Mizzou softball prepares for another big SEC weekend
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
No. 11 Mizzou softball's road trip to rival Arkansas did not quite go as planned, over the weekend. The Tigers fell to 5-7 in SEC play with a 2-1 series loss to the Razorbacks. However, the upcoming weekend is a new opportunity to get back on track in conference action.
The Tigers will host the No. 10 Florida Gators on April 12-14 at the Mizzou Softball Stadium, but, before that, will take a road trip for a midweek game against Drake.
Head coach Larissa Anderson met with the media on Tuesday morning. She said it's important to never look past those midweek matchups, especially after losing one to Southeast Missouri State just the week prior.
In years past, MU played most, if not all, of their midweek matchups at home, which helped out with the practice schedule quite a bit. For the past 10-straight weeks, Anderson's crew has played at least one game on the road, which has brought some new challenges to Anderson in her sixth season of coaching Tiger softball.
"The biggest thing I've noticed with this schedule is our inability to practice. That's probably been, from a coaching standpoint, the most frustrating," she said. "We obviously have to have an off day, it's required, we'll practice on Tuesday and having a midweek game on Wednesday, like I don't want to bury them on that Tuesday, knowing that we have a game on Wednesday, especially our pitching staff...Then, Thursday, we've been on the road again and you have a way different practice on the road, when you get to another facility, than you do at home. That, I think, has been the biggest thing that I'm not seeing us able to coach as much as we typically do when we play a lot more home games."
You can watch the full press conference with Anderson in the video player below.
On the road in Fayetteville over the past weekend, Mizzou had an up and down series. The bats were alive on Saturday, but struggled to scratch runs across on the plate in Friday and Sunday's losses.
Anderson said overall her team is getting the ball in play, drawing walks and manufacturing some runs, but she also feels like they are hesitant, unless they feel like they can dominate a pitcher.
"That's how it was in game two. We were really aggressive and we were taking really good swings, but when the pitcher is a little bit more dominate we just get unsure of ourselves and we just try to put the ball in play and we're defensive, rather than still being aggressive," Anderson said.
As for the pitching staff, Anderson shook up the starters against the Razorbacks. Sophomore Cierra Harrison got the Friday start, while the senior ace Laurin Krings started in the circle on Saturday. Anderson said the reasoning for the move was to throw the Arkansas scouting report off kilter, since a lot of teams prepare for Krings to go on Fridays.
Overall, Anderson was happy with Krings and freshman Marissa McCann's starts against Arkansas. Harrison struggled a bit on Friday, giving up five earned runs on seven hits through 3.2 innings.
In the games that MU lost in Fayetteville, the Hogs were able to strike early, offensively, on Mizzou's starting pitchers. For the upcoming weekend series against Florida, Anderson will consider taking her starters out earlier, with more of a 'pitch by committee,' kind of approach.
"We always have somebody ready, but it's like I put a lot of trust into that starter and I want them to be able to go as far as they possibly can," she said. "You know, Florida is a really strong team and maybe we're gonna have to make a pitching change if we're not getting the swings and misses we need to by that starter."
The No. 10 Gators head into the week 34-6 overall in 2024. In the scouting report, Anderson said she's noticed that Florida likes to run a lot of pressure on defenses, which is something she felt that her team handled well at Arkansas.
On of the big bright spots of that series loss to the Razorbacks was the emergence of Rock Bridge alum Abby Hay at the dish. She recently won the starting first base position and followed that up with a few solid outings in Fayetteville.
Hay batted an average of .339 against the Razorbacks, driving in two RBI off a home run in game one and tallying three hits on the weekend. The former Bruins is someone that Anderson has been impressed by.
"I attribute this to to her growing up playing baseball and having a father that played baseball, so she's been around the game probably for a lot longer than a lot of our other players," Anderson said. "She understands it from a different intellect. Abby will come up to me and talk to me about pitchers' approaches and if I was calling the game against her how would I throw to her and so the game within the game stuff is very, very mature for someone who's a freshman in college. I think that gives her the edge - that she understands a little bit more about how pitchers are gonna attack her. Another strength about Abby is that she's just so unbelievably even-keeled.
Up next - Mizzou will travel to Drake for midweek action on Wednesday, April 10 at 4 p.m. Then, the series against No. 10 Florida will open up on Friday, April 12 at 5 p.m.
