Softball rolls over SLU
A midweek in-state matchup for the Missouri Tigers softball team brought the Saint Louis Billikens to Mizzou Softball Stadium. It took a few innings for the offenses to fire themselves up, but eventually, the two combined for 12 runs in a game with plenty of fireworks. Saint Louis pushed Tiger pitching at times, but Megan Schumacher and the Tigers came away with a 9-3 win.
The first five half-innings were uneventful, as the two teams combined for just three baserunners and weren’t able to send any of them around. The top of the third inning began with a line drive that Schumacher took directly off of the side. Jocelyn Abbott would advance all the way to third, but was stranded there.
In the bottom of the third, Emma Raabe led off the inning with a moonshot over the left-field wall for the game's first run. Just three batters later, Brooke Wilmes followed suit with a home run to right center, bringing Jenna Laird home in front of her.
The home run for Wilmes would break a Missouri record for most extra-base hits in Tiger history. Wilmes moved past Mary Babb, a 1997 graduate that helped lead the Tigers to the Women’s College World Series in 1994.
“To be honest, I had no idea that that was even close to that,” Wilmes said. “So when that came out, I just like it was such a great feeling because I know that that record and that award wouldn't be where it is today without the help of my coaches, my teammates. It's not just me who gets that award.”
In the Billikens' fourth, back-to-back singles set up an RBI ground-rule double from Cami Newbanks to cut the SLU deficit to 3-1. Third baseman Kara Daly followed this ground-rule double with a heads-up play to cut down a runner at home on a fielder's choice for the second out of the inning. That allowed Mizzou to keep the lead at two.
The bottom of the fourth was another eventful one for Mizzou. Casidy Chaumont led off the inning with a single, and after a groundout, Daly would send a single into right field, advancing Chaumont to third base. A wild throw from SLU catcher Newbanks allowed Chaumont to score from third base, making it 4-1. On the very next pitch, Hatti Moore tripled in Kara Daly, making it 5-1, Tigers. The next pitch also brought in a run as Laird was able to beat out the throw on a bunt single, scoring Moore from third.
SLU added a couple in the top of the fifth to close to 6-3, but Kendyll Bailey led off the bottom of the fifth with a double into the gap. It wouldn’t take any time to capitalize as Kimberly Wert blasted a 0-1 pitch to deep left-centerfield for a home run – her fifth in five days, continuing her hot streak from the Kentucky sweep in Lexington. Her offense has propelled the entire Tiger lineup to new offensive heights.
“We're having better at-bats. Yeah, we're gonna get out. That's a given, it’s part of the game,” said Wert. “But we're getting louder outs, like, we're hitting balls harder. We're making the defense make the plays. I think that's the big difference.”
Wilmes continued her day and extended her new school record with a double that scored Laird in the sixth to make it 9-3. That was plenty of cushion for Lauren Krings to finish up the last couple of frames in relief of Schumacher. It was the Tigers' fourth straight win.
Missouri softball’s next action comes on April 29 as the Tigers play host to Texas A&M in an SEC series opener. The game is slated for a Friday night, 6:30 p.m. first pitch as Mizzou looks to at least take a series win against an Aggie team that stands at 5-13 in conference play.
“Offensively, we have to attack their pitching staff. They do have a deep bullpen. They're gonna make a lot of changes throughout their bullpen to keep us off-balance,” head coach Larissa Anderson said.. “So, we have to be able to continue to control that strike zone. I mean, that's really the name of the game from here on out. Control what pitches we’re swinging at, what pitches we’re taking, and not trying to do too much.”
The Aggies also feature the renowned Haley Lee, a catcher that holds a batting average of .463, which is second in the nation among Power-5 schools. The catcher was a focal point of Anderson’s series preview, specifically on how the defense planned to take her out of the game.
“We need to focus on keeping Lee off base. That's going to be the biggest thing. She's one of the best hitters in the country,” Anderson said. “We have to be very, very strategic in how we're pitching to her, and if it's walking her intentionally, then that's what we're going to have to do because we don't want her to beat us.”
With major postseason implications riding on the upcoming series against Texas A&M, the Tigers know the importance of the weekend, but are trying not to get ahead of themselves.
“Anything can happen. I just need to focus on Friday right now and control what we can control. Once we win on Friday, we move on to Saturday, so on and so forth,” Anderson said. “We just want to put our team in the best possible situation to get the best seeding possible and have the best chance in regionals to have the best bid. That's really all we can control. We can't look at anything else.”
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