By: Wichita State
at 
Wichita State (16-33, 8-11) at Northern Iowa (27-23, 11-10)
Sat., April 30- 12:00 p.m.
Sat., April 30- 2:00 p.m.
Sun., May 1- 12:00 p.m.
Quick Hits:
- Wichita State (16-33, 8-11) at Northern Iowa (27-23, 11-10)
- Wichita State currently sits in seventh place in Valley standings, which is two slots behind Northern Iowa
- UNI is coming off of two wins over Bradley and Wichita State is coming off of two losses against Kansas
- The Shockers have a 44-30 all-time record against the Panthers
- WSU is 8-5 against UNI in the Mike Perniciaro era
- Wichita State is 3-3 against the Panthers in Cedar Falls, Iowa in the Perniciaro era
- Northern Iowa beat the Shockers, 5-3, at Wilkins Stadium last season
- WSU is 3-3 on the road in MVC play and UNI is 5-3 at home in Valley action
- The last time the Shocks were on the road in Valley action, they swept a three-game series with Creighton
The Match-up: The Shockers return to Missouri Valley Conference action as they travel to Cedar Falls, Iowa for a three-game series with Northern Iowa. The two teams meet for a doubleheader on Sat., April 30 at 12:00 p.m. They will wrap up the three-game set on Sun., May 1 at 12:00 p.m.
Scouting Northern Iowa: The Panthers are 27-23 on the season and 11-10 in Missouri Valley Conference action. They are coming off of two MVC wins over Bradley in a midweek match-up. UNI currently sits in fifth place in the regular season standings. The Shockers need to win all three games to move above UNI in the standings. Five different Panthers are hitting over .300 with Mackenzie Daigh leading the way. She is batting .336 with 44 hits, nine doubles, a team-high one triple and seven home runs, 25 RBI, and a team-high 32 runs scored. UNI has four options in the bullpen with Jamie Fisher leading the way. Fisher is 16-9 with a 2.14 ERA. She's made 29 appearances with 24 starts and has 16 complete games. In 156.2 innings pitched, she has recorded 173 strikeouts.
Scouting Wichita State: The Shockers are 16-33 on the season and 8-11 in Missouri Valley Conference action. They are coming off of two losses to Big 12 member and in-state rival, Kansas. Wichita State currently sits in seventh place in Valley standings. The Shocks are one game behind Creighton and can slide above UNI if they sweep the Panthers this weekend. Three different Shockers are hitting over .300 with senior Heather Gerritse leading the way. Gerritse is batting .360 with a team-high 49 hits, eight doubles, four home runs, 24 RBI, and 10 runs scored. Senior Jamie Hull leads the team with 32 RBI and 12 doubles. Senior Kiersten Dixon leads the Shockers with 32 runs scored and Sophomore Sammie Shook paces the team with nine home runs. For the most part, the Shockers have three weapons in the bullpen. Katie Armagost leads the staff with a 6-12 record and 3.74 ERA. Freshman Sloan Anderson has led WSU in conference games with a 4-3 record. She has a 2.87 ERA in 61.0 innings pitched against Valley opponents. Anderson has recorded 43 strikeouts in MVC action and 77 on the season.
A Look at the Valley: Illinois State currently sits atop of the MVC standings with a 17-3 record. Southern Illinois is close behind with 14 wins and just three losses. Drake sits in third place with a 16-4 record. Outside the top three teams, the middle of the back is bunched up and battling it out for wins down the stretch. Only two wins separate the middle four teams from fourth place to seventh place. Missouri State sits in fourth with a 10-8 record and Wichita State sits in seventh with an 8-11 record. Both Northern Iowa and Creighton sit in the middle of the two teams. Evansville, Indiana State, and Bradley wrap up the bottom three slots in the conference standings.
Last Time Out: Kansas scored four runs in the fifth inning to come-from-behind and beat Wichita State, 6-3, in the second game of the doubleheader at Wilkins Stadium Wednesday evening.The Jayhawks claimed their first lead of the game in the fifth inning and never looked back. The series sweep of the Shockers' makes it seven wins of the last eight meetings between the two teams. The Shockers bounced back after losing the first game of the doubleheader by taking an early 3-0 lead after three innings of play in the second game. The Shocks just couldn't recover after losing the lead in the fifth. Jamie Hull led the Shockers' offense in both games of the doubleheader. She went 2-for-3, picked up two RBI, and scored a run in the second game. She was 4-for-5 on the day. Both Hayley Temple and Holly Eckert went 2-for-3 at the plate. Temple picked up one RBI.
Senior Duo: Seniors Heather Gerritse and Jamie Hull have led the Shockers' offense all season long. Gerritse currently leads the team with a .360 batting average and Hull is close behind batting .338. The combine for 96 hits, 20 doubles, 11 home runs, 56 RBI, and 40 runs scored. Defensively, they combine for 437 of the team's 945 putouts. Both have fielding percentages in the .900's.
