‘There isn’t anything like it’: Mizzou ready to host four-time defending national champions

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The top-ranked team in the nation is paying a visit to Mizzou Softball Stadium, starting on Friday.

Mizzou Softball (16-13) is preparing for its next SEC weekend against No. 1 Oklahoma (26-0), along with its first midweek matchup of the season against Illinois (13-11) for Braggin' Rights.

While MU has faced the four-time defending NCAA champions on four occasions since joining the SEC, this upcoming conference series will be Oklahoma's first road trip to Columbia in more than a decade. It's also a rare opportunity for the Tigers to host the nation's No. 1-ranked team. The chance to battle the best is exciting, but head coach Larissa Anderson is most looking forward her group getting to experience the thrill of playing in front of a packed stadium, once again.

"Yes, you're playing against the number one team, and you know how strong and what their history and their traditions are, but I'm excited for our fans. I'm excited for our players to play in that atmosphere. I mean, there isn't anything like it, and I know how electric it's going to be," Coach Anderson said at Monday's press conference. "I'll talk about Taylor Ebbs a little bit. She's coming from another SEC program, and for her to play in our venue this past weekend and to hear the MIZ chant, she turned to her teammates and she's like, 'this is just so awesome' and they said, 'you have no idea how awesome it's going to get' so that's what I'm most excited about."

The Tigers are currently riding the momentum of a five-game winning streak into this week's games. MU recorded victories in each of its first five home games, including a flawless 4-0 record in the Mizzou Invitational. Coach Anderson's team has scored at least seven runs in its last five games, highlighted by a 17-run explosion against UMKC on Sunday. It was a dominating effort at the dish that Anderson said her team needed.

"I think when you see multiple pitchers of different speeds and different movements and being able to make those adjustments fast, that's the most impressive thing. I would say leading up to this, we struggled to score early and often, and we would have some big innings, but I thought we were consistently producing every single inning, winning every single inning and being able to make those adjustments when they made pitching changes like there wasn't a lapse in our timing," Anderson said. "I think sometimes when you face pitching that's not going to blow you away with double-digit strikeouts, it's really easy to lose discipline because you feel like you can hit everything, and we maintained real great composure, had real good plans, stuck to our approaches and we're able to get on time no matter what pitcher that we were facing."

A trio of local talent led that impressive showing at the plate. Rock Bridge graduate Abby Hay, Tolton Catholic alum Madison Uptegrove and former Jefferson City standout Kara Daly recorded a combined .448 batting average with five home runs and 23 RBI's in Mizzou's five-game winning streak. When Anderson took over Mizzou's softball program in 2019, she immediately recognized the high-caliber players that the midwest and Mid-Missouri has to offer.

"Midwest kids can play ball. Bottom line. I mean, I came from the East Coast and New York and that was the first thing that I recognized when I came here is how strong Midwest talent is. You look at some of the best players in the entire country playing, not only at Mizzou but all across the country, and the majority of them are from the Midwest," Anderson said. "Our number one goal is to keep all Midwest kids home, and to keep all Missouri kids home. To have tree local talents playing at this level and competing and in our starting lineup is really impressive and it speaks volumes to the development of these players and the youth level and what they're learning at a young age to give them an opportunity to play at this level."

However, MU's recent success was also generated from solid showings in the circle. Marissa McCann and Cierra Harrison allowed just four combined earned runs in their four starts, including a collective 22-strikeout performance. Similar to the lineup, that excellent effort from MU's starting pitchers delivered a confidence boost and a mindset that could carry over into the team's second SEC weekend of the year.

"Knowing that you can be really successful. Giving your offense an opportunity to be able to win ball games. Keeping the ball in the ballpark. We talk a lot about like, we know our pitching is going to give up home runs, but let's keep them to solo shots, rather than people on base," Anderson said. "I think the most impressive thing, we had a lot of strikeouts, a lot more strikeouts than we've had, and it just shows them that they have the movement be able to get people out and get us out of some of those big innings."

Currently, Oklahoma is still undefeated this season, so barring a surprising upset by East Texas A&M on Wednesday, the Tigers will be tasked with handing the Sooners their first loss of the year. Head Coach Patty Gasso has guided Oklahoma to a team-wide .340 batting average, 54 home runs and 206 RBIs, paired with a pitching staff that has allowed just 47 earned runs over 165 innings with 171 strikeouts. MU respects the challenge of facing an opponent that excels in all three phases of the game and a proper mentality is critical to capitalize on the opportunity of a top-ranked upset.

"It's going to start with being ready to win every single pitch. You're not going to have a lot of opportunities to win against Oklahoma, and it might come down to one pitch. If we're not ready for that moment to capitalize offensively and in the circle defensively, then we might have missed our shot," Anderson said. "Oklahoma is not going to give you any chances. They're extremely strong, they pitch very well. They have just a very potent lineup, so our pitchers have to make good pitches, but they have to trust that they have good enough stuff to get their batters out. They can't do anything different, and that's where some of the mindset changes where they think they have to be more perfect. They only have to be them. They're good enough to be able to get anybody out in the country, and they have to trust that."

Mizzou faces Illinois on Tuesday, March 18 at 3 p.m. before beginning its three-game set with Oklahoma on Friday at 5 p.m.