Missouri softball walks off Omaha in NCAA Regional championship, will host super regional
The Tigers scrapped and clawed. They stuck around and stuck it out.
Missouri softball looked the end in the eye four times.
And, at their home regional, they held their gaze.
Missouri softball, the No. 7 national seed, advanced out of the NCAA Columbia Regional, walking off Omaha for a 1-0, nine-inning win in the championship on Sunday at Mizzou Softball Stadium — the Tigers’ second win over the Mavericks of the day and their fourth straight win. Laurin Krings tossed a near superhuman game with 15 strikeouts in the complete-game shutout.
The Mizzou ace just needed someone to step up and lend a hand.
That came from pinch-hitter Madison Walker with two outs in the ninth, as she drove home Alex Honnold.
Mizzou now will host an NCAA Super Regional next weekend, when it will face the winner of the NCAA Durham Regional — No. 10 national seed Duke.
When the lineups were announced for the second game Sunday — which started 35 minutes after the last out in the opener — it became clear that Missouri was riding its ace all the way to the end …
Bitter or blissful.
Laurin Krings didn’t leave much doubt which way that pendulum was going to swing.
With 236 pitches already in tow over 16 innings in which she surrendered just two earned runs on 11 combined hits, the starter for the fourth straight game came out firing.
Krings struck out seven Omaha players by the time she drew the curtains on the third inning. She retired 12 of the first 14 Mavericks she faced. At the first sign of danger, after allowing a pair of singles in the third, Krings got the other three to strikeout swinging, more often than not at her made-you-look-silly changeup.
Krings struck out two more as she took down the Mavs in order in the sixth. She added three more for good measure in a scoreless top of the seventh.
The ace finished the nine innings with four hits, one walk and 15 strikeouts. Oh … and she shut the Mavericks out, meaning her regional total stayed at two over 25 total innings.
Krings just needed some run support, which MU was — as has been a common woe against Omaha this week — struggling to do.
Omaha starter Sydney Nuismer allowed a leadoff single, but didn’t put another Tiger on base until the sixth inning.
Missouri couldn't get anyone across in regulation innings. The Tigers missed a chance with two on base in the eighth.
Then, Alex Honnold walked, Abby Hay singled and Julia Crenshaw's groundout advanced the runners to second and third.
Walker stepped up. She faced an 0-2 pitch.
She belted it right up the middle. Honnold made it home.
That was all MU needed.
On Friday night, that seemed like a lost cause. Missouri lost its opening game of the regional to the Mavericks. It needed to fend off — and did — Indiana and Washington just to reach the championship day of the event.
Four times it could have gone wrong.
Four times it didn’t.
Mizzou is moving on. Laurin Krings, and a whole bunch of resolve, made sure of that.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Missouri softball walks off Omaha in NCAA Regional final, will host super regional
