The Missouri Tigers leave the field following Sunday’s super regional loss to Duke. (Photo: Terrance Williams)

NCAA Softball	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Duke (52-7)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	4	7	0
Missouri (48-18)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	3	7	0

WP: Cassidy Curd -WP (13-3) LP: Laurin Krings – MIZ (17-10)

Cedric Williams
Senior Editor

COLUMBIA, MO — When the final pitch of Sunday’s heart-stopping Columbia Super Regional championship game left the bat of Missouri designated hitter Madison Walker’s bat, many among the record crowd of over 4,000 in attendance thought it might land somewhere where it might give the Tigers a chance to tie the game.

The ball was hit hard, just like her game-winning hit a week earlier against Omaha that sent Missouri to the super regionals in the first place. Walker’s smash sailed deep into the outfield.

Unfortunately though, Duke centerfielder D’Auna Jennings was there to catch it and make it the final out in a thrilling, but in the end disappointing, 4-3 Mizzou loss that ended the Tigers’ season and sent the Blue Devils to the Women’s College World Series.

“I’ll give credit to Duke; they’re an unbelievable team,” Missouri head coach Larissa Anderson said. “It was an unbelievable game, (a) pitchers’ duel. I’m just so proud of our team and battling.”

Jennings was the player who made the first dramatic play of that deciding ninth inning and the final play. She hit a home run — just her second of the season — to give Duke a 1-0 lead in what had been a tense pitcher’s duel all day.

“I don’t even know what to say, I’m not a home run hitter,” Jennings said. “I just wanted to make a play for my team. We needed somebody to do something. I was just trying to get on base and try to help us to score.”

The Blue Devils went on the score three more runs to go ahead 4-0. And it turned out they would need every one of those runs, as Mizzou seniors Jenna Laird and Alex Honnold, who knew they were playing their last game for the Tigers if they didn’t win, both smashed singles to get on base to start the bottom of the ninth.

Then Mizzou freshman Abby Hay came up and blasted a three-run homer to pull Missouri within 4-3. And suddenly, the deflated Mizzou crowd was back on its feet again, thinking it might have a chance to pull off a miracle comeback. They really only needed a couple more hits.

“That just shows you the fight and grit of these young women,” Anderson said. “That’s what they take from this. … Athletics is a game, but it’s the lifetime lessons that you learn from facing adversity with your back’s against the wall.”

With two outs, junior Kara Daly delivered a line-shot single up the middle, which put the tying run on and brought the potential winning run to the plate.

That was Walker, who took the first pitch for a ball, then fouled off pitch No. 2. The third pitch was right where the freshman liked it and she hit it hard. But Jennings caught it to send the Blue Devils into jubilation and the Tigers into tears and heartache.

“Wow. Just a dogfight,” Duke head coach Marissa Young said. “Kudos to Mizzou. So much fight all weekend and a great competitor. Super proud of our girls for continuing to fight with their backs against the wall.”

Duke is now 52-7 and will play No. 2 national seed and three-time defending national champion Oklahoma in the first game of the WCWS, which will begin on Thursday in Oklahoma City.

Missouri finished its season with a 48-18 record — the program’s best record since it went 53-10 in 2011, which is also the last time the Tigers made it to the WCWS.

SCORING SUMMARY

Logo	Team	Inning	Play Description	DUKE	MIZZOU
	DUKE	9th	D. Jennings homered to right field, RBI (1-2 KFBF).	1	0
	DUKE	9th	A. Burgess tripled down the rf line, RBI (0-1 K); F. Frelick scored.	2	0
	DUKE	9th	A. Gold doubled to right field, RBI (2-2 BFFB); A. Burgess scored.	3	0
	DUKE	9th	K. Torres doubled to right field, RBI (1-1 KB); A. Gold scored.	4	0
	MIZZOU	9th	Abby Hay (4) homered to right center, 3 RBI (3-1 BBKB); Honnold scored; Laird scored.	4	3