Missouri S&T's softball team had just completed its first season as a member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference, but as the 2006-07 school year began, the Miners were a team in a degree of flux.  The team had a new head coach who inherited a squad with several newcomers to a relatively young roster.  By the time the season ended in May, the Miners were playing in the NCAA Division II Tournament for the first time in program history and following is the story of how they got there.

Don Kennedy arrived in Rolla on the weekend before the 2006 fall semester began on the Missouri S&T (then known as the University of Missouri-Rolla) campus after being named as the new head softball coach.  He had familiarity with the Miners from his days as an assistant coach at the University of Central Missouri, but not necessarily of the team he was about to be leading.

"I got hired and moved in the weekend before school started," Kennedy recalled.  "It gets to be Wednesday of that first week of school and Patti Peterson, the office secretary asked me 'Are you going to Booster Club?'  I asked, what's that?  She mentioned that you go there and talk about your team to the fans.  I told her that I didn't even know my team – I hadn't even met the players yet.

"I had worked at UCM previously and Missouri S&T hadn't been in the MIAA for a couple of years, so I really didn't even know the group I was going to be coaching," Kennedy added.

The last time the Jennies had played the Miners was in 2005 – S&T's last year in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association – and by the time he took over the S&T program after the 2006 season, there were only two players remaining on the roster that he had seen in action personally.  The two were the middle infielders, shortstop Rachel Wilkinson and second baseman Kandi Wieberg.

"As a new coach, I know he had a lot of stuff on his plate," Weiberg said.  "We did have a complete change of regiments.  You have Coach (Ryan) Anderson, an ex-football player.  Weights, weights, weights and 6 a.m. practices.  Then you had Coach Kennedy, who was big on things like fundamentals and team building and I feel like the transition went smooth.  He also leaned on the players a lot to help give him direction."

One of the newcomers that had signed with the Miners before the coaching change took place was Kelsey Musselman, a power-hitting infielder who had played for two seasons at Lincoln Land Community College in Springfield, Ill., before arriving in Rolla.  Because the program had made a coaching change after she had signed, Musselman had the option to get out of her national letter of intent.

"It was the best of both worlds," Musselman said of her decision to come to Missouri S&T.  "It was an excellent engineering school and got to continue playing softball.  It was a great organization and great coaching staff – but then the coach left that summer.  I could have gone to a different school, but I had faith in this organization and just knew that Mark (Mullin, S&T's director of athletics) would make sure that another good coach would come in. 

"I liked it because the people here were concerned about not only athletics but academics as well and that I wasn't going to be an athlete first and a student second," Musselman, who was studying civil engineering, added.

Besides Wilkinson and Wieberg, the Miners also returned outfielder Emily Tucker and infielder Lauren Feltmann, who was going to be the only senior on the Miner roster that spring.  They also returned two pitchers – Jen O'Hara, the team's number two starter as a freshman and Kaye Wibbenmeyer, but the latter was dealing with an injury and would not be able to pitch during the 2007 season.

Thus, a lot of key positions were going to be filled by newcomers due to the losses of the team's top power hitter from the previous year, Holly Weinberg; catcher Ashley Weiss, who had a steady hand with the pitchers and also hit .344; and defensive stalwarts Bobbi Rose in left field and Amie Fugiel at third base.  In addition, the top pitcher on the 2006 team, Renee Roberts, had also graduated.

So when Kennedy held his first team meeting, one thing he did was put together a list of questions for the players.  Some of the questions included what position the players played the previous year, preferred positions and ones they could play, where they hit in the batting order – keeping in mind that many of them coming straight from high school had been top of the order hitters at that level. 

Kennedy admitted a bit of surprise, but was pleased to know that several were candid enough to say they would bat wherever they fit into the lineup to help the team.

The fall season turned into an evaluation period to determine the best fit for everyone on the roster.  That would include the newcomers – Musselman, catcher Coley Naughton, outfielders Ashley Winter, Krista Porterfield, Allison Plummer, infielder Becky Davis and pitcher Ashley Wallingford.

"I was really excited," Musselman said. "Coming from my junior college, we went more off talent and there was no discipline or structure.  I was very excited to come to a structured program and play for a team where everyone wants to be there and have much more focus."

By the time the fall ended, the Miners had a lineup that was set for the better part for the season.  Wieberg remained at second base, but Wilkinson moved to first to fill the vacancy left by Weinberg and Musselman took over at short.  Feltmann, who played in the outfield during the 2006 season, opened the year at third base but swapped spots with Wilkinson later in the year, as the latter was a quicker player who was better at defending against the bunt.

Tucker, who played center field as a freshman, was put in right field, while the other two outfield spots were going to be handled by freshmen.  Winter would man the center field spot and left field would be occupied by either Plummer or Porterfield.  Davis opened the season as the designated player and Wallingford was slotted in as the number two starter behind O'Hara and would pitch the second games of doubleheaders.

The last of the freshmen, Naughton, ended up playing a key role for the pitching staff behind the plate.  Kennedy was without an assistant coach during that first season and put a lot of trust into Naughton to guide the staff throughout the year.

