Mizzou walks off game two against Omaha to advance to NCAA Super Regional
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Mizzou No. 7-seeded Mizzou softball team will host its first NCAA Super Regional since 2021, after a walk-off win against Omaha in the ninth inning of Sunday's NCAA Regional Final.
Madison Walker played hero in the game two win against the Mavericks, as she knocked an RBI single up the middle to plate Alex Honnold in the ninth inning. It was the first piece of offense that either team saw through the entire game, as Mizzou got the 1-0 win.
You can watch the full postgame press conference with Mizzou head coach Larissa Anderson, pitcher Laurin Krings and Walker in the video player below.
The real super star of game two against Omaha was pitcher Laurin Krings. She ended with a season-best 15 strikeouts in a complete-game shutout. In total, she pitched nearly 400 pitches in about a 24 hour span, from Saturday's elimination games to Sunday's Regional final win.
In game one, Mizzou and Omaha carried a pitchers' duel through most of the game. Senior ace Laurin Krings got the start and didn't allow a single hit until the sixth inning. She did end up allowing one run on just one hit in a stellar day in the circle. Krings threw for 5.0 innings and fanned three batters.
The one run came across for Omaha in the bottom of the sixth inning, which put the pressure on the Mizzou offense to come up with an answer at the top of the seventh.
Boy did the Tiger bats find an answer, too. Anderson's group put together a five-run rally to take its first lead of the day over the Mavericks. The clutch inning all got started on a Kara Daly walk. From there, Madison Walker singled down the right field line to put two on board. Then, senior Jenna Laird tied up the ball game with a groundout to second base. However, Mizzou was not stopping there. With one runner on board, senior Alex Honnold hit a two-run home run to center field, which gave her team a two-run advantage. Near the end of that frame, Julia Crenshaw drove in a couple more on an RBI single to left to put some cushion on MU's lead.
You can watch the full postgame press conference with Honnold in the video player below.
Closer Taylor Pannell came in in relief in the sixth inning and earned the win for the Tigers to improve to 4-1 in 2024. She pitched the final two innings and struck out one batter in the 5-1 game one victory.
Up next - Mizzou will host Duke in NCAA Super Regional action, beginning on Friday, May 24th.
