As the TV crews packed up their cameras, the fans filed out and the lights came down on University Field for the last time this season, it was hard not to think the night should have ended in jubilation and excitement for the No. 9 Missouri Tigers instead of exhaustion and tears.
The Tigers’ season closed Sunday evening after a 3-1 loss from Louisiana State University in the Columbia Super Regional title game. Missouri (47-14) was eliminated from postseason play and missed its chance to advance to a fourth straight Women’s College World Series.
The loss was a tough pill to swallow for redshirt junior pitcher Chelsea Thomas after pitching 12 innings to win the first game of the day to force the series-deciding game three.
“I was actually really excited to start the third game,” she said. “We all talked about if we came out and won the second game, we could make it in the third game. It just didn’t happen.”
Missouri got on the scoreboard first, taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the second when freshman second baseman Ashtin Stephens knocked down a sacrifice bunt to score freshman left fielder Kayla Kingsley from third base.
After junior catcher Jenna Marston was hit by a pitch to load the bases, senior right fielder Ashley Fleming had the opportunity to solidify the game for the Tigers. Fleming lofted a fly ball to center field, and freshman Corrin Genovese tagged up from third but was gunned down at the plate by LSU center fielder Simone Heyward.
“I hit the ball pretty hard to center field and got doubled up,” Fleming said. “If that’s in the gap, it’s a completely different game.”
Thomas kept LSU at bay until the third inning, when the wheels fell off for Missouri.
After two walks and a hit batter loaded the bases for LSU, Heyward made Thomas pay by crushing a line drive to left-center field and plating all three runners. Heyward was thrown out sliding into third base, but the damage was done.
Coach Ehren Earleywine yanked Thomas in the next inning for freshman Bailey Erwin. In total, Thomas threw 17.1 innings during the three-game series.
Earleywine said there was never a thought of not starting Thomas in game three.
“If you’re coaching that team, you just say, ‘We’re going to throw her until she just can’t throw anymore,’” he said. “It’s just what you have to do.”
The sting of the loss was perhaps amplified by the excitement following the first game on Sunday.
Missouri battled for 12 innings and took the game 5-1. The contest was a three-hour and 42-minute long scrap between Thomas and LSU pitcher Brittany Mack.
After pitching 4.1 innings Saturday, Thomas threw 165 pitches during 11 innings, allowing only five hits and one earned run. The Missouri ace struck out eight and walked only two en route to her 27th victory of the season.
Mack threw all 12 innings of the day’s first game, striking out an astounding 17 Missouri batters, but fell apart in the final frame. Marston took first on a strike-three wild pitch, Fleming singled up the middle and junior third baseman Nicole Hudson was intentionally walked to load the bases with no outs.
Freshman Angela Randazzo hit a chopper to the third baseman, who overthrew the catcher, allowing Marston to score. The ball bounced in foul territory, letting Fleming and Hudson come home and give the Tigers a 4-1 lead. Randazzo then slid in safe under the catcher’s tag after Kingsley slapped a ground ball to the shortstop.
Erwin shut the door on LSU in the bottom of the inning, striking out one.
Fleming and pitcher Kristen Nottelmann are the only graduating seniors on a team that went to the WCWS in the past three seasons.
“I remember everything (Earleywine) had to say about what he was going to do with the program and how he wanted me to be a part of it (as) one of four players to come in with his first recruiting class,” Fleming said. “That was a great opportunity and something I really took pride in. To know that I’ve been able to have a part in that — there’s millions of girls playing softball right now hoping to get that chance, and to know that I got that chance, it’s great.”