"Coley had gone with numerous pitchers through her career to pitching lessons, so she knew what all the pitches were supposed to look like and what the corrections were, which is much easier to see from behind the plate than the angle from the dugout," Kennedy said.  "To allow me to be able to see more of what was going on during the game, she called all the pitches.  I thought our games ran a little smoother and really, the only thing I would remind Coley of was 'let's work the change-up in there, everything can't be hard stuff'."

The 2007 season started with the Miners winning seven of their first nine games, then they split four games in a weekend event at Missouri Southern that included a win over Kennedy's former team to send S&T into the start of conference play with a 9-4 record.  The opening weekend of GLVC play away from home saw the Miners split a pair of doubleheaders, which included a 15-inning setback at Saint Joseph's and a bounce-back win the next day at Indianapolis to gain a split of that twinbill.

By early April, the Miners were sitting at 5-5 in GLVC play and had a critical home weekend ahead, which included a doubleheader against seventh-ranked Lewis.  The weekend the Flyers and Wisconsin-Parkside came to town was also one of the most frigid April weekends in years, with S&T and Rockhurst – who was also playing both squads that weekend – being the only teams in Missouri to play host to softball games as temperatures hovered below the freezing mark and wind chill readings sat in the single digits.

"Two cold weather teams," Kennedy said.  "People probably thought I was nuts for playing those games, but I thought this is a day that these teams would be out practicing just because they could be outside and were used to this weather.  We didn't have any heaters in the dugout at that time – just the handwarmers – and I told the ladies something before the game started while we were warming up and talking about how cold it was. 

"I told them 'guess what, it's going to be cold and you know what will make it warm' and they looked at me and said what, and told them score some runs because you have to run and move around," Kennedy added. 

Evidentially, the Miners got the message.  In the opener, S&T took the lead when Wieberg hit a grand slam in the second inning and finished off the Flyers in six innings with another four-spot, thanks to a two-run hit by Feltmann and a game-ending hit by Naughton for a 9-1 win.  The Miners got an early lead in the nightcap on a two-run homer by Musselman in the first, but S&T needed an unearned run in the fifth to extend the lead and a big defensive play by Tucker in the seventh.

Tucker, who was playing center field in place of Winter as she was recovering from an injury she had suffered earlier that week, ran down a liner in the gap off the bat of Mallory Paine with the bases loaded for the final out to secure a 3-2 win and the doubleheader sweep.

The next afternoon on an even colder day, the Miners played the power game to get another doubleheader sweep.  Trailing 5-4 in the bottom of the seventh in game one, S&T loaded the bases on hits by Wieberg and Musselman and a walk to Tucker before Feltmann belted a grand slam to give the Miners a walk-off win.  S&T followed that win by hitting four home runs in the nightcap in a 6-4 victory over the Rangers.

"I think we proved something to ourselves that weekend," Wieberg said.  "Everyone was getting comfortable in their roles and things were starting to click.  With the pitchers, Ashley took on her role amazingly and Jen was always pretty solid; I felt like she knew she had to become that lead pitcher and I don't remember her feeling any jitterbugs or anything like that."

Those sweeps started a season-high eight-game winning streak that was halted when Southern Indiana swept a doubleheader from the Miners, which preceded a visit by 10^th-ranked Southern Illinois Edwardsville.  The Cougars took the opener from the Miners in nine innings, a game in which O'Hara carried a no-hitter into the ninth, but the Miners broke loose in game two.  S&T scored three in the third, two in the fourth and three in the fifth to back Wallingford's four-hit shutout to post a 8-0 run-rule win over SIUE.  That win would be the last any team would record over SIUE that season as the Cougars went on to win the NCAA Division II championship.

"At our coaches convention later that year, Sandy Montgomery (SIUE's head coach) was honored as the national coach of the year for winning the national championship," Kennedy said.  "She said in front of all the other coaches, 'A turning point in our season came when we were playing Missouri S&T and they kicked our butts in the second game … they run-ruled us.  My team is not used to having that happen and after that we didn't lose another game'."

"I think that win felt better for us than all of the wins in the season," Wieberg said.  "SIUE was a powerhouse that year.  I think that was a big confidence booster for us."

One thing that became evident during the season was the depth of the Miner lineup, one that would lead the conference with a .307 team batting average and a league-high and school record 42 home runs. 

The leadoff hitter was Wieberg, who hit .402 with 12 home runs and would be named as the GLVC's Player of the Year in 2007.  She was followed by Winter, the conference batting champion with a .469 mark and Musselman, who hit 11 home runs and would be the GLVC Player of the Year the following season.  After that, Wilkinson hit in the cleanup spot with Tucker, who hit .370 and Feltmann hitting in back of her.

That offense supplemented the pitching of O'Hara and Wallingford, who combined to throw 329 2/3 innings; O'Hara accounted for 208 1/3 of those innings and ended up being named to the All-GLVC team as an honorable mention selection.

S&T entered the GLVC Tournament as the third seed, but got only two hits – one a home run by Musselman – in an opening game loss to Wisconsin-Parkside.  But after that game, the bats came alive as the Miners made a run through the tournament that nearly ended up with them in the championship game.

