Michigan State University Athletics
South Carolina Awaits Spartan Softball
2/19/2014 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Feb. 19, 2014
| MSU at the South Carolina Gamecock Invitational | |
| Dates | Fri.-Sun., Feb. 21-23 |
| Location | Columbia, S.C.; Carolina Softball Stadium at Beckham Field (Cap. 1,200) |
| Video Webstream | vs. South Carolina |
| Radio | none |
| Live Statistics | |
| Download Game Notes | MSU |
| Social Media | @MSU_Softball  | Facebook  |
| Tournament Central Website | www.gamecocksonline.com |
SERIES NOTES
• Michigan State enters its third week of competition and will participate in the Gamecock Invitational at the University of South Carolina this weekend. The Spartans will play four games over three days.
• Boston University will be playing its first games of the 2014 season this weekend, and is under the tutelage of former Spartan assistant coach Kathryn Gleason. Georgetown has five games under its belt from the opening weekend, but was washed out of its entire schedule last weekend. UNC-W (4-3) and South Carolina (6-2) have played seven and eight games, respectively.
• MSU owns a winning record against three of its four opponents this weekend: 1-0 vs. UNC-Wilmington, 6-4 against BU, and 3-0 vs. Georgetown. The Spartans are 2-4 vs. South Carolina.
TEAM NOTES
• MSU had a tough go last week at the Littlewood Classic in Tempe, facing three top-30 teams (No. 11 Oklahoma, No. 3 Washington, and San Jose State, which was receiving votes in the poll). MSU suffered four losses, two by walkoff, and one in extra innings. MSU will look to snap its four-game skid after starting the season 2-1.
• The Spartans have had schedule changes due to weather in each of the first two weekends. At Stetson in the season opening tournament, MSU lost one game to the host Hatters due to a washout. In Arizona, one of the teams could not travel to Tempe due to snowstorms on the east coast, so after a re-working of the schedule, MSU got in four games instead of the scheduled five.
• The Spartan pitching staff fell from third in team ERA (1.94) in the Big Ten after the first week to 10th (4.01). Over four games at the Littlewood Classic, MSU's team ERA was 5.45, allowing 36 hits and 20 earned runs.
• MSU hit just .172 at the Littlewood Classic, including being limited to just one hit against No. 3 Washington.
• MSU allowed seven doubles in the Littlewood weekend, but three were to the same player - Oklahoma's Shelby Pendley, who knocked in the winning runs on a walkoff two-bagger in the bottom of the seventh inning.
• MSU hit four home runs in the opening weekend, but had just one last week in Arizona. The Spartans went from third to 10th in the Big Ten in this category.
• MSU has had nine batters hit by pitches, the third-highest total in the Big Ten.
• Of the 25 runs that MSU has scored this season, 23 have come in the first (6), fourth (8) or seventh (9) innings.
• MSU will play nine games against five teams which appeared in this week's NFCA poll. MSU has already played single games against No. 11 Oklahoma and No. 3 Washington, and has a single game against current No. 24 Notre Dame along with three-game series against Big Ten foes No. 7 Michigan and No. 11 Nebraska. In addition, MSU has three games against Northwestern, which sits just outside the top 25.
Nineteen of MSU's 26 non-conference opponents finished fifth or better in their conference in 2013, and five are their defending conference champions. Washington and Oklahoma, as well as Big Ten foes Nebraska and Michigan, made the Women's College World Series. Four Big Ten teams received bids to the NCAA Tournament overall.
• MSU was the fifth-most improved team in Division I softball in 2013 from its 2012 record. The 2012 Spartans suffered through an 11-42 campaign riddled with injuries, but went 24-25 in 2013, a 15-game improvement. Only four programs had more than a 15-game improvement from 2012 to 2013: Delaware (+19.5), Northwestern State (+18.5), St. Joseph's (+17), and UNC Greensboro (+15.5).
• MSU's infield features mostly underclassmen, with the exception being junior 1B McKinzie Freimuth. The middle infield of Jacquie Reiser and Destinee Luna are sophomores, while Sarah Gutknecht (3B), catcher Lindsey Besson, and two of MSU's three healthy pitchers (Valerie Kaff and Kristina Zalewski) are all freshmen. Three of MSU's four outfielders are juniors - Alyssa McBride, Stephanie Sanders, and Ellie Stoffer - and left fielder Kassidy Kujawa is a first-year player.
