Softball Bears Head to Belmont

The Starting Lineup

• Missouri State will close out an eight-game road stretch with a three-game Missouri Valley Conference series at Belmont (April 12-14). The two teams met four times a year ago with Missouri State sweeping the series in Springfield, but Belmont defeated the Bears 2-1 in a 15-inning pitcher’s duel in the MVC Tournament. This marks the first meeting between the teams in Nashville.
• The Bears have faced six NCAA Tournament teams from last season in 2024, highlighted by contests against 2023 Women’s College World Series participants Tennessee and Oklahoma State. Missouri State has faced three top 10 teams this season in Clemson, Tennessee and Oklahoma State and one top 15 opponent in Oregon.  
• Prior to the start of the season, head coach Holly Hesse announced her plan to retire following the 2024 season. Hesse owns a 912-882-2 career record in her 36th season as the leader of the Missouri State softball program. She is the second-winningest coach in MVC history in both overall (912) and conference (405) victories. She collected career victory No. 900 last season with a 4-3 victory over Southern Illinois on April 26. She ranks 19th among active Division I coaches in career victories. 
• Kayla Ulrich (Fr.,Sullivan, Mo.) continues to lead the way for Missouri State offensively in her freshman campaign. She leads the Bears with a .380 batting average, 30 hits and a .484 on-base percentage, and is second on the team in RBI (13) and slugging percentage (.570). Against MVC competition, her average raises to .439 with a .707 slugging percentage and .511 on-base percentage. 
• Olivia Krehbiel (Sr., Lee’s Summit, Mo.) is one of MSU’s top returning hitters from a season ago and in the program’s history. Last weekend, Krehbiel tied the Missouri State career home run record of 27 set by Jessie Smith from 2006-09, and now sits just one long ball shy of taking over the top spot. She leads the team this season with 22 walks and 23 runs scored, and is third on the team with 11 RBI. Her 22 walks rank third in the MVC.
• Gracie Johnston (Sr., Augusta, Kan.) ranks 8th nationally and first in the MVC with five saves on the season. She also ranks 14th nationally with 28 appearances in the circle this season.
• Annie Mueller (Sr., Pacific, Mo.) is one of Missouri State’s big power threats. Fourteen of her 27 hits this season have gone for extra bases and she leads the team with 9 home runs, 27 RBI and a .638 slugging percentage. Her nine homers this season rank 2nd in the MVC. Against MVC competition, her slugging percentage rises to .795 as six of her 13 hits in league action have been home runs. 
• Ellie McCoy (Sr., Hastings, Neb.) leads the MVC in hit by pitches with 12, which ranks 11th nationally. She also ranks 6th nationally in hit by pitch/game (0.40).McCoy has already set the MSU single-season record in the category and with 21 HBP in her career, she is just three away from the program’s career record. 
• MSU is 7-1 this season when scoring six or more runs.

Series History
    Missouri State leads the all-time series against Belmont, 3-2, but this weekend will mark the first time the two teams have ever faced off in Nashville. 
    Four of the five all-time meetings between the programs came last season in Belmont’s inaugural season in the Missouri Valley Conference. In the three-game series in Springfield last year, Missouri State swept the Bruins by scores of 5-3, 11-7 and 8-5. In game one, with the game tied at 3-3 in the sixth inning, McKenzie Vaughan launched a two-run homer which served as the game-winning runs. Game two of the series saw a lot of fireworks as the teams combined for seven home runs. After Belmont took a 3-1 after two-and-a-half innings, the Bears responded in a huge way, posting four runs in the third and three more in the fourth to lead 8-3. But, Belmont surged back to make it a one-run game headed to the bottom of the sixth. MSU once again responded, matching Belmont’s three runs in the sixth to secure an 11-7 series-clinching victory. The final game of the series saw MSU utilize two important innings to extend its lead over the Bruins, jumping out to a 7-2 lead after four before ultimately sweeping the series with an 8-5 win. Kenzie Derryberry (2-for-2, 3 RBI) and Ellie McCoy (2-for-4, 3 runs scored) collected multiple hits on the day for MSU. 
    The fourth and final meeting between the Bears and Bruins came in the MVC Tournament Quarterfinals. The two teams were locked in an intense pitcher’s duel that spanned 15 innings, with Belmont using a sacrifice fly in the 15th to score a run as they would go on to win 2-1 and end MSU’s season.