The Missouri Tigers will open their NCAA Tournament play with a matchup against Omaha, Friday at the Mizzou Softball Stadium. (Photo: Thomas Grove)

Paige Dale
Staff Writer

COLUMBIA, MO — After being named the No. 7 national seed for the NCAA Tournament, the University of Missouri softball team will host the 2024 NCAA Columbia Regional this weekend at the Mizzou Softball Stadium.

Missouri (43-15) will begin its play with an opening round game against Summit League champion, Omaha (41-13), Friday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. That matchup will be the second game of the day. The first game will be Washington (31-13) versus Indiana (40-18), which will begin at 2 p.m.

The winners of those two games will advance to a winner’s bracket game on Saturday, with the winner of that contest advancing to the championship round on Sunday and only needing one more win to claim the Columbia Regional title and advance to the NCAA Super Regionals next weekend.

The losers of Friday’s two games will meet in an elimination game on Saturday. The loser of that contest would be done for the season, while the winner would meet the loser of the winner’s bracket game for the right to also advance to the championship round.

Since the tournament is a double-elimination event, the loser’s bracket team would need to win twice on Sunday to advance to the Super Regionals.

COLUMBIA REGIONAL SCHEDULE

  • Friday, May 17 – Game 1: #3 Indiana (40-18) vs. #2 Washington (31-15) — 2 pm
  • Friday, May 17 – Game 2: #4 Omaha (41-13) at #1 Missouri (43-15) — 4:30 pm
  • Saturday, May 18 – Game 3: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 — 2 pm
  • Saturday, May 18 – Game 4: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 — 4:30 pm
  • Saturday, May 18 – Game 5: Winner Game 4 vs. Loser Game 3 — 7 pm
  • Sunday, May 19 – Game 6: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5 — TBA
  • Sunday, May 19 – Game 7: Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6 — TBA (if necessary)

All-time, Mizzou is 2-0 against Omaha. Washington leads the all-time series against Mizzou, 8-6. And the Tigers are 10-5 all-time against Indiana.

Missouri is hosting an NCAA Regional for the third time in four seasons. The Tigers last hosted the Regionals in 2022, when it lost the regional final to Arizona.

Players to Watch: Missouri features one of the top pitching staffs in the country. The one-two punch of senior Laurin Krings and sophomore Cierra Harrison have combined for 27 wins in the circle with 13-8 and 14-3 records, respectively.

Harrison and Krings rank 11th and 14th, respectively in the SEC for wins. The duo has also gone the distance in the circle 12 times (eight and four complete games, respectively).

The Tigers also feature relievers Marissa McCann (8-3, 1.84 ERA), Lilly whitten (5-0, 1.18 ERA), and Taylor Pannell (0.72 ERA, NCAA-leading 14 saves).

Mizzou’s top hitters are senior shortstop Jenna Laird (.350 batting average, 28 RBIs), senior center fielder Alex Honnold (.348 BA, 5 HRs, 35 RBIs), junior second baseman Maddie Gallagher (.301 BA, 3 HRs, 36 RBIs), and freshman first baseman Abby Hay (.310 BA, 3 HRs, 15 RBIs).

Omaha’s top pitcher is grad student Kamryn Meyer, who has a 25-4 record, a 1.51 ERA, and 18 complete games this season.

The Mavericks’ top hitters are Maggie O’Brien (.376 BA, 2 HR, 22 RBIs), Lynsey Tucker (.353 BA, 5 HRs, 33 RBIs), Sydney Ross (.333 BA, 2 HRs, 35 RBIs), and Sydney Thomason (.277 BA, 7 HRs, 29 RBIs).

MISSOURI TIGERS 2024 WOMEN’S SOFTBALL SCHEDULE

DateGametimeEventOpponentLocationTV
May 17, 2024 (Friday)4:30 pmNCAA Tournament Regionalsvs. #4 OmahaMizzou Softball Stadium


May 18, 2024 (Saturday)TBANCAA Tournament RegionalsTBAMizzou Softball Stadium



May 19, 2024 (Sunday)TBANCAA Tournament RegionalsTBAMizzou Softball Stadium