Missouri softball was swept this past weekend in a three-game series against the No. 14 South Carolina Gamecocks. The Tigers gave up a total of 20 runs while managing to score only eight over the three days in Columbia, South Carolina. This is the second time the Tigers have been swept in a Southeastern Conference series matchup this season.

This comes after the Tigers won their first conference series of the season the weekend prior against Auburn, winning two games before the third was canceled. Tired and outmatched this past weekend, the Tigers were not able to get much of anything going pitching or scoring wise. After things were starting to look better for the Tigers, they are now 24-24 after being swept and are just 6-14 in conference play.

The Tigers’ pitchers could not get anything going, with freshman Lauren Rice being the only pitcher to not give up any runs. Out of the 20 runs scored against them, six were home runs. Rice and redshirt junior Madi Norman both surrendered six runs in single games, the most of the series.

Missouri’s offense couldn’t keep up with the Gamecocks either. The Tiger bats were inconsistent, despite getting on base frequently with 22 hits over three days and three homers in the series by a trio of Tigers.

Redshirt junior Amanda Sanchez hit another home run, her 10th of the season. It is the second time in her Mizzou career that she has reached double-digit homers in a single season, the last being her freshman year in 2015.

“It was a tough weekend,” head coach Gina Fogue said in a press release. “We had a promising start for much of Friday’s series opener, but after some late struggles that night South Carolina really took control the rest of the way … We need to re-focus quickly as we have a couple big mid-week doubleheaders coming up that will be pivotal towards our postseason aspirations.”

The Tigers have seven games left before the SEC Tournament, with their next matchup in Macomb, Illinois, for a two-game series against Western Illinois on April 25.

_Edited by Bennett Durando | bdurando@themaneater.com_