Mizzou carries perfect 5-0 start to Tracy Beard College Classic
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Mizzou Softball's opening weekend ended with the Tigers posting two wins over No. 5/7 Clemson and No. 13/16 Utah and winning the NFCA Division I Leadoff Classic Championship. Larissa Anderson's crew has a perfect 5-0 record heading into this weekend's Tracy Beard College Classic where Mizzou will play Texas A&M-Commerce and two games against both South Dakota State and North Texas.
After starting the season unranked, the Tigers have earned a spot in four different top 25 college softball polls:
- D1 Softball: No. 11
- Softball America: No. 13
- USA Today/NFCA Coaches: No. 14
- ESPN/USA Softball: No. 15
Anderson said last week her team felt it had something to prove after believing they underperformed last season. Mizzou's performance at the NFCA Division I Leadoff Classic proved to themselves how successful they can be this season.
"We know what we're capable of doing, and we know how good we can be. To be able to take all of the preparation over the last five or six months and being able to have the results that you did, just shows that it all pays off, and that's really been the message from the very beginning is really trust the process," Anderson said at Tuesday's press conference. "Trust the process in the preparation, trust your coaches in what they're trying to tell you, stay disciplined to that task and the results are going to be there. When you see the results and have those experiences, then you just prove it even more that your hard work does pay off."
You can watch the full press conference with Mizzou softball coach Larissa Anderson in the video player below.
Unlike last weekend when the Tigers faced two ranked opponents and three teams with 4-1 records, none of this weekend's opponents are among the top 25 teams in the nation. Texas A&M-Commerce currently has a 4-2 record, South Dakota State is off to a 3-2 start to the season and North Texas is sitting at 2-2 after its first four games of its 2024 campaign. Anderson emphasized her team is not taking any of those teams lightly as they prepare to travel south to Denton, Texas.
"What I say all the time is the game doesn't care, game does not care who we're playing. It doesn't care if they're ranked, the game doesn't know," Anderson said. "We just control what we can control, and that's what we focus on. We're going to focus on playing high intensity, making those adjustments, competing every single pitch and not throwing away at-bats."
Mizzou Softball's first of five games at the Tracy Beard College Classic is scheduled to begin on Feb. 16 at 11 a.m. against Texas A&M-Commerce. The Tigers will play doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday before wrapping up that trip on Sunday in their second game against North Texas.
