Mizzou ‘excited’ to host Duke in first NCAA Super Regional since 2021

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Mizzou Softball is just two wins away from reaching the biggest stage in college softball. NCAA Super Regional action returns to Mizzou Softball Stadium on Friday for the first time since 2021 as the Tigers prepare to face the Duke Blue Devils for a spot in the Women's College World Series. If MU wins the best-of-three series this weekend, the program will reach its first Women's College World Series in more than a decade.

"It's every girl's dream. Every softball player, from the time they pick up a ball, it's everyone's dream to play in a College World Series," Mizzou softball coach Larissa Anderson said at Thursday's press conference. "We have an opportunity to make that dream come true, but we can't focus on that. We have to focus on one pitch at a time, one inning at a time because we know what's at stake."

You can watch the full press conference with head coach Larissa Anderson in the video player below.

The Tigers showed plenty of resiliency to earn the chance to play for a trip to Oklahoma City. MU became just the 11th program in NCAA history to advance to NCAA Super Regionals after losing the first game of regional action. Following its loss to Omaha to lead off the NCAA Columbia Regional, Mizzou strung together four straight victories in elimination games, led by a stellar effort in the circle from Laurin Krings who allowed just 15 hits and two earned runs while posting 24 strikeouts over 25 innings of work.

"I've never seen it at this level to be able to throw four games in two days at the level that she did in the conditions that she did," Anderson said when asked about Krings' performance at NCAA Regionals. "She and I talked yesterday and also talked a lot on Monday and Tuesday about how she was feeling and her experiences, and she just said the adrenaline got her through it. She was fighting every single pitch for her team but really remarkable just the body of work like for anybody to be able to withstand and do what she did was extremely impressive. Her whole entire career she's wanted it. She's wanted this opportunity. She's always wanted to be the number one, always since she stepped foot on campus."

Anderson announced at Thursday's press conference that Mizzou Softball Stadium will host a sold-out crowd on both Friday and Saturday. She emphasized how exciting and important it is to have that great atmosphere for NCAA Super Regionals.

"There were times [at NCAA Regionals] that I'm trying to get the crowd going because we needed them. We needed to feel their energy. They need to will us to give more because when we're fighting like crazy physically, they can sometimes give us a little bit more inspiration, and they can just make such a big impact on the opposing team, as well. When they get loud and they call timeouts on the field defensively and they start the 'M-I-Z' chant like it is really, really tough to hear on that field and we just need them to keep that energy up," Anderson said.

Unlike NCAA Regionals, MU only has to prepare for one team: the Duke Blue Devils. Marissa Young's group was awarded the No. 10 overall seed for this year's NCAA Softball Tournament, and Duke earned that spot after clinching the program's second ACC Softball Championship. The Blue Devils, who finished undefeated in NCAA Regional action last week, have a pair of pitchers who are ranked No. 12 or higher in the nation in earned run average (ERA). Jala Wright, who's ranked No. 3 in the country in that category, boasts a 1.09 ERA heading into NCAA Super Regionals, closely followed by Cassidy Curd with a 1.44 ERA.

"From a scouting standpoint, it's a lot easier to prepare for one [team] than it is for three. We can dig into them a little bit more and have way more in-depth conversations about individual players and look at a lot of their tendencies a lot deeper, so that's been easier on our staff," Anderson said. "The biggest thing is how are we going to be able to score runs because they have two really strong pitchers that are tough, and we have to be able to swing at good pitches. If we start expanding and chasing balls out of the zone, we're not going to be very successful, so that's going to be the real key is controlling our offense and being able to manufacture some runs and having some quality at-bats early on."

The first pitch of Mizzou's best-of-three series against Duke in the NCAA Columbia Super Regional is scheduled for Friday, May 24 at 1 p.m.