Feb. 16, 2002
Columbia, Mo. The University of Missouri softball team hosted the opening day of the Mizzou Round Robin on Saturday at University field in Columbia. Mizzou went 1-1 on the day falling to Western Illinois, 2-1 in their opening game of the tournament and would then take out Illinois-Chicago, 11-8 in the late game. The Tigers are now 2-4 on the year.
Mizzou continued to suffer from an offensive hangover from last weekends Aztec Invitational in Game 1 against Western Illinois. The Tigers would not score a run until the bottom of the seventh and had a golden opportunity to tie and possibly win the game. With two outs, freshman Heather Kunkel would record one of her two hits in the game a double to center field, which scored senior Erin Erickson who had reached on a single earlier in the stanza. Trailing 2-1 now, senior Mary McGrane would be put aboard via an intentional walk and senior pinch hitter Heather Allister would reach on an error, loading the bases. However, junior Sara Vassmer's nice slap attempt would be scooped up on a great play by WIU third baseman Jessica Rojo and the Tigers would fall to the Westerwinds, 2-1.
However, Mizzou would the kick the tires and light the offensive fires against the UIC Flames in the last game of the day. The Tigers would explode for five runs in the first inning and four in the second to take a 9-3 lead. Fueling the Mizzou offense was Allister's three-run home run and a fifth inning two-run blast by junior Morgan LeCluyse. LeCluyse the best offensive outing of her career on Saturday against the Flames going 2-for-3 with the home run, a single and an RBI while scoring three runs. Senior catcher Mary McGrane was also awesome going 2-for-4 while knocking in three runs. The Tiger attack was balanced as six Tigers had two or more hits and five Tigers drove in runs.
Junior Ingrid Werner applied a bend-but-don't break philosophy giving up 10 hits and 7 runs while striking out four to take the win in 5.0 innings of work. Freshman Veronica Flournoy would slate two quality innings of relief giving up only one hit and one run, as the Tigers would grab the victory.
Mizzou will host Day 2 of the Robin on Sunday with action set to begin at 10 am CST at University Field. The Tigers first action of the day will begin at 12 noon when they take on Rhode Island. Please see below for complete tournament results and schedule. For more information of Mizzou Softball, go to www.mutigers.com.
Feb. 17 10 am CST Western Illinois vs. Illinios-Chicago 12 pm CST Missouri vs. Rhode Island 2 pm CST 3rd vs. 4th 4 pm CST 1st vs. 2ndFeb. 16 Results UIC 14, Rhode Island 3 Western Illinois 7, Rhode Island 5 Western Illinois 2, Missouri 1 Missouri 11, UIC 8