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Combo of Krings’ gem & 2-out offense = MOVING ON

Mizzou advances to face Alabama on Wednesday after 3-1 victory over MS State /Mizzou Links for May 10

By Karen Steger
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One Down. Four To Go.

#Whynotus

This is Mizzou’s new hashtag, which started over the weekend after the (surprising) series victory over then-no. 12 Arkansas.

The Missouri Tigers (now 34-23, 8-17) came into the SEC Tourney as the last seed but the best defensive team against the Mississippi State Bulldogs (now 28-25, 7-18), the worst defensive team. And the Bulldogs’ defensive liabilities wholeheartedly contributed to the Tigers’ early lead on Tuesday evening in Fayetteville with Mizzou ace Laurin Krings facing off against MS State freshman Reis Beuerlein.

In the top of the second, after Payton Jackson reached base on a 2B fielding error, CoMo native Maddie Snider launched a two-out triple to right center, easily scoring PJ to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead. Coach has been particularly happy with Snider’s performance as of late, reminding us in the postgame that she wasn’t in the lineup for almost a month, and came back this last week or so with a vengeance.

“She hasn’t missed a beat and she’s come through really clutch in the last week. And that’s what we need. We need production. At the bottom of the lineup to be able to set it up for the top of our lineup,” Coach said.

After unproductive innings for both teams in the third— Specs did have a nasty strikeout (her first) that inning, in the fourth, Mississippi State tied it up 1-1 on a solo shot to LF that stayed just inside the foul pole.

Just a half inning later, Mizzou retook the lead 2-1 after a two-out double by Alex Honnold — it appeared to be a HR — brought in Jenna Laird, who was aboard with a single that she took 2B on.

In the postgame, when asked about the HR-ish double, Anderson made clear that if she had had any challenges left, she would have been using one. When asked if the ball went out, Honnold, a woman of few words, said, “Yeah” before adding (with prompting) that in her previous two ABs, the pitches were pretty much outside, so she was looking for a pitch that she could drive and wade a little bit more deep into the count. Mission accomplished, Al Pal.

Dalythen hit a single right after that to put runners at the corners for Julia Crenshaw, but Honnold was thrown out at the plate trying to be crafty, thus ending the threat before her AB got started. After another stellar Specs 1-2-3 inning which featured a great diving play back to the bag for Riley Frizell, the Tigers threatened again. In the 6th, with new pitcher Josey Marron (another freshman, and their strikeout leader) in the circle, THE FRIZ smoked a double into the left side gap, and Kaylee Lenger, aboard as a PR for Riley, advanced to 3B on a Crenshaw groundout, but she remained 60 feet from home.

It wasn’t until the sixth inning that Krings walked her first batter of the game, but the MSU runner only got as far as 2B after a massive 3rd K for Specs on a drop ball that went almost into the dirt and an easy play for the third out.

With just three outs left to advance, the Tigers attacked — AGAIN with two outs!!! — as Jenna singled up the middle and Alex was hit by a pitch. With two on and two out, Kara ice-in-her-[expletive redacted]-veins Daly worked a beautiful AB, with a bunch of great cuts before smoking a ball down the LF line to give the Tigers additional cushion and make it 3-1.

Missouri clearly didn’t need any cushion though, not with Killer Krings and the conference’s top defense in the circle to close it out:

In the postgame, Coach got real with us. “The game doesn’t care what seed we are,” she said. “We’re just here to play ball and compete and fight like crazy and play as long as we possibly can.” She continued. “I think the most impressive thing is all three runs we score were with two out and that just shows you the fight this team has.”

As well as the two-out production, Krings was no question the star of the show. “Krings had an unbelievable outing,” Coach Anderson said. “Only gave up two hits, and one of them was really the only pitch that got away from her. She really dominated both sides of the plate and kept them off balance.”

I asked if it crossed her mind to bring in her closer, Taylor Pannell, and Larissa pretty succinctly said no. “Krings is the veteran and I wanted her to finish her game and she only had given up two hits.” She added, “If I see that the opposing team is starting to make adjustments and starting to hit her hard, then I’m going to make a change, but they weren’t and they weren’t squaring up a lot of balls. So I’m going to continue to ride whatever pitcher I have in the circle.”

The Stats

  • Jenna Laird: 2-4 | 2 R | 1 LOB
  • Alex Honnold: 1-3 | RBI | double | HBP | CS
  • Kara Daly: 2-3 | RBI | double | BB | SB
  • Riley Frizell: 1-3 | double | K | 2 LOB
  • Maddie Snider: 1-3 | RBI | triple | BB
  • Laurin Krings: 7IP | CG | 2 H | 1 ER | BB | 3 K | 2 XBH | 24 BF | 102 pitches

Overall Hitting Stats: 3 R | 7 H | 3 RBI | 4 XBH | 2 BB | 4 K (2 looking) | HBP | 6 LOB | 1 SB | 1 CS | .250 BA | .462 w/ 2 outs | .375 RISP

Overall Pitching Stats: 2 H | 1 ER | BB | 3 K | 2B | HR | .087 OppBA | .125 w/ 2 outs | .286 leadoff

On to the Links! M-I-Z! BEAT MONTANA (Fouts)!

Yesterday at Rock M

More Links:

Football

Hoops

  • KOBE News:

Show Me NIL News

  • Well, color me intrigued. Missouri— absolutely awful on so much legislation, but grrrrrrreat for NIL, apparently... go figure.
  • Anyone who is anyone was on hand in Jeff.

Other Mizzou Sports

  • WRESTLING: Great pickup for Tiger Style

“We are thrilled to have Lacey join our coaching staff,” Welker said. “Lacey comes to us after leading the beam team at ASU to a top-20 finish. Our entire team and staff were so impressed with her positive energy and ability to connect immediately. Lacey will immediately impact the University of Missouri Gymnastics program to compete for a spot at the NCAA Championships”

In 2023, Arizona State had a record-breaking campaign, finishing 15th in the country. The Gym Devils went on to upset then-No. 4 Utah, set a program-record road score in a win over Washington and deal then-No. 11 Oregon State its first loss of the season. Rubin primarily coached the beam squad, which ended the season ranked No.19 in the nation, with a season-high of 49.475 set at regionals.

  • Good points, Matt & Sammy.

Former Tiger Corner

Game 3 (Denver 114 - Suns 121): 37 min | 21 pts on 7-14 FG (6-10 3PT) | 12 REB (11 def) | 1 BLK | 2 TO | 1 PF | +3

Game 4 (Denver 124 - Suns 129): 39 min | 11pts on 4-13 FG (2-9 3PT) | 10 REB (9 def) | 4 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 5 PF | +0

Game 5 (Denver 118 - Suns 102): 28 min | 19pts on 7-11 FG (5-8 3PT) | 8 D-REB | 2 AST | 1 STL | 2 PF | +24

UP NEXT: Game 6 on 5/11 at 9pm on ESPN; Game 7 (if needed) on 5/14 TBD

  • Best wishes to Arden Walker, who announced his commitment to Colorado. He’s from the state and a Buffs legacy, so no surprise here.
  • Best wishes to Anton Brookshire, who joins the team that another former Tiger, Sean Durugordon, just left. Welcome to Austin Peay, AB!

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