, while Makowsky held opposing hitters to just a .238 average with a 2.93 ERA over 83.2 innings in the circle.

Offensively, the Racers reached base at a .344 clip last season, but will need to replace three significant pieces in Lillie Goetz, Brenna Finck, and Madison Culver due to graduation. Finck finished her career at fourth on Murray State's all-time hits list with 211, while starting in all 216 games during her four-year career at Murray State, while Goetz led the 2019 team in batting average, RBI, runs scored, extra-base hits, and on-base percentage. Additionally, Culver, a 2018 First-Team All-OVC catcher was a defensive force that limited opponents to just 36 stolen bases in 2019 – tied for the fewest in the OVC last season.

The Racers will now look to Jensen Striegel and Sierra Gilmore, who posted the highest batting averages among returning players at .288 and .279 respectively in 2019, while combining for a perfect 18-18 on stolen base attempts a year ago. Gilmore also scored 33 runs (tied for team lead) while posting a .369 on-base percentage – third-best on the team behind Goetz and Finck. Additionally, Murray State will return some power to the lineup its home run leader from last season in senior Lexi Jones, who hit eight round-trippers in 2019.

Murray State also welcomes eight new faces to the roster that look to have an immediate impact in 2020.

All-Time Series:
The Racers are a combined 4-1 all-time against the four opponents that they will face this weekend in Cedar Falls. South Dakota State is the only team that the Racers have met more than once, as Friday's contest will mark the third meeting between the two sides. Murray State has won both prior encounters against the Jackrabbits, which both took place during the 2014 season at the Aces Invitational in Evansville, Indiana. As for the host Panthers of Northern Iowa, the Racers will try to even the all-time series after falling to UNI 10-7 in an extra-inning thriller at the Racer Classic in Murray, Kentucky just last season. The Racers will also see the Coyotes of South Dakota for the second-straight year, after Murray State prevailed 8-4 at the Madeira Beach Invitational in 2019. Finally, Sunday's competition against Drake will be the second act in the all-time series against the Bulldogs, with the Racers emerging victorious in the only other meeting – a 5-3 triumph at the February Freezer in Starkville, Mississippi in 2018.

Scouting South Dakota State:
The Jackrabbits are coming off a 2019 season that saw them post a 37-19 record that included an 11-7 mark in Summit League competition. While they return their entire pitching staff from a year ago, they return just two position players with significant experience in the starting lineup. Among those notable returners is junior pitcher Kendra Conrad, who tossed a team-high 136.2 innings in 2019, with an ERA of 2.87 while posting an 18-7 record to land a well-deserved spot on the All-Summit League First Team. SDSU was also picked to finish third in the Summit League's preseason poll. As a team, the pitching staff carried a 3.53 ERA, while the offense managed a .275 average at the dish with 45 home runs through 56 contests.

Scouting Northern Iowa:
The Panthers turned in a 28-23 record in 2019 while going 16-6 in the Missouri Valley Conference. UNI was tabbed to finish second in this year's MVC preseason poll, while the trio of Adara Opiola, Sammey Bunch, and Jaclyn Spencer were all named preseason All-MVC selections. The most notable returner is undoubtedly Bunch - the reigning MVC Player of the Year. Her 17 home runs in 2019 is the UNI single-season record, while she also found herself in the 50-50 club with 50 RBI and 51 runs scored a year ago. All of this paired with a .395 average and 14 stolen bases earned the Frankenstein, Missouri native a spot on this year's USA Softball Player of the Year Watch List. Jaclyn Spencer leads the Panthers in the circle, as the 2019 All-MVC selection hurled 104.2 innings with 97 strikeouts and an ERA of 1.81 on her way to a team-high 11 wins. As a team, the Panthers batted .263 with 59 home runs through 51 games, while pitchers carries a 4.30 ERA in the circle.

Scouting South Dakota:
The Coyotes posted a 33-28 record a season ago while finishing 12-6 in the Summit League. They were tabbed second in this year's Summit League preseason poll as they return four position players with significant experience in the starting lineup. South Dakota also returns two key pieces to the pitching staff, most notably Alexis Devers – a 2019 All-Summit League selection after appearing in a conference-leading 36 games, logging 172.2 innings with an ERA of 3.65. On the offensive side, USD is led by senior Camille Fowler, an all-conference honoree after a 2019 season that featured a .275 average with eight stolen bases and 36 runs scored. From a team perspective, the Coyotes batted .286 with 41 home runs through 61 contests, while the pitching carried a 3.82 ERA a year ago.

Scouting Drake:
The 2019 season for the Bulldogs featured an NCAA Tournament berth, a Missouri Valley Conference championship, and a 43-16 record with a stellar 24-2 mark in the MVC. That being said, it is justified that Drake was named the preseason favorite in this year's MVC preseason poll, making it the second-straight season being named to the top spot in the preseason rankings. The Bulldogs return six starters from a year ago, including First Team CoSIDA Academic All-American Mandi Roemmich. Roemmich hit a team-best .380 with a conference-leading 15 doubles while scoring a Drake single-season record 54 runs. In the circle, junior Nichole Timmons will have an instrumental role in 2020 after she went 14-9 with a 2.95 ERA in 152 innings last season. Averaging just over one strikeout per inning, the All-MVC selection also recorded 153 strikeouts in 2019. As a team, the Bulldogs hit .280 with 23 home runs, while their 1.96 team ERA in the circle ranked 18^th in the nation.

Murray State University Athletics

Racers Set to Begin 11th Season with Five Games in Cedar Falls

Players Mentioned

Madison Culver

Brenna Finck

Sierra Gilmore

Lillie Goetz

Hannah James

Lexi Jones

Taylor Makowsky

Jensen Striegel

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