Mizzou falls one run short of series win over No. 6 Alabama, despite Carr’s career day
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Mizzou softball team had an opportunity to put the softball world on notice, on Sunday, and they nearly took advantage of it. However, the Tigers fell just one run short of a series win over No. 6 Alabama.
With the loss, head coach Larissa Anderson and her team drop to 1-5 in Southeastern Conference play, with four of those losses coming by just one run.
"Timely hitting, for sure," Coach Anderson said, when asked about what those narrow losses have come down to. "I mean, we only had two strikeouts going into the sixth inning, there. So, we were putting the ball in play, it just wasn't hard contact. We didn't make hard outs, we had some easy ground balls and some easy fly balls. Then, I think the disappointing thing is after Abby Carr's home run in the sixth, having four-consecutive strikeouts and that's making the moment too big. You're not gonna have three hits in a row off a team like Alabama...but we have to get somebody on and we have to be able to get into scoring position, somehow."
You can watch the full postgame press conference with Anderson in the video player below.
Carr was phenomenal for the Tigers, on Sunday, as she drove in all three of MU's runs and put up a clutch outing in the circle. The true freshman gave Mizzou the first lead of the game in the bottom of the second, with a two-run shot. Later, she cranked a solo shot to the left field fence for the first multi-home run game of her Tiger career. Then, after that second home run, she came in to pitch in a one-run ball game in the seventh inning, where she struck out to Crimson Tide batters and allowed just one hit.
"She has the ability to let things roll off her back and she knows she has no control over the previous pitch, whatever happens, happens. She can turn the page, she has such unbelievable amnesia in being an athlete. [Saturday] when she was pitching on the mound with the bases loaded, she's like 'why do I keep doing this to myself?' I'm like, because you love the big moment and you were born for this," Anderson said. "She does what she does naturally. She's such a fierce competitor and she does it for her team, as well."
However, the long ball continued to be Coach Anderson's team's kryptonite in the series against Alabama.
On Sunday, a three-run home run off of starter Marissa McCann in the fourth inning gave the road team a 3-2 lead. Then, later, the Tide gave itself some breathing room with another homer in the fifth inning, off of reliever Courteny Donahue.
McCann made it 3.1 innings into her start, before Donahue came in in relief. After Donahue came sophomore Rylee Michalak, who would pitch a clutch 1.1 scoreless innings for the Tigers, in her first time taking the SEC stage.
After a big missed opportunity in the fifth inning, when Mizzou stranded two runners on base, Carr's sixth inning home run put the Tigers within one run with just one inning to go.
The Tigers couldn't capitalize on the opportunity Carr's homers and scoreless outing in the circle gave them, though, as they went down in order to end the game in a 4-3 loss.
Up next - Mizzou will hit the road for Edwardsville, Illinois to take on SIUE at 5 p.m. on Tuesday.
