April 18, 2014
By MUTigers.com softball reporter Walt Scher (@Ctrl_Walt_Dlt)
No. 13 Mizzou Softball (32-12, 9-6 SEC) welcomes Ole Miss (22-22, 3-12 SEC) to Columbia, Mo., this weekend in the second-to-last home weekend series for the Tigers. In five previous matchups, the Tigers are 5-0 against the Rebels, including a weekend series sweep on the road last year in March. In that three-game series, head coach Ehren Earleywine's team outscored Ole Miss 29-1, including five-inning, shutout wins with 11-0 and 12-0 scores.
After dropping their first two SEC series of the season at No. 13 Texas A&M and against No. 9 Kentucky, the Tigers have responded by winning 16 of their last 21 games, including three SEC series victories, most recently a road sweep of No. 20 Auburn. With freshman IF/OF Kelli Schkade (Albany, Texas) earning last week's SEC Freshman of the Week honors and junior IF Corrin Genovese (East Amherst, N.Y.) leading the SEC in batting average in conference play (.462), Mizzou's bats have been red hot as of late.
Meanwhile, Ole Miss enters the weekend coming off of a Tuesday (Apr. 15) doubleheader sweep of Alcorn State. The Rebels have also lost back-to-back SEC series to Kentucky and South Carolina. Their Friday night opener against Kentucky was an extra-innings affair that resulted in an 11-4 loss in 10 innings. Senior pitcher Carly Hummel (10-9, 3.07 ERA) pitched 8.2 innings in the game, giving up three earned runs while striking out six.
Hummel is a familiar foe for the Tigers, as she made starts in two of last year's wins for Mizzou. The Tigers scored nine runs in her 5.1 innings in those two starts. With 21 starts in the Rebels' 44 games this season, seeing Hummel in the circle this weekend is almost a guarantee. Sophomore pitcher Madi Osias was the other Rebel pitcher to make a start in last year's series, and she also appeared in an additional game. Between those two games, she pitched 1.0 inning, giving up six earned runs on one hit and six walks. While walks may have been an issue for Osias last year, she has only walked 24 batters in 35.2 innings so far this season.
As is noticeable in the +28 run-differential from last year's series, the Tiger hitters had a lot of success against Rebel pitching. Sophomore OF Emily Crane (Troy, Mo.) sparked the Tigers' offense, going 4-for-7 with an RBI from the leadoff spot in all three games. Junior 3B Angela Randazzo (Poway, Calif.) and junior 1B Kelsea Roth (Yorba Linda, Calif.) also had big impacts in the series from the corner infield spots. Roth went 3-for-8 with three RBI, including a two-run home run, while Randazzo exploded for eight RBI while also going 3-for-8. For this season's meeting, Genovese and redshirt sophomore OF Taylor Gadbois (Maryville, Mo.) will look to continue their hot streaks, as well.
Genovese, as mentioned earlier, has found her groove at the plate ever since conference play began, will pair that with her outstanding defense. Gadbois is perhaps the biggest and most welcome surprise of the season for the Tigers, batting .451, good for a Top 3 ranking in the SEC and Top 10, nationally. Senior OF Mackenzie Sykes (Blue Springs, Mo.) is in the midst of a career year in her final campaign for the Tigers, batting .315 with a career-high eight home runs and 47 RBI, both team highs. On a young team, Sykes' leadership is evident on the field and in the dugout and becomes even more important late in the season.
The Rebel offense is led by a trio of upperclassmen in junior infielder Allison Brown, senior outfielder RT Cantillo and senior first baseman Londen Ladner. While Ole Miss was no-hit in two of the three games last year, the trio combined to go 3-for-10 with the only RBI in the third game. This season, those hitters have put up some impressive numbers. Cantillo leads the team and is second in the SEC with a .467 average from the leadoff spot with a .544 on-base percentage, while also scoring a team-high 30 runs. Once Cantillo is on base, Brown and Ladner get to work. Brown leads the team with 15 extra-base hits with a .351 average and is second on the team with 27 RBI.
While the Mizzou pitching staff is young and has not seen the Rebel hitters this season, their recent success is certainly a point of confidence. The two-headed freshman pitching attack of Tori Finucane (Germantown, Md.) (14-5, 1.86 ERA) and Casey Stangel (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) (13-7, 3.10 ERA) seem to get more comfortable in the circle with each start. Senior pitcher Alora Marble (Jefferson City, Mo.) joins them in gobbling up innings for Missouri and has had recent success in SEC play. Marble picked up the first two SEC wins of her career last weekend at Auburn. She appeared in relief in the last two games of the series, combining to pitch 6.2 innings while giving up only one earned run.
The Tigers currently stand tied for fourth in the SEC standings, just one game behind Kentucky for third and two behind Tennessee for second. Conference games will undoubtedly become more important down the stretch of the 2014 season. The action begins tonight at University Field with a doubleheader kicking off at 5 p.m., with the second game starting at 7 p.m. The series finale is slated for Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.