Mizzou softball is three days away from beginning its 2024 campaign in Clearwater, Florida where the Tigers will take on No. 13 Utah. Last season the Tigers finished with a record of 35-26 overall and 7-17 in conference play.
Entering the new season expectations are high for Mizzou. Head coach Larrisa Anderson says the Tigers under achieved last year, falling in the NCAA regional round. The Tigers will look to lean on seniors Alex Honnold and Jenna Laird to guide them.
“We didn't reach our goals. So it's having that little chip on your shoulder and that determination that goes through our entire team on what we want to achieve and relying on Alex and Jenna to be able to take us there,” Anderson said. “They know what it takes to play at the highest level. They know what you need to do as a team to be in the regionals and super regionals. So then it's guiding the younger players to get that understanding the same level of expectations”.
Honnold and Laird were among three Tigers named to D1Softball’s Preseason top-100 players, coming in at No.47 and No.61, respectively. Junior right fielder Mya Dodge came in at No.83 after transferring to Mizzou from Northern Iowa this offseason.
Dodge comes to Mizzou after being named the 2023 Missouri Valley Player of the Year. She had the third third-most RBIs in the country with 68. Dodge had an average of .388 with 17 home runs and five triples in 2023.
Anderson says with the return of Honnold and Laird makes her job easier for assisting the Tigers production.
“You can have the entire same team and the culture is not always going to be the same," Anderson said. "But it is great to have your highest offensive producers to be able to return because then you're not trying to rebuild the lineup. We have the core of our lineup returning and now it's just fitting the other pieces into play. The consistency is the culture piece, that leadership piece and Alex and Jenna really lead the entire team. They lead by example. They've been four year starters, they've been very consistent with performance”
Honnold led Mizzou in in on-base percentage (.539), slugging percentage (.779), runs (52), batting average (.396) and triples (three) in 2023. She was also named SEC all-first team and was a top-25 finalist for USA player of the year.
Mizzou will look to grow defensively this season and will rely on Laird to do so. Last season Laird was named SEC all-second team had a fielding percentage of .978 with 76 putouts, 104 assists and 11 double plays. In 2022 Laird was awarded a Rawlings Gold Glove at shortstop.
“We’re stronger than we've ever been. We're quicker than we've ever been. We've had a kind of revamp within our strength and conditioning and trying to build on where our bodies were in the past, to be more explosive. I've seen that translate into our offense, into our defense and being able to move quicker to be more explosive and in our movements,” Anderson said. “We're always going to be a very strong defensive team. But now it's taking from making routine plays to now let's make great plays and take more risks and lay out for more balls. We might not be successful, but maybe we will be. If we take those risks and we start laying out for balls and challenging our opponents, then we're going to be pushing ourselves outside of our own comfort zone and that's where we're going to really start to see true success.”
Mizzou signed seven incoming freshmen for 2024, the No.14 recruiting class according to Extra Inning Softball. Right handed pitcher Marissa McCann has impressed her teammates and coaches this offseason.
“She has so many tools and it's really exciting," Anderson said. "She's got great movement, unbelievable swing and miss movement. She can throw the ball off, she can throw it in, she's got a screw ball that I haven't seen for quite a while, in that level and she's got a curveball, that's a different velocity. So every pitch she throws is a different speed, so it's extremely hard to get on time with her.
"She's a freshman. So she has not played this level of competition. So it's going to be pretty similar to what I did with Cierra [Harrison], protecting her a little bit but putting her in situations."
Mizzou was picked to finish 11th in preseason SEC polls, Anderson says this is not something that phases her at all.
“It's like Eli Drinkwitz says, something to prove," Anderson said. "That's kind of the same mentality and it's just about us and we have to take care of our locker room. We understand polls are political, polls aren't really a true representation of the body of work. I'd rather be at the bottom and prove everyone wrong than be at the top and have a bull's eye on the back. We're gonna go out and we're going to compete the same way regardless of where those polls are picking us. Our number one goal is to play regionals back in our stadium. That's what we're going to work toward and that's what we're striving to begin we have scheduled to be able to do so.”
Mizzou will face eleven opponents that are ranked in the preseason top-25, including two of which whom the Tigers will play in Clearwater this week.
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