COLUMBIA 一 It took 39 innings across five games, a combined 364 pitches in 25 innings pitched from ace pitcher Laurin Krings and a two-out walk-off single by Madison Walker in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 2 of the NCAA Columbia Regional final versus Omaha, for Mizzou to advance to its second Super Regional in four seasons.
"It was awesome," Walker said with a smile. "We talked about it in the locker room. I mean, it's no shocker I kind of struggled the past couple of months. And I've been working with (assistant coach) Jeff (Cotrill), working with (head) coach (Larissa Anderson), working with (assistant coach) Sara (Marino) 一 everyone I need to. I feel like I just kind of got myself calmed down, got myself into a mindset where I was like, I'm not letting my team down."
"I just know whatever happens, I'm going to give everything I have and I know that our team is going to give everything they have and live to see another day. Simple as that," Kring said.
The Tigers had to defeat Omaha twice on Sunday at Mizzou Softball Stadium to keep their season alive and they did it dramatically in both wins.
Missouri’s path to the Super Regional started a bit shaky when it lost to the Mavericks 3-1 in extra innings on Friday to begin the tournament.
After that, Mizzou was in win-or-go-home territory for the remainder of the tournament and started its four-game winning streak with a 5-1 win over Indiana and a 4-1 win over Washington on Saturday.
In Game 1 versus the Mavs on Sunday, the Tigers had a clutch five-run seventh inning to eventually secure the 5-1 win and force a win-or-go-home Game 2 an hour later.
The inning began with third baseman Kara Daly, who went 2-for-2 with a pair of doubles in Game 1, being walked to start the inning. A couple of batters later Walker hit a single to right field to advance Daly to third base.
Then, Anderson subbed Mya Dodge for Walker and Danielle Brunstun for Daly. A Jenna Laird groundout to second base allowed Brunstun to score the tying run and Dodge to advance to third base.
Alex Honnold broke the game open at the next at-bat with a two-run home run to right-centerfield to take a 3-1 lead before Julia Crenshaw doubled to left field to bring home Abby Hay and Maddie Gallagher later in the inning to take a 5-1 lead.
"Yeah, I definitely hit that one solid off the bat," Honnold said. "I felt like I hit that one pretty solid and was just hoping it was something that was going to score a runner but it went over so that was even better."
In the inning before, Omaha's Marra Cramer advanced to third base on a fly out by Lynsey Tucker but scored the team's lone run on a throwing error by Missouri right fielder Kayley Lenger, who tried to throw Cramer out as she ran to third base but overthrew the ball in to Mizzou's dugout.
Anderson didn't let the team harp on the mistake for too long. Instead, she encouraged the team to battle until the end like they had all weekend.
"I just told them to fight. Fight as hard as you possibly can," Anderson said. "Grind it out and we're going to win this game right now. ... They believe but sometimes when they hear it from the head coach that you believe in them it elevates their morale a little bit and I had to (also) do that in this last (ninth) inning (of Game 2) here."
Despite the offensive fireworks in the last inning, Missouri thrived all game defensively behind ace pitcher Laurin Krings, who had a no-hitter going through five innings before Omaha centerfielder Marra Cramer doubled to left field to start the sixth inning.
This comes just one day after she threw a combined 163 pitches across 11 innings on Saturday in what Anderson had called the best two-game performance she has seen from anyone.
When Omaha head coach Mike Heard was asked what is part of why his team isn't advancing, he had one name in mind.
"Laurin Krings," Heard said. "She is a hell of a pitcher and there are certain days where a pitcher like that is on and they're tough to beat."
Before being replaced by Taylor Pannell, Krings was credited with 73 pitches in five innings, three strikeouts, three walks and one earned run in Game 1.
However, Krings' day wasn't done. She made the call to start herself in Game 2 despite having thrown 236 pitches in three games in 24 hours.
"Krings came up to me and said, 'I'm getting the ball again, right?' And I'm like, okay, stubborn ox Krings wants the ball so I'm going to give it to her because that's how determined she was to take this," Anderson recalled. "She's like, 'I got more in the tank. Keep me in the circle.'"
She looked just as dominant, if not more, in Game 2 than in Game 1 with a complete game and 15 strikeouts. She also allowed just four hits and a walk.
"I've never witnessed 一 definitely have not coached, but witnessed a more gutsy gritty performance by not only an individual player in Laurin Krings but this team," Anderson said excitedly. "I mean, backs up against the wall losing on Friday and having to win a doubleheader yesterday and today, I'm just so proud of all the work that they put in to get to this point but just the mental toughness to be able to overcome the adversity and just never quit. Never gave in, and for Krings to do what she did in the last two days. It's just extremely impressive 一 and we're hosting supers."
In total, Krings pitched 25 innings with 24 strikeouts and a 0.54 ERA during the regional. She also allowed just 15 hits, five walks, three runs and two errors.
Missouri will host No. 10 Duke in a best-of-3 series next weekend in the Super Regional. A series win would clinch the team's first Women's College World Series berth since 2011.
When asked why it feels good to get this particular group to the Super Regionals, Anderson said the team does it the right way and deserves it.
"They've done everything right," Anderson responded. "But you can have talented teams that hate one another. But when you have a group of young women that do everything right all the time and everything I asked and I don't have to go to practice and I don't have to motivate and I don't have to discipline them and I don't have to have incentives for them to do the right thing. They do it because they want to do it and they want to be successful."
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