A wacky senior day at Mizzou Softball Stadium saw the Missouri Tigers come away with an 11-6 victory over the Texas A&M Aggies thanks to an eight-run third inning and great relief pitching to close out a wild game.
“A win on senior day means a little more, and having that last win on our field means a lot to us,” Kendyll Bailey said. “I think everybody can say the same thing."
The program honored eight seniors as Mizzou softball said farewell to a talented class that set numerous records while wearing a Tiger uniform. Kendyll Bailey, Alexis Burks, Casidy Chaumont, Abby George, Hatti Moore, Emma Raabe, Kimberly Wert and Brooke Wilmes were all honored after the game as they move forward from Tiger softball.
“You know, they've been amazing representatives of this program. They've obviously had the accolades and have contributed a great deal,” coach Larissa Anderson said. “But more than that, they're just such great people and I've been really honored to be able to coach them.”
Jordan Weber earned the start for the Tigers while looking to build off of her successful eight-inning complete game on Friday. The day would not go as smoothly for Weber, as she gave up six earned runs in 3 2/3 innings. Her relievers, Megan Schumacher and Laurin Krings, would come through in a big way though. The run support was more than enough to power the pitching staff to a win, with Schumacher earning the victory officially.
Texas A&M struck early and in a big way. The Aggies put their first three batters on. Weber mishandled a ground ball that came to her, allowing a run to score. Aggie starting pitcher Makinzy Herzog then sent a single through the middle infield gap, scoring a second run. Casidy Chaumont limited the damage, making a highlight reel catch in left field and then throwing out the runner at home for an inning-ending double play.
“Jordan, I thought, looked phenomenal in the bullpen," Anderson said. "So, I'll have to talk to her a little bit on what she felt out there and I thought A&M made great adjustments. I thought they had a great game plan going in. So, I'll give them a lot of credit. I just thought our legs looked a little sluggish and weren't as sharp.”
A walk, a single and a wild pitch allowed Mizzou to cut the lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the second. The Aggies got the run back and carried a 3-1 lead into the home half of the third. Then Missouri exploded.
Laird doubled and Wilmes walked with one out to bring up Bailey. Bailey reached on a bunt single that scored Laird. With the bases loaded, Honnold drew her second walk of the day to score Wilmes from third and tie the game at three. The next batter, Chaumont, struck the big blow with a two-run double to center field.
A string of Aggie mistakes gave Mizzou a big lead. A wild pitch, an error, a passed ball and a walk led to four more Mizzou runs and the Tigers were up 9-3 after three innings.
“I think the biggest thing is we continue to pass the bat and continue to keep having good at-bats,” Wert said. “Because sometimes we don't have the best at-bats, but today we made sure that we can pass some at-bats.”
A&M wouldn’t go down without a fight, though. A few hits off of Weber would add up to trouble when Koko Wooley slapped a two-run triple into right-center field to cut the lead to 9-5. The hit prompted Anderson to replace Weber with Schumacher after a six-hit performance by the Aggies in Weber’s 3 2/3 innings.
Schumacher kept the lead at 9-6 and the offense got it right back in the bottom of the fourth. Raabe hit a two-run double to extend the Tiger lead to 11-6. Despite once again loading the bases, the Tigers didn’t extend their lead any further.
"Hitters want to hit," Anderson said. "Some of those at-bats were such quality at-bats in being very selective with the pitching, understanding what's happening on the mound, realizing that they're waiting for their pitch, that they don't have to hit to score a run...That takes a lot of disciple.”
With two on and one out in the seventh, Krings stepped in for Schumacher to close it out. Krings struck out both batters she faced to put the cap on a sweep of the Aggies in the last home series of the season.
The 11-6 win was the seventh straight win for Missouri, six of those in SEC play. The Tiger offense provided just enough run support for Weber, Schumacher, and Krings to finish off the series with a win despite a rocky day of pitching.
“We haven't changed much. We've known the whole season who we are and who we can be,” Bailey said. “We kind of stuck to our game plan. The whole season, we haven't changed really anything.”
Improving to 32-17 for the season and 11-9 in the SEC, the Tigers continue to crawl up the conference standings. They’ll conclude their season on the road against the Alabama Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa. With the Tide stumbling over the past few weeks, the Tigers look to keep rolling heading into SEC play.
“We have an off day and then we have practice and then we're heading straight to Alabama. After the trip to Alabama, we go to Florida. So, I mean, it'll be it'll be a long two weeks,” Moore said. “From here, we’re just focusing on what we focus on. Keeping our mind on track and not losing focus for what our main purpose is. This part of the season always goes by really quick.”
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