WARRENSBURG, Mo. - The Jennies return to the NCAA Softball Championships for the first time since 1994. Their first draw in the double elimination tournament is East Super Regional winner Adelphi. Game one for the Jennies is Thursday, May 21 at 7:30 p.m. and the NCAA will crown its 2015 softball champion Monday, May 25. 

Quick Hits
Anderson vs. Adelphi
This will be coach Anderson's first ever meeting with Adelphi with the Jennies. 

UCM in the Polls
In the final rankings before the NCAA Tournament, the Jennies were ranked a season-high 20th by the NFCA. It took 12 weeks before they finally cracked the poll, seeing their name for the first time at No. 23 on April 29th.

Hot Starts
Two weeks ago, the Jennies scored 11 of 13 runs in the sixth inning or later at the Central Region Tournament. Last week, UCM scored early on its way to a sweep of Augustana. The Jens scored three in the opening frame of game one and never looked back in a 6-0 shutout and in game two, tied the game on a solo home run from Lauren Mabe in the second. This season, the Jennies have scored 59 runs in the first inning, tied for their most in a single frame. They are also 22-7 when scoring at least one run in the opening inning.

Situational Hitting
One of the biggest disparities between the Jennies and their opponents has been hitting with runners in scoring position. UCM sports a .319 average in such situations while limiting the opposition to just a .235 average. The .235 opponent average is due in large-part to Katie Shockley and the rest of the pitching staff, but the offense has been clutch when needed. It isn't just one player either, as eight Jennies are hitting at least .300 (min. 40 at-bats) with a runner in scoring position. Little Alex Leonhart leads the way hitting .379 (22-for-58) with a runner in scoring position. 

Half Century
The Jennies are just one win away from their first ever 50-win season. As it stands, they are tied with the 1995 team for the most wins in a single-season.

200 Hits/40 Home Run Club
Senior Jakki Prater became the first Jennie to ever reach 40 career home runs when she slugged No. 40 at the MIAA Championship Tournament. Earlier this season, Prater became the fourth member of the 200 hit club and third in as many years. She became the all-time home run leader last season and was the first Jennie to ever reach 200 hits and 30 home runs. She is now the first with 200 hits and 40 home runs.  

Prater collected one hit during the Super Regional and stands at 219 for her career, second-most all-time. She is just three hits behind the all-time leader, Beth Savage, who finished her career with 222 hits in 1995.

Shockley's Winning Ways
After starting the season 4-5, Shockley has gone 23-1 in her last 24 decisions, giving her a 27-6 overall record. The 27 wins are a new UCM single-season record, breaking the old mark of 25 set by Kristen Grime in 1991. During her 23-1 stretch, Shockley has a 1.27 ERA with 93 strikeouts in 159.2 innings pitched, allowing just 114 hits. She's allowed no more than four runs in any of those and has had 19 appearances with zero or one earned run. 

Interestingly, in her senior season, Shockley has seen a big dip in her WHIP compared to her career numbers (1.23 in 2015 vs. 1.52 the rest of her career), but her walks per seven innings has spiked to 2.5 after being at 2.15 for her first three seasons. 

Mabe's Quest for .400
Sophomore Lauren Mabe is attempting to do what only six others have done in UCM history. Mabe leads the Jennies with a .411 batting average. If the season were to end today, her .411 average would be the fourth-best single-season average in team history. Only six times has a Jennie batted at least .400, with the last coming from Courtney Opich in 2010. The single-season record for batting average is .457, set by Rachel Adams in 2007. Mabe has surpassed Rachel Adams and now has 79 hits on the season, a new UCM single-season record.

Jennies Running Wild
The Jennies set a new single season record this season when they stole their 100th base of the season against Lindenwood. UCM broke the previous record of 97 set in 1995, and currently stand at 123 for the season. With 1.92 stolen bases per game, the Jennies are 14th in the nation. 

Junior Ali Jo Rogers leads the stolen base barrage. She has already set the new career stolen base record with 90 in her three years. She also continues to add to her single-season stolen base record. Rogers swiped three bags at the Super Regional giving her 49 for the season, making her the first Jennie to ever steal 40 bases in a season. She's stealing almost one base per game and is 14th in the nation at 0.78 steals per game. In addition to Rogers, Makayla Schoonover (26) and Carlie Rose (16) both have double-digit steals. Schoonover is a perfect 26-for-26 on attempts this season, which if it stands would be the second most steals without being caught in team history.

Jennies at Neutral Sites
This season the Jennies are 17-8 (.680) at neutral sites this season. 

