Missouri softball’s offense scored 14 runs across two Saturday games, but it didn’t need to score that many.
The Tigers’ pitching staff dominated Northwestern State and SIU-Edwardsville batters, allowing just one run in 12 innings of work.
Sophomore pitcher Jordan Weber got the nod against Northwestern State. The right-hander threw four shutout innings and allowed five hits. Missouri’s offense did the rest, scoring eight runs as the Tigers cruised to a comfortable 8-0 victory in a shortened five-inning game.
The Tigers scored at least one run in all four of their offensive frames.
Against SIU-Edwardsville, Missouri held a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning. Sophomore southpaw Emma Nichols, who had been dealing throughout the game, walked the first batter of the inning and gave up a single to make it a two-on, nobody out situation. Freshman pitcher Laurin Krings came on and retired each of her next three batters, two of them in strikeout fashion, to maintain a two-run lead.
The Tigers’ offense provided three more insurance runs in the top of the sixth, but they were ultimately unnecessary.
Missouri pitchers struck out eight batters and walked three in game two. Krings got her second win of the season, hurling three no-hit innings.
Relief pitchers didn’t allow a run today. Sophomore pitcher Megan Schumacher, senior right-hander Sophie Dandola and Krings combined to allow just two hits and one walk in five innings.
The pitching performance from today isn’t too much different from what the Tigers have been doing all season long. Through 13 games, Missouri pitching has given up 43 runs — that’s just over three runs per game. The offense has scored fewer runs than that average just once — a 9-2 loss to Florida State in the second game of the season.
Although the offense has also succeeded on days where Missouri struggles to get runs across, a reliable pitching staff like the one that showed up gives the Tigers a better chance to win some of those low-scoring games.
_Edited by Kyle Pinnell | kpinnell@themaneater.com_