4/25/2023 other sports Edit

Softball needs late season push to continue NCAA streak

Caleb Logue

Staff Writer

Missouri softball head coach Larissa Anderson started off this season with the understanding that the pitching staff needed to be the anchor for this team. After losing much of their offensive firepower and experience in the offseason, the remaining veterans remained in the circle with Jordan Weber and Laurin Krings. Powered by the two veteran arms in the rotation, Anderson expected that this team could compete to host a regional and could even aim to host a super regional.

Now, with just a few crucial weeks remaining in the 2023 season, the Tigers are in danger of missing out on the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2006. In order to keep their hopes alive, the Tigers will have to rely on the performance of Weber and Krings to clean up their game and be the anchors that Anderson expected they would be.

“Right now we're going at it that every single game could be our last game,” Anderson said. “We're just gonna fight. We're gonna fight as hard as we possibly can and whatever happens, happens.”

Up until the past series against North Texas, the Tigers have been one of the worst in close games. Entering the series opener on Friday, Missouri held a 3-8 record in one run games, but managed to turn things around over the weekend against the Mean Green.

“That's kind of how our season's been,” Anderson said. “We just haven't had the ball fall our way. They know they're giving it everything they have and that's all they can do. And you know, sometimes you have to look beyond the field and what they're learning their lifetime lessons from these moments and it's gonna prepare them for the rest of their life going through adversity like this.”

On Friday evening, it took a no-hitter from Krings to preserve 1-0 victory against North Texas. The Tigers got another stellar performance by the combination of Weber and Cierra Harrison on Saturday to cement a 2-1 victory.

Krings put the finishing touches on the series sweep with her second complete game shutout, striking out nine en route to her 11th victory of the season.

The normally unfortunate results of close games has been part of the reason their tournament hopes are so sour at this point in the season, but the momentum of their first four-game winning streak in two months could turn things around in the home stretch of the season.

“We have to win every single game,” Anderson explained. “It's coming down the stretch. I do believe that this win puts us in a good situation to stay above .500. Whatever happens on Selection Sunday, we have no control over that. All we can do is control what we do on the field and how competitive we are.”

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Jordan Weber and the Tiger pitching staff will need to lead the way to the postseason (Megan Fox)

Thus far, the Missouri pitching staff besides Krings hasn’t been as reliable as Anderson hoped, especially in conference play, due both to the inconsistency of Weber as well as the lack of shut-down bullpen arms outside of Harrison.

Krings has been the clear ace of the squad, as she holds the team high in total innings pitched, strikeouts, shutouts and complete games.

“Having Krings go the distance to games is huge,” Anderson said regarding the North Texas series. “We need her to be able to maintain that conditioning level and her endurance throughout the course of the game, and that's really important because then it saves our bullpen.”

Though Harrison’s emergence as a reliable starter is encouraging, her statistics are also boosted by a slew of non-conference appearances and she isn’t as tested by the SEC schedule as Krings’ or Weber’s statistics are. For now, she’s thriving as the first arm out of the bullpen.

Weber has been off her game for most of the season, though Anderson has faith in her ability to pitch. She’s seen a sharp rise in WHIP and has struggled once runners get on base to get out of innings without allowing them to score. She strands the fewest runners out the Tigers’ rotation by far — roughly 45% of her baserunners end up scoring.

On the flipside, Krings is the most effective starter at stranding baserunners, allowing just 27.5% of batters who reach base to score.

Missouri Pitching in 2023

	Innings	ERA	WHIP	K/7 IP	BB/7 IP
Jordan Weber	83	4.22	1.31	4.13	2.36
Cierra Harrison	54.1	2.45	0.94	8.15	1.81
Lauren Krings	119	2.53	1.27	6.71	1.47

Most crucially, Weber has only pitched into the sixth inning in nine of her 20 starts, a milestone that Anderson said would be crucial to keeping the Tigers’ bullpen fresh and saving pitchers for other games. Krings has pitched into the sixth 14 times in 17 starts, and has made 10 appearances in relief to help finish games started by Weber.

It’s clear that the Tigers have some ability to keep competitive in the SEC, but Anderson is still looking for ways for her squad to turn the corner and end up in the winner’s circle. If she doesn’t find a way, Missouri will likely be on the outside looking in come the postseason.