Missouri's season exceeded nearly all outside expectations. Unfortunately for the Tigers, it fell one win short of their dreams. James Madison beat Mizzou 7-2 in the third game of the Super Regional series on Sunday, sending the Dukes to their first ever Women's College World Series and forcing the Tigers to wait till next year.
“Oh it’s tough," head coach Larissa Anderson said. "It’s real tough. It’s tough losing, it’s tough saying goodbye to seniors.
“We just didn’t play perfect today and we needed to play perfect and JMU played amazing.”
The Tigers finish the season with a record of 42-17; it is the most wins in a single season since 2016. James Madison moves on with a record of 39-2. It was another record-breaking crowd at Mizzou Softball Stadium with an attendance of 2,686
Mizzou jumped ahead right off the bat in the 1st inning as leadoff hitter Brooke Wilmes homered into right field.
James Madison would not tie the game until the top of the fourth inning when they scored on a sacrifice fly by Lynsey Meeks. Back-to-back RBI hits by Sara Jubas and Odicci Alexander in the top of the fifth inning gave the Dukes a 3-1 lead.
The one two-punch of Jordan Weber and Laurin Krings had been outstanding for the Tigers throughout the entire NCAA Tournament. Today, though, was not their day as Weber (12-7), Krings and Emma Nichols combined to give up twelve hits.
“Today just caught up to us,” Anderson said, “Jordan threw unbelievable and you know Krings came in and we made some mistakes behind our pitchers today and we can’t do that. We can’t do that at this level.”
Mizzou responded with a Jenna Laird home run in the bottom of the fifth making it a one run game. This lasted until the seventh inning where James Madison piled on four more runs putting the game out of reach.
James Madison’s Odicci Alexander (15-1) made her third straight start against Mizzou. She avenged her bad start yesterday by pitching a complete seven innings, while also going 2-4 with an RBI.
Missouri’s season comes to an end, but Anderson is proud of what her team has accomplished and looks forward to what’s to come.
“I’m just so proud of where this program is and what we’ve done over the last few years and the legacy that our seniors left,” she said. “The thing is that they put two championship banners up on the outfield wall. They got this program back to hosting a Super Regional and those are the memories, I mean that’s the legacy that’s gonna live on for years and years. That they set a different standard that the younger players are gonna experience.”
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