March 22, 2003
LUBBOCK, Texas - The University of Missouri Tiger softball team started off Big 12 play on a positive note as they beat the Texas Tech Red Raiders 6-4 in Lubbock, Texas this afternoon. The Tigers move to 16-11 on the year and 1-0 in Big 12 play.
The Tigers started off the scoring in the top of the first inning with a two-out rally. Tiger Heather Kunkel started things off with a two-out single and after a Rachael McGinnis walk, Morgan LeCluyse singled to bring home Kunkel. The Tigers added two more runs on a Daisy Mettlach single that scored McGinnis and LeCluyse. Mettlach added another RBI in the third when she singled in Kunkel.
In the fifth inning junior Rachael McGinnis hit a two-run home run off Tech reliever Amie Stines to give the Tigers a 6-1 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth inning. The Red Raiders scored three runs on an unusual play in the bottom of the fifth in which single by Tech catcher Elyssa Sigala singled home two runs and came around to score herself on an errant throw by catcher Daisy Mettlach which rolled to the center field wall. Tiger senior Ingrid Werner came into the game in bottom of the fifth and shut down the Raiders allowing only one hit in two innings of work for the save. Starter Erin Kalka pitched well in five innings of work allowing four runs on nine hits and she struck out three.
Missouri head coach Ty Singleton said, "The mistakes we made were because we were over aggresive when we were trying to make plays and that's what I prefer. I think Ingrid did a good job of shutting down the Texas Tech rally. It was good to start conference play with a victory." The Tigers conclude their series with Texas Tech tomorrow at 1:00p.m. at Rocky Johnson Field in Lubbock,Texas