Here's why Missouri softball pulled ace Laurin Krings in 9th inning of loss to Duke

D’Auna Jennings had just broken the deadlock. Duke, in the ninth inning, scored the game’s first run in the bottom of the ninth. The center fielder silenced the stadium. She said that, to her, it felt loud inside Mizzou Softball Stadium.

In the silence and with the season teetering, Missouri softball coach Larissa Anderson made a choice.

She pulled ace Laurin Krings after the lone blemish on her line. It was near enough the lone blemish in the remarkable postseason of the senior that saw her start seven straight games and navigate the Tigers through elimination game after elimination game.

Duke tacked on three more runs to give MU a mountain to climb — a summit the Tigers nearly scaled with a three-run home run in the bottom half of the inning. The Blue Devils held on for a 4-3, nine-inning win, a NCAA Columbia Super Regional victory …

… And a trip to Oklahoma City for the Women’s College World Series.

There was little questioning the Tigers' ability to show grit — their ability to keep the season running when it looked more likely to end. Missouri, entering Sunday, had won five straight games with elimination on the line.

But if the team-wide resolve was MU’s heart, Krings was the soul. When she was pulled, she had gone eight innings with four hits, three strikeouts and one earned run. Before Jennings’ blast, she had retired 16 straight Blue Devils just to keep MU standing.

So, why did her start — and ultimately her MU career — end early?

“Fourth time through the lineup, and when we are going through the lineup and then when Jennings was up, I knew this was going to be the tough part — getting through those top three,” Anderson said. “And as soon as they hit the home run it was really time to make a change to change the momentum. It just didn't work in our favor.

“But I mean the effort’s always there and the attention to detail and the commitment, I mean, they give everything they have all the time. Sometimes the ball just doesn't go your way.”

On numerous occasions throughout the postseason, Anderson has said Krings wouldn’t let the coach take the ball away from her.

In that moment, she figured it was time.

“I think she knew,” Anderson said. “I mean, it was nine innings and she gave up that home run. So it's kind of (time) to pass the baton.”

The super regional began to unravel for MU after Krings exited.

Duke designated player Francesca Frelick drew a hit-by-pitch off MU reliever Taylor Pannell, and then Amiah Burgess tripled her teammate home. Third baseman Ana Gold hit an RBI-double to take Pannell out of the circle. Marissa McCann entered, and Duke catcher Kelly Torres hit an RBI-double to make it 4-0.

It ends a four-year career that saw Krings play 135 times with 100 starts. She has a 57-33 record, and has struck out 596 players in 596.2 innings.

Also leaving the Tigers is shortstop Jenna Laird, who started 246 straight games for Mizzou; second baseman Maddie Gallagher; and center fielder Alex Honnold.

A mighty Missouri comeback attempt in the bottom of the ninth made the super-regional finale interesting. Freshman first baseman Abby Hay crunched an opposite-field, three-run home run to score Laird and Honnold.

Third baseman Kara Daly singled to put the tying run on base. Freshman Madison Walker leathered a liner to the outfield, but it was met by Jennings in center field to put the game to bed.

It means Mizzou will tack on at least another year in its wait for a return to the World Series. The Tigers haven’t been to OKC since 2011. Under Anderson, who took over in 2019, they’ve fallen in the super regional round twice.

Krings’ career will end without a trip to college softball’s premier stage.

Not without a fight, mind you.

As Duke starter Cassidy Curd kept stifling Missouri’s bats, Krings kept coming up with an answer.

“She's phenomenal,” Curd said. “To shut down our offense for that long is incredible.”

She’d been doing that just about all postseason long. She threw 364 pitches in two days to carry Mizzou out of a hole in the regional round. She held Duke to two hits in 4⅔ innings in a Saturday win. The run will go down as one of the more memorable individual performances in recent Missouri athletics history.

“She trusts everybody on the team and everyone who's behind her that she's gonna give everything she possibly can until she doesn't have anything left. And that's what she's done, really, all year long,” Anderson said. “But I think it was really showcased how tough and gritty she is and how proud she is in the last two weeks.”

Laird said postgame “she is Mizzou.”

And she was to the end.

“She's done everything for us,” Laird said. “I mean, we couldn't be here at this game right now if it weren't for her. So I mean, just knowing that I'm behind her watching her pitch her butt off every single day, I mean, that's just something that I would live and die for as well.”

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Why Laurin Krings didn't finish Duke loss in circle after memorable postseason