Mizzou softball to host NCAA Tournament Regional

Missouri is headed back to the NCAA Tournament for the 17th consecutive season. The Tigers received the No. 7 national seed when the field was unveiled Sunday night. They will open play on Friday against Omaha. Indiana and Washington are the other two teams in the regional.

"I'm more nervous for the selection show than any game I ever coach," Mizzou head coach Larissa Anderson said. "I knew that our resume, we had the body of work to host. I didn't know if it was going to be a top eight seed because I don't know what they're thinking at the time. But doing the run that we went on in the SEC tournament, to me it kind of solidified a top eight seed."

The Tigers and Mavericks open regional play at 4:30 Friday on ESPN+. The winner will face the winner of Washington and Indiana. The regional is a double elimination.

Should Mizzou advance out of the regional, it will host the Super Regional round in Columbia next weekend. If seeds hold, ACC regular season and tournament champion Duke will be Mizzou's opponent.

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But the Tigers have plenty of work to do before worrying about the Super Regionals.

Missouri enters the NCAA Tournament 43-15 on the season. The Tigers finished 13-11 in Southeastern Conference play and advanced to the conference tournament championship game last weekend where they lost to Florida, 6-1.

Omaha finished the season 41-13, including 14-4 in Summit League play. The Mavericks were seeded second in the conference tournament, but beat No. 1 seed South Dakota State twice on Saturday to earn the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Omaha went 5-4 against power conference teams with a three-game sweep of Purdue and wins over Nebraska and Arizona State. They lost two to Arkansas, their only SEC opponent this season. Former Tiger Emma Raabe is one of the Mavericks' assistant coaches.

"Everybody who's in this tournament, they're winners," Anderson said. "They know how to win and that's why they're there. And then the mid-majors, and we experienced that when we played James Madison, they know how to outwork the system. They have that chip on their shoulder to be able to prove to everybody so no one's gonna come into our stadium be intimidated.

Indiana comes into the tournament at 40-18 with a 12-11 record in Big Ten play. The Hoosiers were seeded 8th in the conference tournament, but beat No. 1 seed Northwestern and No. 4 Nebraska last week.

Washington enters the weekend at 30-13 overall, 13-10 in PAC-12 play, but losers of their last four games.

The tournament bid is Missouri's 17th straight, including all six seasons under Anderson. There was no NCAA Tournament in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Missouri hosted regionals in 2021 and 2022 under Anderson. The Tigers won the regional in 2021 before losing to James Madison in Super Regionals. In 2022, Mizzou lost to Arizona in the Regional round. Mizzou has advanced to the Women's College World Series seven times, but has not made it since 2011.

"I'm ready to go," presumed game one starter Laurin Krings said. "We can play tomorrow. I'm like, let's go, let's get it done."

Should seeds hold, Mizzou would host No. 10 national seed Duke next weekend in the Super Regionals.The Blue Devils won the ACC regular season and tournament.

PowerMizzou.com will have complete coverage of the Columbia Regional next weekend.