Mizzou softball puts emphasis on offense in home stretch of regular season
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The No. 10 Mizzou softball team is 33-11 headed into the home stretch of the 2024 regular season. Much of that success is thanks to a healthy pitching staff, as well as a defense that's proven itself through the season. So, it begs the question of what's left for head coach Larissa Anderson to worry about as postseason play approaches?
On Tuesday, Anderson said her main focus is going to be simple: the offense. She still does not think that her team is hitting the ball as good as it can be, up and down the lineup.
"We have moments. We have moments that it will be the top of the lineup, then we're not getting anything from the bottom or vice versa. I've seen everybody do what they need to be able to do and when we start to put it all together at the same time, I think we're gonna be really, really special to watch," Anderson said.
You can watch the full press conference with Coach Anderson in the video player below.
Fans have flocked to watch the Tiger softball team in action, including in MU's last home series against Florida, which Anderson's crew won 2-1. It gave the 2024 team another glimpse of what hosting an NCAA Regional could be like in Columbia, with another weekend of record-breaking crowds.
"We don't look too far down the road. It's really focusing on what do we need to do tomorrow to continue this momentum and what do we need to do when we're down in Georgia and it's just taking care of what we're capable of taking care of," Anderson said. "But, the atmosphere this past weekend literally was a regional atmosphere with the energy that we had in our stadium."
Mizzou is looking forward to having another day to practice ahead of the midweek matchup against SIUE on Wednesday evening and the eventual road trip to meet No. 14 Georgia April 19-21. Anderson said hitting is going to be a big-time emphasis in that tuneup.
She really liked her team's performance at the dish in the win against Florida, on Saturday. In that game, Mizzou tallied five runs on 10 hits. Anderson highlighted the fact that her team moved a hit on every single pitch that was thrown to them, which she attributes to a program they started running again in practice.
"We set up a program that we have...it gives us exit velocity," she said. "Explaining to them that, you know, if you're defensive and you just put the ball in play, your exit velocity is probably about 55 MPH. When you really use the ground and drive into the ground to hit, your exit velocity can be 75 MPH. Anyone can catch 55, especially when you have a 30 MPH wind blowing in, like the ball's just gonna stay up in the air. It's not going to go very far. So, getting them to see that result and feel what that feels like...that's the way we need to hit against Georgia."
Mizzou's performance at the plate will, obviously, be a big focus, but Anderson is still tinkering with her pitching rotation, as well. She said it's an 'extremely healthy,' part of her team, but long term success will come down to finding the right role for senior Laurin Krings.
2024 has been Krings' first year in the No. 1 role for the Tigers, which Anderson said may have put her out of her comfort zone. The senior is 15-8 so far in 2024, with a 3.32 ERA. The Tigers haven't seen the same dominance from the pitcher that they've seen in years past, in her role as a No. 2, behind former MU pitcher Jordan Weber.
However, with Krings' success over her years in Columbia, it's a big priority to find a role where they can fully capitalize on her arm talent.
"I'm putting them in situations and I give them consequences if they throw the ball dead-red and I'm able to put devices in the middle of home plate so it becomes really obvious when they throw the ball over the heart of the plate. If they hit it they have a consequence, which is like a burpee or a sprint or something like that," Anderson said. "Putting that in the back of their mind, the concentration is a little greater because the don't want to do burpees and they don't want to do those sprints, but also taking that same mindset to a game...I'm not able to connect enough with Krings to get her to have that same level of concentration. That could come down to the crowd, it could be just her mentality - her entire life has kinda been to throw - so that's where I'm kind of playing around with do I let her be who she naturally is?"
Sophomore Cierra Harrison has stepped up in a big way for Anderson and company, but a lot of eyes have gone to freshman pitcher Marissa McCann, who Anderson has said will be one of the talents she builds her program around.
McCann is 7-2 on the year and has earned some starting roles in her debut season in Columbia, but has also been very effective in relief for MU. She came in in relief in all three games in the series win against the Gators. On Friday, she earned the win for Mizzou, going three innings and striking out three batters. She did not allow any runs on just one hit. She was in in relief during Saturday's win, as well, tossing for 1.2 innings and not allowing a hit.
Anderson said she anticipates that McCann will be working into the mix as a starter for the series against Georgia, but still needs to figure out what that means for Krings' role.
"I thought McCann was extremely effective being able to throw all three games [against Florida] and so I don't want to lose that opportunity. It's really trying to figure out what's going to put us in the best possible situation because the way Cierra Harrison throws...her stature is not like a 6-foot-2 player. She has to utilize the power in her body every single pitch, which is really taxing. So, she went 100 pitches on Saturday and I can see that that's where her max is, so knowing that she probably won't be able to go seven innings. If we do need to have some middle relief, who do we want when the game's on the line, knowing that we can have Taylor Pannell come in to close," Anderson said.
Fans will get to see how the pitching rotation takes shape on the road against Georgia over the weekend. Game one is on Friday, April 19 at 5 p.m. CT. But first, Mizzou will host SIUE in the final midweek game of the year. First pitch is at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, April 17 at the Mizzou Softball Stadium.
