Not much left over from the winter sports, especially as the semester is probably a month from being over. Baseball with a big series to try to get back the momentum of March, and gymnastics with their last meet...or is it? And good lord...looks like it was a pretty busy week with plenty to get to, so let's get to it.
Click 'Full Story' for musings.
Baseball:
Certainly much has already been written (both here and in all the papers) about the weekend series we just witnessed that had a total of 68 runs total. Mizzou managed to pull two of three wins and get back on the right track in the Big XII, holding on to 3rd place now in a very crowded Big XII at 7-5, and are now 25-9 overall and will likely see a small bump in ranking thanks to the amazing 31-12 output of Friday night.
For the week, Mizzou did win 3 of 4 games, including a rain-shortened affair down at SMS to start the week. Certainly there were some great efforts for the week, including Jacob Priday who actually hit 5 HR's for the week, though of course the 4 in the game on Friday night. Crow's scoreless streak went by the wayside, though he did pick up one of the strangest wins and remains unbeaten for the season. Gibson looked real good on Saturday coming back and keeping the Texas bats tame to pick up the series win.
Coming up this week is a one-game home contest against William Woods in what I assume is a game meant to fill in the schedule. Then the Tigers will travel down to Norman to take on the Sooners, who are currently 3-8-1 in conference. Another week of taking 3 of 4 would do the Tigers good as they look towards a road matchup against aTm in a couple of weekends.
Softball:
Well, just what the Tigers needed, taking care of business in non-conference during the week and sweeping a home series to go 4-0 for the week and move to 37-12 overall and evened their record in conference at 4-4. Taking down the Billikens during the week with a close 7-6 game, preceeded by a 14-0 blow-out. Coming back to Columbia, the Tigers took on and beat the Lady Raiders in two high scoring games 5-3 and 10-6.
Carrying the Tigers during the week was CLEARLY Amanda Renth, who may have actually had a better week at the dish than Jacob Priday, as she homered in five straight games. The pitching was not great this past week, but the offense took care of the team.
The home stretch for the Tigers' season now really gets going, as the team is pretty much done with non-conference games (except two late ones against UMKC) and all games are conference....leading off with Kansas this week for two games at home. Kansas is also 4-4 right now in conference, and 30-11 overall. Mizzou also holds a 15-10 lead over kU and 3 points will be handed out on Wednesday...with a sweep likely sealing the deal for Mizzou.
Soccer:
Another quick update on the spring season of Mizzou soccer as they were in KC this past weekend to take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers, and took home a 3-1 win. The Gophers took an early 1-0 lead on the Tigers and actually held it to the 1st half whistle, but an early 2nd half goal from Alysha Bonnick tied it, with Mizzou taking the lead for good about 10 minutes later from Michelle Collins. The insurance was added with about 6 minutes to go off a lucky bounce from a corner and goal credited to Mo Redmond.
One last game for the ladies on the short spring season will actually come this coming weekend at home against Loyola-Chicago at noon. The game will be free and open to the public, so hey....why not hit the first half of the game before making your way over to Faurot?
Gymnastics:
Well, the regular season has ended for the Mizzou gymnasts...except for junior Adrianne Perry, who will be going to her 3rd straight NCAA Tournament as an all-around qualifier. Scoring a 39.300, Perry qualified to head to Athens, GA in two weekends to try to take home her first All-American honor.
For the NCAA Regional meet, Mizzou came in 4th, scoring a 195.100, placing just behind Ohio State in 3rd at 195.125. Mizzou needed a top-two finish to move on to the NCAA's as a team, but LSU and Stanford both put up scores in the 197 range and were not to be defeated on the day. In fact, the all-arounder for LSU scored a perfect 10 and took home the all-around title with a score of 39.825...an insane score and the highest of 2008 in the nation. To tell you how insane that is, her LOWEST score on the night was a 9.900.
At any rate, a fairly disappointing end to the season for the Tigers, as they never could continue to get better from their early season success. The Tigers have a great core of athletes coming back next season, but the next step needs to be taken. Here's hoping Adrianne Perry can start next season right now by making a statement on the national scene and taking home an All-American honor.
