Tiger Softball Team Heads to Big 12 Championships
5/9/2006 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 9, 2006
After completing the regular season with back-to-back losses to then-No. 14 Nebraska, the seventh-seeded Missouri softball team returns to the 11th annual Big 12 Championships, May 10-13, in Oklahoma City, Okla. Opening with a 5 p.m. (CST) game on Wednesday, May 10, on Field 4 against 10th-seeded Texas Tech, Missouri is looking for its third straight trip to the title game and second Big 12 title since the creation of the league in 1996. Live stats will be provided for all of Missouri's games via GameTracker at mutigers.com.
Although the Big 12 Conference is celebrating its 10 year anniversary, the sports of softball, baseball and track and field are one year ahead and into their 11th season of competition. Created in 1996, the first Big 12 Championship event was softball and Oklahoma claimed the first title. Missouri won its first and only Big 12 title in school history during the 1997 softball season.
Five of the 10 teams entering this year's Championship are ranked among the top 25 in the nation, with Texas holding the highest spot at No. 2. Texas clinched the league's regular season title with a 15-2 record in conference action, dropping games to Texas A&M, 4-2, and Kansas, 1-0. Missouri finished the season with a 7-11 record and seventh place league standing.
Fourteen members of the 2006 Missouri softball team were a part of last season's run for the Big 12 title, with six of those 14 also a part of the 2004 Big 12 Championship game. The Tigers are 17-6 in the past 10 years at the Big 12 Championships, and went 4-2 in last year's annual event, playing three games on the final day of competition.
Missouri has played Texas Tech twice in Big 12 post season play, winning both games by a score of 5-2 (1999) and 1-0 (2000). The Tigers are 7-7 in Big 12 Championship games against the other four teams on Missouri's side of the bracket, No. 2 Nebraska (1-4), No. 3 Baylor (3-2), No. 6 Kansas (1-1) and No. 10 Texas Tech (2-0), but 3-5 in 2006 regular season action.
Wednesday's game marks the fourth meeting this season between Missouri and Texas Tech. Up 16-12 in the all-time series, the Tigers suffered an 8-3 loss to the Red Raiders at the Worth Wildcat Invitational in Tucson, Ariz., but rebounded with 7-5 and 2-1 victories at home, April 29-30.
