Earleywine after doubleheader split: I am hurt

You could not tell Missouri softball just came off a win if you spoke with Ehren Earleywine.

“I am beyond the point of anger,” the Mizzou softball coach said. “I am disappointed. I am hurt.”

No. 16 Missouri split a double header with Illinois at Lindenwood University. The Illini shutout Mizzou 3-0 in game one. MU avenged the loss with a 9-6 win in game two.

But Earleywine said he was disappointed in the effort his team brought on Wednesday.

“I don’t remember a play on defense or an at-bat where there wasn’t something mentally and mechanically wrong with it,” he said. “Nothing physical–but it is just the way they went about it.”

“I said, ‘it would be really cool if there were three things I could talk about that we didn’t do well. But the problem was it 103.”

Illinois Brandi Needham allowed just five hits in seven innings of work. The offense did not help MU freshman Tori Finucane, as she took the loss after going seven innings and gave up three runs, one of them earned.

Missouri bounced back in game two. Angela Randazzo went 3-3, while Natalie Fleming hit an inside- the-park-home-run to break the game open in the fifth. Illinois got two runs back in the sixth and seventh frames before Casey Stangel shut the door.

“You feel like you pour so much time into what they do and making sure they do it right,” Earleywine said. “It was one of the most disappointing days I have ever coached.
Mizzou returns to University Field for an SEC battle with No. 14 Georgia.