Feb. 27, 2005
Closing out the third day of the Louisville Courtyard Marriott Red & Black Classic with a morning game against Iowa, the No. 24 Missouri softball team outpowered Iowa 3-1 in eight innings winning with an eighth inning homer by redshirt freshman Micaela Minner (Sanger, Texas). The Tigers improved to 11-2 on the season and finished the tournament with a 4-1 record.
Missouri answered Iowa's one run fifth inning lead in the top of the sixth as leadoff hitter Jen Bruck (St. Peters, Mo.) walked to first and advanced to second off of a single to left field by redshirt freshman Micaela Minner (Sanger, Texas). After a pop up by freshman Amanda Renth (Mascoutah, Ill.) senior shortstop Heather Kunkel came through pounding a double down the right field line to drive in Bruck for the game-tying run. The double was Kunkel's fourth of the season and second of the three-day tournament. The inning came to a close as back-to-back MU batters struck out looking.
After Bruck tossed five complete innings and struck out four batters, sophomore Erica Peterson Peterson (Irving, Texas) entered the game in the bottom of the sixth to help shutdown the Cyclones and earn her seventh win of the season. The lefty twirled three innings, mowing down seven batters including the final three outs of the eighth inning. Peterson had a three inning no hitter and now owns a .67 ERA.
Sophomore second baseman Sarah Stringer (Auxvasse, Mo.) made a huge diving save in the bottom of the seventh inning to keep Iowa from getting the go-ahead run on base. Facing down her seventh batter of the game, Peterson struck out Iowa pitcher Lisa Birocci on a full count to send the game into extra innings.
Entering the eighth inning with sophomore Leanne Bowers (Arnold, Mo.) placed on second base, as per the international tie breaker rule, Minner came up and smashed her sixth homer of the season well over the right field fence. The bomb ties Minner for eighth in the MU season home run record book with former Tigers Lisa Burke (1981) and Karen Persinger (1995).
The No. 24 Tigers will travel to Evansville, Ind., Wednesday, March 2, for a 5 p.m., game with the Evansville Purple Aces. Missouri leads the all-time series 6-0.