Missouri softball earns No. 7 seed in 2024 NCAA Softball Tournament, can host Super Regional
The tournament is coming to town.
Missouri softball will host an NCAA Regional as the No. 7 overall national seed.
That makes the Tigers the top seed in the double-elimination event in Columbia, where MU will open play against fourth-seeded Omaha (41-13) on Friday. No. 2-seed Indiana and No. 3-seed Washington also will compete in the regional at Mizzou Softball Stadium.
It’s the third time in the past four seasons that a regional will be hosted in Columbia. Missouri hosted a live watch party at Missouri football’s Memorial Stadium to watch the NCAA selection show, which aired live on ESPN2.
The winner of the Columbia Regional will face the advancing team from the Durham Regional — which includes national No. 10 seed Duke; Morgan State; Utah; and South Carolina — in the super regional round. Mizzou would host the super regional round if it advances.
The Tigers made it to the SEC Softball Tournament championship, where it lost 6-1 against Florida on Saturday in Auburn, Alabama. Mizzou defeated Ole Miss, Arkansas and LSU on its road to the title game.
More: Missouri softball falls to big-hitting Florida in SEC Softball Tournament championship
Missouri, which will take a 43-15 record into the regional, has more wins under its belt in 2024 than in any other season under coach Larissa Anderson, who took over the program in 2019.
Mizzou last made it to the super regional round in 2021, when it hosted the event. The Tigers’ season has ended in the regional round every other full season since 2017. The Tigers last advanced to the Women’s College World Series in 2011.
Heading into regionals, led by Laurin Krings, Cierra Harrison, Marissa McCann and Taylor Pannell, Missouri holds the No. 13 team ERA in the nation this season at 2.05. Pannell needs one more save to tie the NCAA Division-I single-season record of 15.
Jenna Laird and Alex Honnold hold .340+ batting averages this season at the top of the MU lineup, but the Tigers rank 164th in the country with a .268 team average at the plate.
More: Does Florida softball winning SEC Tournament mean Gators will make WCWS? Recent history suggest so
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Missouri softball earns No. 7 seed in NCAA Tournament, can host Super Regional
