By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Bloomington, Ill---The No. 8 Express softball team (39-3) is set to take on Mineral Area College (36-16) out of Missouri this Thursday at 10 a.m. (C.S.T.) in opening round action of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Div. II National Tournament.
Owens is the #4 seed in the 16 team tourney, while Mineral Area College is the #13 seed. The tournament format is similar to the NCAA tournament in that #1 will play #16, #2 will play #15 and so on. In addition, the tournament is double elimination.
Mineral Area is participating in the tournament for the second time in three years. They defeated Murray State College in the Region J tournament to advance.
Should the Express win their first round matchup, they will take on the winner of #5 Heartland (37-19) and #12 Delaware Tech (36-6) matchup at 4 p.m. on Thursday. A potential winner's bracket semifinal matchup against No. 1-ranked and #1 seeded LSU-Eunice (53-10) looms on Friday at 12 p.m. if they can get past the first two games. The championship will be held on Saturday.
Attached is a link to the official tournament bracket.
http://www.njcaa.org/Teams/sball/2011/D_2/2011_NJCAA_National_Tournament_Bracket_v3.pdf
The Express are led by #1 pitcher Jordan Ratliff (Summerfield/Petersburg, Mich.), who is 18-2 with a 1.62 ERA and two saves. She has lost only once as a starter this season. Sophomore Elizabeth Weber (Oak Harbor/Oak Harbor, Ohio) is 4-0 with a 1.78 ERA, while freshmen Kasey Graham (Clay/Oregon, Ohio) and Ashlyn Michalak (Springfield/Temperance, Mich.) have 1.68 and 1.86 ERAs, respectively.
Offensively, the Express feature a potent lineup throughout. Leadoff hitter Kristen Roznoski (Cardinal Stritch/Toledo, Ohio) is hitting .514 with 40 stolen bases and 60 runs scored, #3 hitter Alaina Haubert (Gibsonburg/Gibsonburg, Ohio) is hitting .504 with 50 RBIs, cleanup batter Lindsey Bandeen (Springfield/Holland, Ohio) is hitting .394 with 41 RBIs, while other starter stats include Matea Rice (Clay/Oregon, Ohio) with a .341 average, Bridget Wolfe (Bellevue/Bellevue, Ohio) with a .381 average, Kelley Molloy (Whitmer/Toledo, Ohio) hitting .323, Allison Hausch (Bryan/Bryan, Ohio) with a .482 average, Michelle Hollister (Airport/Newport, Mich.) hitting .398, and Ashleigh Whitacre (Central Catholic/Toledo, Ohio) at .408 with 36 RBIs.
The top three in the lineup - Roznoski, Whitacre, and Haubert have a combined 60 stolen bases, 139 runs scored and 107 RBIs. The lowest average in the lineup comes from the #7 hitter Molloy at .323.
"This is about as close to a dream team as you could assemble," said Owens head coach Duane Lanham at the team's recent athletic banquet.
Owens punched their ticket to the national tournament with a 5-2 win over No. 19 Kalamazoo Valley Community College on Saturday in the Region XII District G tournament in Battle Creek, Mich. KVCC was riding a 16 game winning streak before Owens took two of three from them in the tournament. Also, District G contained three of the top 20 teams in the nation - including Owens, KVCC, and No. 15 Muskegon, who are the defending national champions.