While a large majority of students headed south for spring break, the softball team took a trip north. The Tigers won all four games on the trip with an average margin of 9.25 runs. 

Missouri opened the trip in New York City with a 20-0 victory over Fordham University. 

Sophomore pitcher Cierra Harrison was electric on the mound, pitching the first four innings without allowing a single hit. Harrison allowed one hit in the fifth inning, eventually getting pulled as sophomore Lilly Whitten grabbed the final out. Harrison finished the outing with 4.2 innings pitched while striking out six. 

Missouri’s offense started in the second inning, scoring eight runs. Three of those came on a home run from junior outfielder Mya Dodge, her second of the season.

The run scoring continued with six in the fourth inning. Two of those runs came off another home run, this time from junior infielder Kara Daly. 

The Tigers completed their scoring efforts with another six runs in the top of the fifth inning. Dodge crushed another home run for her third of the year, bringing in junior catcher Julia Crenshaw. This shot brought Dodge’s RBI total for the game up to five. 

Three more runs came from a double courtesy of freshman infielder Abby Hay. This marked the first extra base hit in the career of Hay, quadrupling her RBI total to four in her career. 

The 20 runs marked the most scored all season by Missouri. The previous high sat at 13, coming against North Carolina State and Wichita State.

The Tigers followed up the performance with a narrow 2-1 win against Hofstra University in the second half of the double header in the Big Apple. 

The second game was much more defensively focused, with three total runs scored. The Tigers got on the board first, kicking the game off with a triple from senior outfielder Alex Honnold. Senior infielder and New York native Maddie Gallagher scored Honnold with a single.

Senior pitcher Laurin Krings started the game for Missouri, allowing no runs. Krings finished the first four innings with three hits and three strikeouts.

Freshman Marissa McCann stepped into the circle in relief in the fifth inning. Hofstra pushed across its first run in the sixth when senior catcher Bella Villaincourt hit a solo home run to tie the game. 

With the game tied at one after seven innings, both teams headed to extra innings. This marked the first game this season to go to extra innings for Missouri. 

In the ninth inning, Missouri scored the game-winning run in the top half . The inning started with a leadoff walk from Kara Daly, before being advanced with two consecutive outs. Daly was brought home thanks to a two-out single from freshman and New York native Stefania Abruscato.

In the bottom half of the inning, McCann forced three outs in four batters to wrap up the victory. The freshman finished the outing with five innings pitched, one run on one hit while striking out five. 

The winning continued for Missouri in Washington D.C., defeating George Mason 11-2. The Tigers started the game on a 5-0 run, including four in the third inning. 

Missouri started the inning with four-straight singles to score one run. Another two runs came home thanks to a pair of hit-by-pitches. The final run came on a sacrifice fly from Dodge. This marked Dodge’s second RBI in the game, after scoring sophomore infielder Katie Chester with a double in the second. 

George Mason cut the lead to four with a run off of a pair of hits in the fourth inning but Missouri jumped back into control, scoring six total runs over the next two innings. 

During a four-run sixth inning, Dodge scored three with a double and the bases loaded. That jumped Dodge to five RBIs in a day, tying her highest mark of the season.

While the Patriots snagged one final run in the sixth, the 11-2 mark was enough to secure the mercy rule after six innings. 

Whitten was the starting pitcher for Missouri  — her first start since February. Whitten finished the performance at five innings with six strikeouts while allowing one run on five hits.

The Tigers completed the trip with a win in Philadelphia, defeating Villanova 7-0. Missouri scored five runs in the first two innings, jumping out in front early. The highlights of the early innings included RBI singles from Gallagher and senior infielder Jenna Laird.

Missouri punctuated the win with two more runs in the sixth inning. One of the runs came on a solo home run from Abruscato, the first of her career.

The shut out was shared between three pitchers: Harrison, McCann and sophomore Taylor Pannell. The trio struck out eight batters while allowing seven hits. 

This four-game winning streak has propelled Missouri to 29-7 on the season. The Tigers return home for a double-header against Southeast Missouri on Wednesday, April 3. Missouri hits the road afterwards for a series against rival-Arkansas from April 5-7.

Edited by Michael Stamps

Copy edited by Grace Knight

Edited by Genevieve Smith | gsmith@themaneater.com