Mizzou softball prepares for more Top-25 competition at upcoming Shocker Invite
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
No. 22 Mizzou softball coach Larissa Anderson usually schedules one of the toughest non-conference slates you'll find in college softball. However, in 2025, she may have out-done herself.
The Tigers have the fifth-best strength schedule in the nation this season, as Coach Anderson and her team have seven Top-25 teams through just three weekends of action.
"I'm like, what in the world was I thinking with this schedule?" Anderson joked during Monday's press conference. "You know, it's been tough, it's been a grind and at the same time we're battling. I just don't want them to get discouraged by just looking at the losses. It's continue to just keep them positive that they are growing and sometimes on paper you don't see that."
You can watch the full press conference with Anderson in the video player below.
Through 16 games, Mizzou sits at the .500 mark, 8-8, on the year and are not slowing down in facing some of the top talent in the country. In a few days, the team will leave for the Shocker Invite in Wichita, Kansas, where they will face No. 14 Oklahoma State and No. 16 Nebraska, as well as Wichita State and South Dakota State.
Coach Anderson said it would be massive to come out out of this tournament with a few wins under their belt, before the Southeastern Conference slate begins on March 7 down in Lexington, Kentucky.
"It'd be huge. No. 1, it'd get us above .500. I mean, we've got to stay above .500 to have a shot to go to the NCAA Tournament, so there's that. But, also unbelievable competition with Wichita, Nebraska and Oklahoma State. We just need to put all three facets of the game together. We need to play great defense, our pitchers need to make some better pitches," she said.
The Tiger pitching staff has been charged with 21 runs, 17 of which were earned, in just their last four outings. Needless to say, pitchers Cierra Harrison and Marissa McCann are still trying to find their footing in this 2025 campaign.
Anderson said that duo needs to work more on being pitchers and not just throwers.
"The biggest thing with them is that they have to learn how to be a pitcher and the craft of pitching," she said." They're throwing right now...I thought McCann had some really good outings. She was extremely competitive against UCLA and you know, watching a lot of film going into that series, you know, she gave them a hard time and there was a lot of swings and misses. That's really good progress to see how competitive she was against UCLA, but it needs to be able to carry that and take that into every single outing. With Harrison, it's going to be full recovery. What I'm seeing with her is that when there's going to be failure within our game, if it's giving up a big hit or if it's the defense behind her, whatever the issue may be, how do you recover from that? I'm just seeing that we're giving the momentum to the other team that we're not responding to that failure recovery."
Mizzou is still working to solidify its lineup, as we move deeper into the season, but one thing seems clear: Coach Anderson believes the Tigers are more competitive, offensively, with Jefferson City native Kara Daly working at shortstop.
The longtime-third baseman made the switch over to the middle infield this season, following the graduation of star shortstop Jenna Laird after the 2024 campaign. Although it's a tough transition, Anderson said she has seen Daly make progress in her new position, as it's a move that allows the team to keep both Madison Walker and Abby Hay in the lineup, as well.
"Then [Walker or Hay] has to be a designated player and then where does that leave Taylor Ebbs, so it's having those conversations with Kara on are you able to do this? I believe that she's able to play shortstop to be consistent. I just need her to make all the routine plays and that's what it's going to come down to and she's bought into that and understanding that we are a better offensive team when she is at shortstop," Anderson said.
Over the past three weeks, Anderson and her coaching staff have taken in a lot of information. They've seen where the team needs to improve, what it's strong at and so much more. On Monday, Anderson took the media through how she sorts through all of that information in the midst of all these games.
"You can't fix everything," she said. "We don't need to fix everything. We just need to emphasize some things. One of the big things is, what can we control? We can control what pitches we swing at, so it's starting and simplifying where can we make the improvements. We need to do a better job at getting on time in the batter's box and swinging at good pitches. Our hitters need to continue to try to hit the ball as hard as they possibly can and when you're not getting success the whole way through, sometimes hitters have a tendency to just try to put the ball in play and they become defensive. We need to get back to being aggressive. So, when you change that mentality or you reinforce that positive mentality of being aggressive, you're going to start to see more positive results."
No. 22 Mizzou will hit the road to open up the Shocker Invite with a game against No. 14 Oklahoma State on Friday, Feb. 28. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.