Jennies in the Postseason
The Jennies clinched their eighth regular-season MIAA championships in their history and first since 2009 this season. Three weeks ago, they won their first conference tournament championship since 1997. 2009 was the last time UCM made the NCAA tournament and they have gone 20-21 in 41 NCAA games over 11 appearances. Their wins in the opening rounds of the NCAA Central Regional Tournament were their first NCAA wins since 1997 and this is their first trip back to the NCAA Championship since 1994.

Scouting the Opposition
Augustana
Series History: This is just the second ever meeting between these two programs. The Jennies won the first, 3-2 back in 1999.

Scouting Report: The Panthers made their third straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 2015, making it 3-for-3 for Head Coach Breanna Nasti at the helm of AU. Adelphi swept Southern New Hampshire (5-3, 15 inn. and 4-2) to win the East Super Regional. They had to defeat No. 1 seed Caldwell twice to win the East Regional. 

Adelphi is led by a pair of Daktronics East All-Region student-athletes, one in the circle and one at the plate. Starting with the offense, Brenna Martini leads the Panthers in most major offensive categories. She has a .419/.494/.743 slash line, all team bests, and also leads the Panther offense with 17 doubles, nine home runs and 51 RBI. Martini also knows how to put the bat on the ball, striking out just nine times.

Krista King is the Panther's hit leader. She's racked up 65 in 185 at bats and carries a .351 batting average into the Championship. She's also the team's stolen base leader, having been successful on 14-of-17 attempts. 

In the circle Lindsay Mapes has been the Panther ace. She leads the team with an 18-9 record and 2.57 ERA. She's also struck out 150 batters in 203.1 innings and is holding opposing hitters to a .222 batting average. Her eight shutouts tie her for 15th in the NCAA. 

One of Adelphi's strengths, and Mapes' best friend, has been their defense. The Panthers rank 27th in D-II in fielding percentage at .969. They've committed just 45 errors all season in 346.1 innings. 

Last Time Out
   SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- Solo home runs by Lauren Mabe and Carlie Rose gave the 20th-ranked Jennies all the offense they would need in a 2-1 win over ninth-ranked Augustana on Saturday morning at Bowden Field. With the win, the Jennies sweep the best-of-three Super Regional series and advance to the Division II World Series for the first time since 1994.
    Augustana (53-11) got on the board first with a single run in the top of the first. Carly Peterson's two-out single to right plated Sarah Kennedy to give the Vikings the early lead. AC still had two on with two-out, but Katie Shockley (27-6) got Jordan Schaffer to groundout to end the threat.
    The Jennies (49-14) tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the second when Lauren Mabe belted a two-two pitch over the fence in right for a leadoff home run.
    The Vikings threatened in the top of the third putting two runners on with two outs, but Karlee Koopman lined out to Ali Jo Rogers at shortstop to end the inning. Augie threatened again in the fourth with a one-out hit by pitch and a double to put runners at second and third with only one out. Carley Pickett hit a line drive to center field, but Makayla Schoonover made a running catch and then threw a strike to Rose at the plate to cut down Mackenzie Alstott who was trying to score from third to keep the game tied at one.
    Rose gave the Jennies a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth when she lifted a three-one pitch high over the wall in left for the Jennies' second homer of the game.
    Shockley set the Vikings down in order in the sixth, then pitched out of a tough jam in the seventh to secure the win, Augie had a runner on first and two outs when Kennedy hit a ball deep to left center, Schoonover got her glove on it at the wall as she was turning around, but was unable to secure the catch. She quickly recovered and got the ball back to the infield to keep the runners at second and third with two outs. Following a four-pitch walk to Jenelle Trautmann, Peterson lifted a soft fly ball to shallow center where Rogers made a tough, sliding catch in front of Schoonover to send the Jennies to their first Division II World Series in 21 years.
    Shockley had another solid outing, allowing just one run on six hits in a complete-game effort. In the two games of the Super Regional she allowed one run on 10 hits in 14 innings of work against the high-powered Augie offense. Pickett (17-5) took the loss for Augustana after allowing one run on one hit in 3.2 innings of relief. Trautmann allowed one run two hits in 2.1 innings before moving over to first base.
    The Jennies advance to their first World Series since 1994, when head coach Susan Anderson was a player for the Jennies. With the win, the Jens also tied the school record for wins in a season with their 49th.
    The Jennies will open Division II Championship play on Thursday, May 21 at 7:30 p.m. at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City against the winner of the East Region.