Missouri softball went undefeated in the South Alabama Invitational during the weekend, but their game was not without its flaws. The bottom of the lineup put together a dominant showing, while the top of the lineup struggled with consistency all weekend.

Freshman utility player Alex Honnold, never hitting above the six hole, put together the best offensive weekend, going nine for 15 with four runs batted in and five runs scored.

Honnold put together two multi-hit games, but her best performance came against South Alabama. She finished three for three, drove in two runs and scored another in the win.

The freshman’s performance highlighted the even better performances from the hitters around her.

The bottom half of the lineup hit .441, had an on-base percentage of .500 and scored 18 runs during the weekend: all greater than or equal to the top half of Missouri’s lineup.

The Tigers were especially potent in the last three games of the tournament, hitting .542 (19-35) and scoring 12 runs.

The bottom half of the lineup helped drive Missouri in its second game against Middle Tennessee and against SIUE; they were responsible for 10 of the Tigers’ 14 runs during those two games.

The only thing their performance lacked was RBIs. They didn’t drive in more runs than the top half, but they could put runners on base. They hit six doubles and also managed to steal six bases.

Despite its dreadful hitting, the top half of the lineup still managed to drive in runs. It posted just five hits in 31 at-bats against SIUE and Middle Tennessee but drove in a run on four of them.

Senior third baseman Kim Wert drove in six runs and hit two home runs over the course of the weekend; she also had two games in which she didn’t get a single hit.

Senior outfielder Cayla Kessinger batted even more sporadically. She had three hitless games while also driving in four runs, scoring three and walking four times.

Senior catcher Hatti Moore didn’t have one multi-hit game and had no hits in her last two games.

These performances didn’t hurt the team over the weekend because the Tigers played teams that didn’t have their firepower, nor the pitching that could withstand that firepower. But against top-tier SEC teams, the Tigers cannot expect to win games with the top of the order performing at such an inconsistent level.

_Edited by Kyle Pinnell | kpinnell@themaneater.com_