First, S&T won a slugfest over Indianapolis as the Miners overcame the Greyhounds' six-run fifth inning to win on a two-run homer by Wieberg in the sixth, then S&T rapped out 11 hits and rode O'Hara's two-hitter to avenge two earlier losses to Quincy in a 6-0 win.  The following day, with a chance to again overcome a team that posted a doubleheader sweep over them, the Miners got a historic day at the plate from their shortstop to advance.

The Miners got a lead over Southern Indiana in the first when Musselman belted a home run to left, then after the Screaming Eagles tied the score in the bottom half of the inning, Musselman came to bat in the third with a runner on and hit her second homer of the game to center to put S&T up 3-1.

S&T still held a 3-2 lead in the fifth when Winter doubled with two outs and ended up at third on a subsequent error to bring Musselman to the plate again.  This at-bat ended the same way as her first two did, as she blasted an opposite field home run to extend the lead to 5-2. 

Despite hitting the three homers that day, Musselman was quickly reminded about another element of the game.  After hitting the home run in the first to put S&T on top, she committed an error in the bottom half of the inning that led to USI tying the score.

"The one thing I remember about that game was not having a good day in the field," she said.  "I remember committing an error and Coach Kennedy pulled me aside and telling me that I needed to pick up my defense.  It was kind of a shock, but it was good – it doesn't matter what you do on offense if you can't perform on defense."

The Miners would win 6-2 to advance to another elimination game against Lewis for the right to face SIUE in the championship round.  Despite Wieberg's leadoff homer, a tight game went in favor of the Flyers and the Miners were left waiting to see if their season would continue.

The next night – without the NCAA video shows that are commonplace today to allow teams to see if they were heading to post-season play – Kennedy got a phone call informing him that the Miners had indeed earned a berth to the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional in Romeoville, Ill.  It was the first time S&T was going to the NCAA Tournament in softball; even the Miners' 2004 team that went 41-14 was denied a berth.

Kennedy began the process of calling his players -- including Musselman, Tucker and Naughton, who were enjoying a movie at the theater across town.  Needless to say, receiving that news nearly got them ejected from the theater.

"Emily got a call and we saw that, so we all ran outside," Musselman said.  "Coach Kennedy said we got in and we were screaming, jumping up and down, just acting like a bunch of goofballs.  The ushers literally told us we needed to be quiet or needed to go outside."

The regional announcement came on the Sunday night that preceded the start of final examinations on campus, so some logistics had to be sorted through.  First, the regional was starting on Thursday in the Chicago suburbs and the team had a practice time on Wednesday, so the players had to work to attempt to get some of the exams rescheduled to earlier in the week if possible.

Some were unable to, leading to the need for Kennedy and later assistant director of athletics Sarah Moore to proctor exams.  The team left for the regional on Tuesday and spent that night at a hotel in Springfield, Ill., to allow some players to take exams on Wednesday morning, then other exams were taken on Thursday morning at the team hotel in Joliet, Ill., prior to the team's first game of the regional later in the day.

But once they arrived at the field, it was just taking care of the business at hand.

"The amazing thing that after all those kids had the stress of finals, we played as relaxed as we had all season," Kennedy said.

The Miners drew the host, Lewis, in the opening round just five days after playing the Flyers at the GLVC Tournament.  After three scoreless innings, S&T got the lead on a one-out solo homer in the fourth by Musselman and added three more runs in the inning on RBI hits from hitters in the bottom half of the order -- Feltmann, Plummer, who had just 15 hits in 104 at-bats during the season and Porterfield.

Winter led off the fifth with a home run to extend the Miner lead to 5-0 before the Flyers began a rally in the bottom of the inning to brought them to within a run.  However, O'Hara got out of that inning with the lead, then pitched around two-out walks in the sixth and seventh – retiring the Flyers' big gun, Kelly Dianis, for the final out of the game on a fly ball to Tucker in right in front of a sizeable student section sitting on the hillside rooting on the home team behind the fence.

S&T got out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning the next day against Ferris State, but allowed eight in the bottom of the first and would up being sent to an elimination game the next afternoon against Grand Valley State.  The Miners trailed the Lakers 4-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth and had lost their starting pitcher, O'Hara, when she was hit on her pitching hand by a line drive in the fifth.

Porterfield led off the sixth with a hit and Wieberg followed with a home run to cut the lead in half.  With one out, Musselman singled and was still at first with two outs when Tucker blasted a home run to the deepest part of the ballpark to tie the contest.

The game then turned into a battle of missed chances for both sides for the next 90 minutes.  The Lakers left two runners on base in the eighth and the Miners had two on in the 11^th when Tucker lined a ball down the third base line that was speared by the third baseman.

In the 13^th inning, GVSU's Lisa Pruess hit her second home run of the game and fourth by the Lakers in the contest that turned into the decisive run that ended S&T's run.

"That was a really, really fun year to watch that team come together and play like that," Kennedy said.  "We didn't have a large team number-wise, but everyone played their role and did whatever it took to win."

"We grew as a group during the year," Weiberg said.

Given the way things started in August, getting to where they ended up in May certainly classified the 2007 Miners' softball season as a major success.