• MSU returns 12 letterwinners and six starters from last year's team which finished 24-25 and played in the Big Ten Tournament. Three starters were lost to graduation - center fielder and All-Big Ten pick Kylene Hopkins, third baseman and All-Big Ten selection Jayme O'Bryant, and second baseman Jenny Ramsaier. Ramsaier and O'Bryant are back with the team this year as student coaches.
In the infield, returning starters McKinzie Freimuth (first) and Destinee Luna (shortstop) each played nearly every game at those positions last season, and solidify a young infield. Sophomore Shanin Thomas is penciled in at third and sophomore transfer Jacquie Reiser is the likely starter at second, while freshman Sarah Gutknecht can play either of the corner infield positions and will look to earn playing time.
Alyssa McBride, the team's top returning hitter, will patrol center field for the Spartans this year, (moving over from left, where she played 44 games a year ago). Hard-hitting freshman Kassidy Kujawa will also vie for a starting role in the outfield, along with Ellie Stoffer, (who was behind the plate in 48 of 49 games last season), Dana Briggs, and Carly Nielsen. Stephanie Sanders, one of the league's top pinch-hitters, may also see time, while senior Sarah Bowling will continue as the team's designated player.
Both starting pitchers from 2013, senior Kelly Smith and sophomore Dani Goranson, return to the roster, but Goranson is sidelined until March as she completes rehab from an injury. Freshman Valerie Kaff will be counted on to eat up some innings early, while classmate Kristina Zalewski, like Goranson, is rehabbing from an injury and will fight to get on the field to contribute. Lindsey Besson will complete the battery, taking over starting catching duties, with both Stoffer and senior Emma Fernandez available as backup.
PLAYER NOTES
• Junior Ellie Stoffer went 3-for-4 in the Littlewood Classic, with a pair of hits against Oklahoma when she earned her first start in the field of the season. On the season, she's 3-for-6 (.500) at the plate.
• Sarah Gutknecht spearheaded MSU's near-comeback against No. 11 Oklahoma. With MSU trailing 5-0, she led off the bottom of the seventh with a single homer to left; as MSU batted around in the inning, she came to the plate later in the inning and delivered a two-out, two-run double to give MSU a 6-5 lead. On the season, she's hitting .250 .
• Gutknect and classmate Kassidy Kujawa shares the team lead in home runs, with two each. That total is tied for sixth in the Big Ten.
• Kujawa leads the team with a .333 batting average, .667 slugging percentage, on-base percentage of .455, and has seven RBI. She is also second on the team in walks (three) and runs scored (3).
• Top-of-the-order hitters Destinee Luna and Alyssa McBride each had three hits in the opening weekend in Florida, but McBride went 2-for-12 and Luna 0-for-10 (with 2 HPB and a walk) in the Littlewood Classic.
• MSU utilized three pitchers again last weekend; Kelly Smith earned each of the four starts, but threw just 11 innings total. She went six innings in the game vs. SIU-Edwardsville, two against both San Jose State and Washington, and just one inning against Oklahoma. Valerie Kaff came in to relieve Smith in each of the four games, taking the hard-luck loss in nine innings to SIU-E, and threw 11.1 innings total in the four games. Kristina Zalewski relieved Kaff in the other three games, and took the loss in the 7-6 decision against Oklahoma.
• All four of Zalewski's appearances have come in relief this season, while five of Kaff's six appearances has been in relief of Smith. Look for Kaff to earn at least one start this weekend in South Carolina.
• All three pitchers on staff appear among Big Ten statistical leaders in several categories. Smith leads the B1G in starts (6), is tied for 11th in innings pitched (22), and is fifth in strikeouts looking (9). Kaff and Zalewski are tied for second in relief appearances (4), and Kaff ranks fourth in fewest walks (4) and doubles allowed (1). Meanwhile, Zalewski leads the league in games finished (4).
• Smith needs just 10 more strikeouts to move into MSU's all-time top 10 strikeout leaders. She currently owns 240 strikeouts in just her second season at MSU; Keri DeJong ranks 10th all-time in the career record book for strikeouts with 250. In 2013, Smith had 222 K's, good for third in MSU's single-season record book.
