The #10 Mizzou softball team readies for their last Big 12 Conference series, as they travel to Ames, Iowa for a three-game set against the Iowa State Cyclones. The Tigers and Cyclones will begin play on Friday. Game two will take place at 2 p.m. on Saturday, with the finale set for Noon on Sunday.

Iowa State enters the weekend with a record of 14-30 on the season and are 2-13 in Big 12 play. The Cyclones are hitting .252 as a team with two players batting over .300. Erica Miller leads the team with a .389 average, while Tori Torrescano is batting .311. Iowa State has struggled in the circle with a team ERA of 7.11. Torrescano has appeared in 34 games and starting 24 times. Opponents are hitting .359 off Cyclone pitching this season.

Mizzou pitcher Chelsea Thomas is moving up the rankings in Tiger softball history. Thomas now has the 10th most appearances in Missouri history with 112. With two more appearances she’ll be alone in eighth all-time.

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The 9th ranked Missouri Tigers softball team won a non-conference game over Northern Iowa 3-1 to improve to 31-6 on the season and extend their home winning streak to 22 consecutive games.

The Panthers jumped ahead on a first inning home run by designated player Laura Turner. Missouri evened things up in the second on an RBI double by Mackenzie Sykes. Nicole Hudson gave the Tigers the lead with a sacrifice fly to right field in the third and added an insurance run by in the fourth inning, drawing four walks.

Redshirt junior Chelsea Thomas has been named as one of 25 finalists for the 2012 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year, as announced Wednesday afternoon by the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of America. This is the second straight year she has been in the final 25, and last year Thomas was one of the three remaining finalists to win the award.

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#22 Nebraska softball team pulled off a 6-4 victory over #11 Missouri in Saturday’s second game at the Cathedral City Classic. The Huskers snapped a two-game losing streak while improving to 9-5 on the year.

Senior right-hander Ashley Hagemann (5-3) earned the win. In a complete-game effort, Hagemann allowed four runs and scattered eight hits, while walking five and striking out nine.

Kristin Nottelmann (2-1) took the loss for Missouri, which fell to 4-2 on the year. Nottelmann scattered seven hits in 6.0 innings and allowed only two earned runs. The Tigers committed four errors, leading to four unearned runs.

The Missouri Tiger softball team was picked 6th in the coaches and 5th in the USA Softball preseason polls. Mizzou is coming off a 53-13 season and they made their third straight trip to the Softball World Series.

Oklahoma and Baylor at 5th and 7th, sandwiched around Mizzou in the coaches poll. Oklahoma State is 11th, Texas A & M and Texas are 17th and 18th respectively. Missouri flip flops with OU in the USA Softball poll with OSU, A & M and Texas in the second half of the poll, but what I paid particular attention to was the number of SEC schools that are in the top 25.

Florida and Alabama are both ranked ahead of Mizzou. Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and LSU also debut in both polls.  Half of the conference is ranked in the top 25.

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