Mizzou Softball ready to host third NCAA Regional in four seasons
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
No. 9 Mizzou Softball is very familiar with the NCAA Tournament stage. Last Sunday, the Tigers not only secured a spot in an NCAA Regional for a 17th straight campaign, MU also earned the right to host a regional for the third time in four seasons.
Larissa Anderson's crew is entering the NCAA Tournament with plenty of momentum. The Tigers ended the regular season by winning five of their last six games, and most recently, Mizzou finished in second place at the SEC Tournament. In MU's three wins during the conference tournament, the Tigers only allowed three runs in those three games. With that recent success, MU is feeling very confident heading into NCAA Regional action.
"We are in a really good headspace. Monday, we had a good easy workout because we just had a really grueling week at the SEC Tournament, so we had some individual skill work, and then Tuesday, pretty similar but with some team practice, and we had a really good team meeting Tuesday," Larissa Anderson said at Wednesday's press conference. "The biggest thing that they said is they just felt so confident, and that's a great feeling for them to admit and it showed in how they played. We've been practicing very loose, a lot of fun, I don't see that they're uptight because when you host and you're a top 8 seed, you are expected to win, and a lot of times, teams respond that they're trying to do too much, and they feel that pressure, but we're just going to go out and have a good time."
You can watch the full press conference with Mizzou softball coach Larissa Anderson in the video player below.
MU will welcome Omaha, Indiana and Washington to Mizzou Softball Stadium this weekend for the Columbia Regional. The Tigers will lead off NCAA Tournament action against Omaha, who just won the Summit League Championship and is carrying a 41-13 overall record with them to regionals. Despite Omaha being a mid-major program, Mizzou understands they can't look ahead in the tournament or overlook the challenge of facing the Mavericks, who have one of the most talented pitchers in college softball in Kamryn Meyer who boasts a 1.51 ERA this season.
"Mid-majors know how to win because they have to win their conference tournament to get here, so they experience that thrill and that rush and that anxiety and excitement of playing in that championship game and holding up the trophy," Larissa Anderson said. "We know that they're going to come in here and would like nothing better than to have a great outing and a great performance, so we have to immediately disrupt their comfort level and make them very uncomfortable."
As the No. 7 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, Mizzou is also aiming to host its first NCAA Super Regional since 2021. MU's quest to achieve that goal begins on Friday, May 17 at 4:30 p.m.
