Missouri continued a recent winning streak and dominance over an in-state foe on Wednesday. The Tigers cruised past the Kansas City Roos 5-1 at Mizzou Softball Stadium. Beginning the game for the Tigers was Laurin Krings, who would go on to earn her 12th win of the year.
Missouri got started early, as Jenna Laird led off with a bunt single. Two bloop singles later, Alex Honnold knocked her in to make it 1-0. Mizzou added to the lead when Casidy Chaumont hit a home run to deep centerfield to make it 3-0 in the bottom of the third.
Laurin Krings was perfect for the first three innings, striking out six. The trend would end in the fourth inning when Kansas City scored on a double, a groundout and an infield single and cut the lead to just two.
In the top of the sixth, coach Larissa Anderson decided that it was time to send in her junior reliever Megan Schumacher to close the game out. Krings finished her outing with nine strikeouts in five innings.
The decision would quickly see success, as Schumacher took the Roos down in order in the sixth inning. Three groundouts for the Roos gave Missouri one more opportunity to generate some offense in the bottom of the sixth, where Chaumont would lead the Tigers off with a double for her second extra-base hit of the game.
Chaumont was then waved home after a single from Kelsee Mortimer. With two outs, Laird hit a single of her own to send pinch runner Kendal Cook around from second to score and make the score 5-1 heading into the top of the seventh.
Schumacher began the seventh inning by allowing back-to-back singles, and coach Anderson elected to call on junior Emma Nichols with runners on first and second and zero outs.
“It’s all the way around. We have three aspects of our game: Pitching, defense, and hitting,” Anderson said. “You have to do two out of the three to have a shot to win.”
Though it was a sluggish day for the offense in terms of sending runners home, the defense had played a stout game. Anderson ensured that one last aspect of her game – pitching – finished the job for the Tigers.
The first batter that Nichols faced grounded into a double play, dampening the threat and shifting the momentum instantaneously. The next batter would line the ball within reaching distance of Kara Daly, ending the game for a 5-1 Tiger victory.
Chaumont’s two extra-base hits on the day added yet another feather to her hat, having just come back from an injury suffered in the Mizzou Classic a few weeks prior. Even while still wearing a harness around her arm, the push through her injury was something that was highly appreciated by Chaumont's coach.
“For her to continue to have that success really gives so much belief to the team on what you can overcome,” said Anderson. “The adversity she faces as an athlete and what she’s still able to do just shows everybody, the whole way through, that it doesn’t matter what you’re going through. Play as hard as you possibly can every day."
Missouri’s win was its fourth straight and improved its record to 23-13. Kansas City dropped to 8-23 following the loss, and the all-time series record is now 53-1 in favor of Mizzou, with the sole loss coming in 1997.
The Tigers are next in action against Mississippi State from Friday to Sunday in a three-game series in Starkville, Miss. Missouri enters the series 3-5 in SEC play as it looks to climb out of an early hole. The Bulldogs currently have a record of 24-13, having lost against Southern Mississippi on Wednesday night by a score of 3-0.
“They are a very potent offense. They’re very strong. They have a lot of depth and a lot of power. We’ll have to be careful,” Anderson said of Mississippi State. “That means that they’re never out of a ballgame, so we have to be really strategic and have a game plan going in about how we’re going to attack their offense.”
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