Wichita State's Game Against MSU Postponed: The Wichita State softball team's Tuesday contest at Missouri State has been postponed due to heavy rain. The game will be rescheduled for Thurs., May 5 at 7:00 p.m. in Springfield, Mo. The Shockers will travel to Missouri State to wrap up the three-game series that began in Wichita, Kan. The two teams met for a doubleheader at Wilkins Stadium on Wed., April 20. The Bears took both of the games from WSU.
Shockers' Seniors Lead the Way on Senior Day: Senior Brianna Smet threw a two-hitter and the seniors combined for four runs on eight hits as Wichita State beat Evansville, 5-1, on senior day at Wilkins Stadium Saturday afternoon.With the win, the Shockers' claimed the series against the Purple Aces in front of 251 fans at Wilkins Stadium. It is the second Missouri Valley Conference series the Shockers have won this season.Senior Kiersten Dixon went 3-for-3 at the plate, scored three runs, hit a home run, and picked up one RBI in the game. Senior Heather Gerritse went 3-for-4 with a double and picked up two RBI. Senior Jamie Hull was 2-for-4 on the day with a home run, a run scored, and an RBI.After giving up one run in the first inning, senior Brianna Smet held the Purple Aces scoreless for six innings as she picked up the win. It was Smet's first complete game of the season as she went 7.0 innings and gave up just one run on two hits.
Shook Named Missouri Valley Conference Athlete of the Week: Sophomore Sammie Shook was named the Missouri Valley Conference athlete of the week for her performance last week.Shook led the Shockers' offensive attack for the second straight week as she led WSU to a 3-3 re cord, including a 4-2 up set over #18 Oklahoma State. After hitting .500 in the series sweep over Creighton two weeks ago, Shook followed that up with a .429 batting average in the Shockers' six games in five days last week. She picked up six hits, two doubles, three home runs, nine RBI, and scored four runs in 14 at bats. Shook hit for power with her two doubles and three home runs which was good for a 1.214 slugging percentage. She picked up at least one hit in five of the Shockers' six games last week. Shook went 1-for-2 and picked up an RBI in the upset over #18 Oklahoma State. She went on and led the Shockers' in the series against the Purple Aces. She was 4-for-7 with a double, three home runs, seven RBI, and four runs scored. Shook hit two home runs in the 12-4 run-rule over the Aces on Fri., April 22.
Breezy Shines: Senior Brianna Smet led the Shockers' pitching staff with a 1-1 record last week, including a 2-hit win on senior day over the Purple Aces. For the week, she had a .40 ERA in 17.1 innings pitched. She made four appearances, including three starts. Smet also recorded four strikeouts last week. After giving up one run in the first inning, Smet held the Purple Aces scoreless for six innings as she picked up the win on senior day. It was Smet's first complete game of the season as she went 7.0 innings and gave up just one run on two hits.
Shockers Upset Nationally Ranked Oklahoma State: After losing on the road to Oklahoma State, 10-1, earlier this season, the Shockers welcomed the Cowgirls to Wilkins Stadium for the second game of the series on Tues., April 19. In their first game under the lights this season, the Shockers never trailed to nationally ranked Oklahoma State. Freshman Sloan Anderson picked up her fifth win of the season as she held Oklahoma State to two runs on four hits in 3.1 innings of action. Senior Brianna Smet picked up her second save of the season. All three pitchers saw action in the game. Hayley Temple led the Shockers' offensive attack. She went 2-for-3 at the plate and scored two runs. Freshman Erin Carney was a perfect 2-for-2 at the plate with a run scored. Kiersten Dixon, Jamie Hull, Heather Gerritse, Sammie Shook, and Brittney Osborn each picked up one hit in the contest. Both Rachel Milnark and Shook picked up an RBI.
Softball Adds Katherine Johnson to 2012 Recruiting Class: Sixth-year softball head coach Mike Perniciaro has announced the signing of his sixth student-athlete to a National-Letter-of-Intent to play softball at Wichita State. Katherine Johnson will join early signees Brianne Bond, Layne Greenlee, Kaitlyn Carey, Melanie Jaegers, and Sydney Stuever as a member of the freshman class for the 2012 season. Johnson is a right-handed pitcher from Alameda High School in California. She was named the 2011 Most Valuable Player at the 10th Annual Standley Cup after helping her team win the tournament. In 2009, she led her team to the North Coast Sectional Championship and was named first team All-ACCAL in 2010. Johnson works just as hard in the classroom as she is a three-time member of the North Coast Section Scholastic Championship team. "We are excited about Katherine joining our program," Perniciaro said. "She brings a lot of talent to the pitcher's circle and will add more depth to our pitching staff. She is also an outstanding student, and we are glad she will be a Shocker."
-WICHITA STATE-
