A cloudy Friday afternoon gave heed to one of the most power-packed Missouri softball games in recent memory. After losing a heartbreaker to #13 Georgia the night prior, the team came prepared for a battle. The Tigers came away with a 6-2 victory over the Bulldogs, with all eight runs between the teams coming off of seven home runs.
This home run derby of a game centered around Jordan Weber, who earned the start at pitcher for the Tigers. In the first and second innings, Weber allowed solo home runs to give Georgia a 1-0 and 2-1 lead, respectively. From this point forward, though, she locked in and shut Georgia down. Weber allowed just three hits and two runs to a team that averaged over seven runs per game entering the series.
“We've been scouting a lot. That just makes us like us feel better because we've been putting in the work,” Weber said. “[We’re] making sure we're doing what we need to do before games.”
Bulldog third baseman Sara Mosley hit a solo home run to left field off of Weber to open the game for the Bulldogs. Georgia scored its fifth run of the series with two outs, just as all four had come on Thursday night. After Thursday’s contest, head coach Larissa Anderson made two-out situations a point of emphasis.
“It doesn't matter if it's a leadoff batter, or if it's the seventh thing with two outs,” said Anderson, “We have to have the same concentration the whole way through.”
The lead was short-lived for Georgia as Jenna Laird led the Tigers off with a home run to left-centerfield to tie the game at 1-1. The solo shot marked the first time that Missouri hadn't trailed in the series.
In the top of the second, Georgia was able to strike quick as centerfielder Jayda Kearney lifted a solo home run to deep right field, making it 2-1 Bulldogs. From that point, Georgia sent two more balls to the warning track in the inning, putting a load of pressure on Weber.
Once again, Missouri took little time to knot the game. Kendyll Bailey led off the bottom of the second with a home run to make it 2-2. Emma Raabe notched a two-out double but was unable to score as Gabi Deters popped out to the catcher immediately after.
It wouldn’t be until the bottom of the fifth that the next run came across. It was a big one, however, as Laird hit her second solo home run to take a 3-2 home run. She was immediately followed by Brooke Wilmes, who clobbered an 0-1 pitch to deep right field to make it 4-2 on the back-to-back shots.
“I knew that they were going to be throwing me outside so I just kept going with it,” said Laird after her two-home-run game. “I knew that if I was swinging hard enough, it would be put in play.”
In the bottom of the sixth, the first two batters went down in order as Kim Wert struck out and Bailey flew out to centerfield. After that, though, it was all Mizzou. Alex Honnold managed to sneak one between the infielders into right field, and Megan Moll stepped in to pinch hit for Kara Daly. The gamble paid off for Anderson, as Moll crushed a two-run bomb to left field to make it a four-run game and cut the tension for the Tigers.
“That's Megan Moll in a nutshell,” Anderson said. “She really capitalized on a pitch that was right in her wheelhouse.”
With a 6-2 cushion, Anderson sent Weber out to finish the job, which she did by working around a double and a walk. The win improved Missouri's softball’s record to 25-16 on the season, and bettered the conference record to 5-8. Weber’s win moved her season record to 8-4 in a big way.
“[Coach Anderson] walked in, and she said: ‘Winning is fun.’ She keeps reiterating stay disciplined, stay focused, don't get too ahead of yourself,” Laird said. “Just know that we have to keep fighting to win this series and win every game coming up.”
The Tigers and Bulldogs will match up for a winner-take-all game three on Saturday at 5 p.m. at Mizzou Softball Stadium.
“Today doesn't carry over to tomorrow. We haven’t accomplished anything. If we're still talking talking about today [after] tomorrow, we didn't accomplish anything tomorrow,” Anderson said. “So it's being able to immediately flush that result. Learn from it and build upon it so we can get better tomorrow.”
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