Tennis:
Mizzou split their two matches for the week, falling to the #67 ranked Huskers (yes...evidently they rank at least 67 teams in women's tennis) 5-2, but came back strong to take down the Cyclones in impressive shut-out fashion, 7-0. Mizzou now moves to 10-11 overall on the season and 2-7 in conference with two matches remaining.
Double winners for the Tigers this week were junior Sofie Ayala, as well as the doubles teams of junior Jessica Giugiolli and frosh Kaitlyn Richie, along with frosh Mallory Weber with lone senior Chrissy Svetlic.
Left up for the Tigers will be a weekend in OK this coming weekend, taking on the Cowgirls on Friday and then the Sooners on Saturday. Given the Big XII standings, I would say both matches are winnable for the Tigers and could give them some nice confidence heading into post season play.
Track:
Think of the weather this past weekend. Makes running and certainly the throwing events a tough chore. Well, that is what the Tigers had in store for themselves this past weekend along with Tulsa and BYU at the annual Botts Invitational. Plenty of winners on the weekend for both the men and the women, especially with Shermelle Nichols being honored as the top female at the contest. She had wins in both of the shot put and in the discus, also qualifying in the discus with her toss. The ladies once again dominated throwing events on the weekend, with teammates freshman Hope Harris, junior Krishna Lee (who won the hammer throw), seniors Elizabeth Robe and Sarah Burbee all placing during the weekend.
For the men, dominance was also displayed in the throwing events, with the men taking the top FIVE spots in the hammer throw, lead by senior Jason Morris. The men also went 1-2 in the shot, with senior Nate Englin gaining NCAA Qualifying status with the throw and win. Former baseball player John Thies took home first place in the javelin throw, and Mizzou went 2-3 in the discus (with both Chris Rohr and Jason Morris gaining a qualifying throw), while a stadium record fell from a BYU thrower who took first.
In the track events, Trisa Nickoley had a season best time to win the 800 meter run. Freshman Ryan Blackwell took home a win in the 400 meter run on the men's side. Coming up next for the Tigers will be a split weekend (I assume) with some of the team heading to Lawrence and the others heading to Arkansas for their respective Invitationals.
Men's Golf
The weather played a little havoc with the first ever UMB Bank-Mizzou Classic at Old Hawthorne, but the 54 holes were played and completed and Mizzou ended up finishing in a tie for 10th place, and 3rd place from the 3 Big XII teams competing (KSU took 2nd and ISU took 4th). The tie for 10th was actually a tie for last place with Xavier.
Competing well for the Tigers was definitely junior Peter Malnati who took home a tie for 9th place, finishing 6 over for the tournament. Mizzou will head down to Lexington, KY for one last tournament before the Big XII Championships which will be held down in Trinity, TX. Mizzou will compete the 13th and 14th this week.
Women's Golf
The final tournament to the regular season for the lady Tiger golfers came this past week down in Miami Lakes, FL with a 9th place finish in the Canes and Cardinal Classic. Mizzou came in ahead of K-state on the week. Strong finishes were placed by sophomore Julia Potter once again, who took home 13th, but did impress even more with a 4-under round of golf. Junior Chelsea Schweirer took 18th and senior Maddie Augustsson took home 25th on the tournament for the Tigers as well.
Mizzou will now wait a couple of weeks before travelling down to Stillwater, OK for the Big XII championships on the 25th-27th. A good finish there could send the ladies on to a regional competition in the NCAA tournament later into early May.
Random Thoughts:
* I really do not know how the FDA ever passed White Castle to serve their burgers. What it does to your insides has to be illegal somewhere.
* The Devils seemed to finall get a good bounce last night, getting an OT goal off a skate deflection to get their series back to 2-1. LOVED watching the Caps win game 1 this week (in probably one of the 5 best games I have seen in hockey) and loved seeing the Wild win in OT and the Flames come from behind last night (not that I stayed up to watch it).
* Cannot say it was really an exciting final round of the Masters, as I really did not watch too much of it. Needless to say, the course and wind won on Sunday.
* The idiot that buried the Red Sox t-shirt in the new Yankee Stadium is just that...an idiot. NOT for burying the shirt, that was fine. But for running his mouth about it at a time where the Yankees could simply just dig up that spot and remove it. Wait another year, and I bet that shirt has to stay...at least for a season. Dope.