Tuesday, April 14, 2009
The Jayhawks conclude a six-game home stand with a doubleheader against the UMKC Kangaroos today, three days after an impressive victory against the No. 11 Oklahoma Sooners.
At 2-2 thus far into the home stand, Kansas hopes to earn its first series sweep of the season.
The Jayhawks have a prime opportunity to do so as the struggling Kangaroos (14-27, 4-11) are currently second to last in the Summit League Conference, ranked 25th in conference RPI. Earlier this season, UMKC lost 13 straight games, its longest losing streak since dropping 16 in a row in 2007. But, coach Tracy Bunge refuses to let herself or her team look beyond the game at hand.
“We have a lot of respect for every opponent,” Bunge said. “They’re capable of beating anybody on any given day just like we are. We’ve just got to focus on one game at a time and try to build on that momentum we got Saturday.”
On paper, it’s easy to overlook UMKC despite its 8-2 record over the last 10 games, which included a two-game series sweep of Missouri State. Kansas lost to Missouri State 13-8 on March 24.
The Kangaroo pitching staff garners a dismal 4.19 combined ERA, giving up 123 of the team’s 218 surrendered runs in the first three innings. Defensively, UMKC hasn’t done much to help its pitchers, giving up nearly two errors per game, while Kangaroo catcher Amanda Evans has been able to throw out only 16 percent of potential base stealers. Although Bunge didn’t have the updated stats before Monday’s interview, she had taken notice.
“I’m going into the games tomorrow saying we have to put the ball in play and score early to take the pressure off of our pitching staff,” Bunge said. “We need key people on the base paths with our speed.”
The bright spot for the Kangaroos is their offense. Leading the Summit League in hits (285), the team has posted a .266 batting average so far this season. Freshman third baseman Betsy Hanley leads the team with a .336 batting average and a .337 on-base percentage, usually batting out of the three spot.
With the upset win on Saturday, Kansas (14-23, 4-6) sits at eighth in the Big 12 and hopes to duplicate last year’s series sweep of UMKC. After two days off, the Jayhawks go into today’s doubleheader focused and well rested.
“The team is coming out ready to play,” Bunge said. “We need to continue to focus on being aggressive and not letting things get to us.”
The Jayhawk batters hope to bolster their .233 cumulative team average and have a solid change to improve as Kangaroo opponents have batted .307 against them. The Kansas offense is led by Val Chapple (.308), Liz Kocon (.207, 21 RBI) and Dougie McCaulley (.313, 20 runs). Val George leads the pitching staff with a 2.71 ERA and 137 strikeouts in 129 innings of work. George also earned all five wins against ESPN/USA Softball Top 25 ranked opponents.
— — Edited by Brandy Entsminger
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