With all eyes on the Columbia-hosted NCAA regional, the No. 9-seeded Missouri Tigers (43-12) opened their hopeful NCAA tournament run with a 6-0 win against the Illinois State Redbirds (35-21).
Redshirt junior Chelsea Thomas pitched six strong innings, allowing only two hits and ringing up six Redbirds on her way to her first victory of the postseason.
Thomas struggled to place her pitches early, letting the leadoff runner get on base in the top of the first and ultimately letting her reach third base on a pass ball.
“I wouldn’t say it was my best outing of the year, but luckily we have a couple more games coming up this weekend,” Thomas said. “I had trouble finding the strike zone with my drop ball.”
Despite the runner on third, Thomas notched two strikeouts to neutralize the Redbird threat and cruise to an easy victory.
Senior right fielder Ashley Fleming put Missouri on the board devastatingly early, roping a two-RBI double to left center field in the bottom of the first inning. Her shot jumpstarted a Missouri offense that picked up nine hits during the day.
Freshman left fielder Kayla Kingsley started the bottom of the fifth by reaching first on a slap bunt, then took third base on an ISU throwing error on fellow freshman and shortstop Corrin Genovese’s grounder.
Kingsley got caught in a rundown between third and home when ISU catcher Caiti Kopp scooped up freshman Ashtin Stephens’ hit and tagged Kingsley out. Genovese scored one batter later on a deep sacrifice fly to left field.
The Tigers tore the game open in the bottom of the sixth, scoring three more runs and keeping the bases loaded for the majority of the inning. Fleming crushed a line-drive single to right field to start the inning. The Silex native went 2-3 with two RBI and a run scored.
Freshman first baseman Kelsea Roth lofted her seventh home run of the year over the left field fence, giving Missouri a 5-0 lead late in the game. Roth said she was intimidated by the scale of the game, but settled down and focused after her first at-bat.
“I was just trying to keep it going,” she said. “(Fleming) got on with a base hit, and I was just hoping to do the same. I got a little bit more than that, but that’s what I was looking for.”
The Tigers followed the blast with three singles to load the bases. Freshman Angela Randazzo came in to pinch-hit and blooped a single to right field, scoring junior third baseman Nicole Hudson and pushing the score to 6-0.
Freshman pitcher Bailey Erwin closed the door on the Redbirds in the seventh, striking out two and throwing 16 of her 17 pitches as strikes.
Coach Ehren Earleywine said he was satisfied with the team’s performance at the plate.
“We had a game plan, we stuck to it, and even our outs were good outs,” he said. “With Chelsea Thomas as your pitcher, anytime you can score runs in bunches like we did tonight, you have a very good chance to win. That’s a wonderful start for this team in the postseason.”
Missouri will face DePaul at 3 p.m. Saturday at University Field. The Blue Demons stole a victory from the Massachusetts Minutewomen 3-0 in the opening game of the regional Friday afternoon.
DePaul and Missouri are two teams who are more than familiar with each other in the postseason. Though DePaul scored a surprise win against Missouri in last season’s Columbia regional, the Tigers ultimately advanced after defeating Illinois State and topping DePaul in their second and third meetings.
“I don’t think there’s any revenge factor at all, I think we’ve just got a lot of respect for their team,” Earleywine said. “I’m confident in my team, especially after tonight. I like where we’re at.”
