A five-run rally, a triple off the wall and six innings of pitching dominance were enough to narrowly win Missouri its Wednesday night game against UCF, 6-5.
Freshman shortstop Jenna Laird tripled in the fourth inning. The hit seemed less important amid Missouri’s powerful lineup, but it proved to be the game’s most crucial hit.
Laird kept her hands back and drove a pitch high and away to left field and off the base of the wall. At the crack of the bat, Laird got on her horse and slid into third just in time to beat the throw.
Senior outfielder Brooke Wilmes and the heart of the order seemed poised to start another rally, as Wilmes hit a grounder up the middle that the second baseman, senior Justene Molina, fired home a perfect throw home too late to put out the speeding Laird. The Tigers took the lead, 6-5, and didn’t lose it.
Surprisingly, neither team would score for the remainder of the game, as dominant pitching performances would replace the powerful offense from the early innings.
Missouri erupted first in the second inning, hitting three home runs and plating five runs in four at-bats. Leading 5-0 and with sophomore pitcher Jordan Weber dominating the Knights, it looked like the Tigers would seal the game for their seventh win of the season.
They lost that lead because of two pitches.
In her first two innings of work, Weber gave up one bunt single. She combined high pitches above the hands and low pitches below the knees, limiting the UCF offense from making solid contact.
This continued into the third inning, but UCF slipped another bunt single and a weak grounder behind the pitcher’s mound to put pressure on the Tigers.
With the heart of the order up, Weber gave one bad pitch to senior shortstop Georgia Blair who homered to bring the Knights within two. After sophomore third baseman Jada Cody walked, Weber threw a solid pitch down in the zone, but sophomore designated hitter Shannon Doherty dropped her hands and extended her barrel to tie the game with her own two-run home run.
Sophomore pitcher Megan Schumacher replaced Weber following Doherty’s blast.
With a runner on third base, Schumacher gave up a deep shot to left-center field, but a catch at the wall by senior outfielder Cayla Kessinger prevented any more damage.
Throughout the course of the game, the Tigers combined for 71 strikes on 111 pitches, while the Knights threw 83 strikes of their 144 pitches. The Knights’ pitchers struggled to get ahead of hitters and allowed the Tigers to wait for better pitches, while Weber and Schumacher attacked the zone and kept pitches away from the heart of the plate.
After Weber’s departure, Schumacher threw 2.1 innings of shutout baseball, allowing only one hit and no walks, throwing into the sixth inning before giving the ball to sophomore pitcher Emma Nichols.
Nichols threw two perfect innings, thanks in part to an impressive defensive effort by the Tigers.
With senior outfielder Denali Schappacher up and a runner on first, Nichols entered the game for a left-on-left matchup. Schappacher tried a drag bunt but just missed the pitch. Senior catcher Hatti Moore nearly threw out senior infielder Takiya London on a back-pick to first, but just missed her.
On the next pitch, London took off to second as Schappacher pulled back her second bunt attempt. Moore fired the ball to second right into the path of London’s slide, getting her out on a perfect throw.
This play ended the Knights scoring opportunity, as a great play from junior second baseman Kendall Bailey in the hole at second base and Nichols glove-flip on a small grounder into no-man’s land between the pitcher’s circle and first ended the inning.
Nichols would close the game for the Tigers, as the Knights tried desperately to get runners on base to set up the top of their lineup.
Nichols displayed her own pitching prowess as she kept pitches down in the zone and forced UCF to settle for breaking pitches down and away. She fielded two ground balls and struck out a batter for the last three outs.
The Tigers will play in the South Alabama Invitational this weekend barring any more schedule changes, opening on Friday with a double-header against Middle Tennessee State and South Alabama.
_Edited by Jack Soble | jsoble@themaneater.com_