Texas two-step didn’t go as smoothly as expected for the No. 11 Missouri softball team last week, as the Tigers lost two consecutive games during their road trip through the Lone Star State. Even though their 24-game win streak came to an end, Missouri went 4-2 on the trip and improved to 28-5 overall.
Missouri continued rolling through Big 12 competition with a sweep of No. 19 Texas Tech in Lubbock, before heading to Denton for a two-game set with North Texas on Wednesday. Sophomore pitcher Chelsea Thomas toed the rubber in the first game, allowing one run on five hits, while striking out 11 over seven innings of work. She got plenty of run support, thanks in part to a three RBI performance from junior Ashley Fleming. Missouri took the first game by a score of 5-1.
Missouri took an early lead again in the second game, spotting UNT two runs in the top of the first inning. But North Texas answered in the bottom of the first by scoring three to take a 3-2 lead, helped by a two-run blast by Mariza Martinez.
Junior pitcher Kristen Nottelmann managed to lock UNT down for the next two innings, but gave up a leadoff walk in the bottom of the fourth that led to a two-run homer for the Mean Green. North Texas added four more runs, and Missouri suffered a 9-2 loss, their first defeat since late February. Nottelman dropped to 11-1 on the year, going six innings, while giving up nine runs on seven hits. The nine runs were the most runs allowed by Missouri this season.
Missouri then traveled to Waco in search of a bounce-back game against the No. 17 Baylor Bears. The conference game quickly turned into a pitching duel between Thomas (13-3) and Baylor’s Whitney Canion (15-4). Jenna Marston and Fleming both scored in the first with two outs to give Missouri an early lead. But that was all the Tigers could manage against Canion, who shut down Missouri over the next six innings with ten strikeouts and no runs.
Meanwhile, Baylor started chipping away at Thomas as the game progressed, plating a run in the third and fifth innings to tie the game. Baylor won the game in the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Megan Turk, scoring Kathy Shelton to give the Bears the 3-2 victory. It was Missouri’s second consecutive loss and their first Big 12 defeat this season.
The last time Missouri lost two straight games was in February, when they lost to Fresno State and California. Determined to end the streak, Missouri came out swinging the next day against the Bears. With a 1-0 lead in the top of the third, sophomore Nicole Hudson smoked a three-run homer around the foul pole to give Missouri a comfortable lead. They didn’t look back, earning a 6-0 win thanks to a complete-game shutout by Thomas.
Missouri (28-5, 5-1) now sits comfortably in second place in the Big 12 standings, trailing only behind No. 9 Texas (31-3, 4-0). The two losses last week were a bit of a letdown, but coach Ehren Earleywine hinted the week before that there was such a thing as a “good loss” that could help motivate an already confident team. Missouri seemed to prove this with that bounce-back win against Baylor, and they’ll need to keep its confidence as Big 12 play rolls on in April.
