March 1, 2002
San Diego, Calif.-The University of Missouri softball team is currently in the midst of a 12-game-in-10-day road stretch. The Tigers played in the first day of the Strawberry Cup in Plant City, Fla., on Friday dropping two games to Central Michigan University. Head coach Jay Miller said that Mizzou needs to improve offensive their offensive production.
"We had several chances to take these games today and just couldn't capitalize," Miller said. "We have two important days coming up and we need to improve our execution and our run production."
The Tigers jumped out to 3-0 first-inning lead against the Chippewas in Game 1. Starter Ingrid Werner (3-2) was excellent holding Central Michigan scoreless through three innings. However, CMU would explode for five runs in the fourth inning (three off of Werner and two off of Veronica Flournoy) and held Mizzou to one more run the rest of the way taking the game, 5-4. Sophomore Morgan LeCluyse and senior Mary McGrane would both go 2-for-3 while McGrane drove in her seventh, eighth and ninth runs of the season in the loss.
Mizzou fell victim to an outstanding pitching performance in the second game of the day against the Chippewas. CMU's Amber Puchalski pitched seven strong innings giving up only one hit (a seventh inning RBI double by sophomore Rachael McGinnis) taking the win, 2-1. McGinnis has hit safely in 15 of the Tigers 16 games this season and the seventh inning double extended her seven game hitting streak. Freshman Erin Kalka (3-4) was the tough luck loser despite pitching six strong innings scattering seven hits, giving up only two runs while striking out seven.
Tigers are now 6-10 overall and will face South Carolina at 11 am and Michigan at 1:30 on Saturday. For more information on Tiger Softball, log on to www.mutigers.com.