Mizzou trio signs to play professional softball in New York
LONG ISLAND, N.Y. (KMIZ)
Three former Mizzou softball stars will be sticking together post-graduation.
On Tuesday, the New York Rise signed shortstop Jenna Laird, outfielder Alex Honnold and pitcher Laurin Krings. The trio just wrapped up their collegiate careers in May and will now make the jump to the Pro Women's Fastpitch Softball league.
For Laird, it will be a big homecoming, after playing her entire collegiate career halfway across the country from where she grew up. The East Meadow, New York native will now play in Long Island, after a standout career in Columbia.
In her four years in the black and gold, she helped the Tigers to host three NCAA Regionals and two NCAA Super Regionals. Laird is a Rawlings Gold Glove award winner at shortstop and has earned All-SEC honors, All-SEC Tournament honors and NFCA Third Team All-Region honors in her time at Mizzou.
During her senior year, in 2024, Laird was second on the team with a .346 batting average, as well as 73 hits, 31 RBI and one home run. However, the New York native made an instant impact the second she first stepped on campus back in 2021. In that debut season, she was the SEC Freshman of the Year, made the All-SEC First team, SEC All-Freshman Team and was a four-time SEC Freshman of the Week honoree.
Laird will also end her time in Columbia as the fourth Tiger in program history to reach the 200-career run milestone. She was Ms. Consistency, as she is also the program leader in consecutive career starts.
Much like Laird, Honnold received her fair share of accolades in her time at Mizzou, as well. She was a Top-25 finalist for the 2023 USA Softball Player of the Year, a NFCA Second-Team All-American and earned All-SEC and weekly SEC honors in her four-year career.
In 2024, the centerfielder led the Tigers, batting .348 in her senior year. She also paced MU with 73 hits, 21 doubles and six home runs, as well as adding on 51 runs, two triples, 37 RBI and 14 stolen bases and a .552 slugging percentage. She also started and played in all 66 games out in center field in 2024.
Honnold wrapped her Mizzou career ranked in the program's top-10 for doubles (50) and walks (98). In a single season, she is the program's leader for doubles (21), along with ninth for hits and fourth for at-bats (210). The Iowa-native ranked second on head coach Larissa Anderson's team with 19 multi-hit games and nine multi-RBI games. She also went on a 14-game reached base streak in her final year.
Krings is the final addition for the New York Rise. The pitcher ended her Tiger career with a legendary post-season run for Coach Anderson. Over the course of two weekends, NCAA Regionals and Super Regionals in May, the Colorado-native made seven starts and threw in the ballpark of about 600 pitches, while keeping her Tigers in the playoffs with their backs against the wall.
She went 17-10 overall in 2024 and led a standout Tiger pitching staff with 147 strikeouts. Krings ranked in the top-10 in the SEC for innings pitched and appearances. She is also in the top-15 in the conference for complete-games and strike-to-walk ratio.
Over the course of her four years in Columbia, Krings pitched two no-hitters and one perfect game. She also was named the NFCA Pitcher of the Week and SEC co-Pitcher of the Week in 2023.
The New York Rise will start their season on Wednesday, June 19 against the Oklahoma City Spark.
