Mizzou’s Alex Honnold circles the bases, after her home run gave the Tigers a seventh inning lead in Sunday’s Game 1 against Omaha. (Photo: Terrance Williams)
Paige Dale
Staff Writer
COLUMBIA, MO — Heading into the biggest day of the season and needing to win twice against a team it had just lost to on Friday, the University of Missouri softball team came through in a huge way.
The Tigers pulled off a pair of heart-stopping wins, by scores of 5-1 and 1-0, to defeat Omaha and win the Columbia Regional championship. The victory sends Missouri to the Super Regionals, where the Tigers will host Duke in a best-of-three series this weekend at the Mizzou Softball Stadium.
The winner of the super regional will advance to the Women’s College World Series, which Missouri hasn’t been to since 2013.
“These girls just battled,” Mizzou head coach Larissa Anderson said. “We had a quick talk before the first game today and the girls just said, ‘we’re playing a doubleheader today… and we’re not going to let our season end today.’ And they didn’t.”
The Tigers were facing a very difficult path. After having lost the regional opener on Friday, Missouri had to go through the loser’s bracket and win four straight games to win the regional title.
They got part one done on Saturday, when they knocked off Indiana and Washington to make it to the regional finals. But that meant the Tigers had to beat Omaha twice on Sunday to win the regional and advance further in the NCAA Tournament.
Both games on Sunday were brilliant pitcher’s duels. Game 1 went to the bottom of the sixth before either team could score.
Omaha grabbed a 1-0 lead and put Mizzou within three outs of having its season ended. But the Tigers rallied with five runs for a comeback win that forced a decisive Game 7.
And in that final game, neither team could score through the first 8 2/3 innings, before Missouri put together a rally that was capped with a regional championship clinching base hit by freshman Madison Walker that gave the Tigers a 1-0 win and sent the entire Mizzou Softball Stadium into a frenzy.
“I think I was really good not letting the moment get to me,” Walker said. “I don’t really know what to say. I can’t believe that just happened.”
Game 1 – Missouri 5, Omaha 1
| NCAA Softball | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Missouri (46-16) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 1 |
| Omaha (43-14) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
WP: Taylor Pannell – MIZ (4-1) LP: Kamryn Meyer – OMAHA (27-5)
Pitching aces Kamryn Meyer for Omaha and Laurin Krings for Missouri shined throughout the entire game. Neither senior righthander would allow either opposing offense to get much going.
Through the first six innings, Meyer allowed Mizzou just three hits and didn’t give up any runs. Krings had a no-hitter going through the first five innings.
But she did allow a hit to the first Omaha batter of the sixth inning and that runner came around to score, following a fly ball out and an error by the Tigers.
That gave Omaha a 1-0 lead heading into the final inning, where the Mavericks needed just three outs to win the game and the regional title.
But Mizzou wouldn’t go down without a fight.
Kara Daly led off with a walk, then advanced to third following a pinch hit, base hit by Walker. Jenna Laird drove in Daly with the run that tied the game on a groundball out.
That allowed the Tigers themselves and the fans in the crowd to breathe, as the score was now tied. But then two pitches later, the entire stadium was in a frenzy because Alex Honnold drilled a two-run homer, deep over the right field wall to give Mizzou the lead.
Mizzou added two more runs on a single by Julia Crenshaw that made the score 5-1. Taylor Pannell got the final three outs to give Mizzou the win and force a final game.
Game 2 – Missouri 1, Omaha 0 – 9 innings
| NCAA Softball | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Omaha (43-15) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| Missouri (47-16) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
WP: Laurin Krings – MIZ (16-8) LP: Sydney Nuismer – OMAHA (13-7)
The final game was an even tighter pitcher’s duel. Krings made her fourth straight start and somehow topped her brilliant performance from earlier in the day by pitching one of the best games of her career.
The senior from Loveland, Colo., tossed a nine-inning, complete-game shutout, with just three hits and one walk allowed, and a season-best 15 strikeouts. For the day, Krings (16-8) pitched a total of 16 innings, with no earned runs allowed, and 18 strikeouts. The Omaha batters just couldn’t figure her out.
But the Mizzou batters couldn’t figure out Omaha starter Sydney Nuismer either. She had a shutout, with just three hits allowed going through eight innings.
The bottom of the ninth was the difference in the game though. Once again, it began with a walk for Mizzou.
That walk was to Honnold, who it seemed Nuismer was trying to be very careful with. The next batter struck out, but freshman Abby Hay followed with a single up the middle to move Honnold to second.
Both runners moved up following a ground out by Crenshaw, which set the stage for Walker, who had entered the game just a couple of innings earlier. And on an 0-2 pitch, the freshman from Olathe, Kan., smacked a ground ball up the middle that Omaha shortstop Maggie O’Brien almost got to, but the ball rolled off her glove into center field.
That allowed Honnold to score and Mizzou to win the game.
“These girls just didn’t want today to be their final day together,” Anderson said. “We have a special group. They’re like a family. They love each other and they just didn’t want it to be over.”
And it won’t be.
Mizzou will host the Super Regionals on Friday, Saturday, and if necessary, on Sunday. Game 1 of the series against the Durham Regional champion Duke will be Friday, May 24, at 1 p.m. That game will be televised nationally on ESPN2.
Game 2 will be at noon on Saturday, May 25, with Sunday’s gametime not yet determined.
MISSOURI TIGERS 2024 WOMEN’S SOFTBALL SUPER-REGIONAL SCHEDULE
| Date | Gametime | Event | Opponent | Location | TV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 24, 2024 (Friday) | 1 pm | NCAA Tournament Regionals | vs. #10 Duke | Mizzou Softball Stadium |  |
| May 25, 2024 (Saturday) | 12 pm | NCAA Tournament Regionals | vs. #10 Duke | Mizzou Softball Stadium |  |
| May 26, 2024 (Sunday) | TBA | NCAA Tournament Regionals | vs. #10 Duke | Mizzou Softball Stadium | |