RALEIGH, N.C. - The #19/20 Mizzou Tiger softball team showed Saturday night that they have plenty of power in their lineup, as Coach Ehren Earleywine's squad swatted a season-high five home runs to pace MU's 12-4 win in five innings over Longwood at the N.C. State Hyatt Place Invitational. The win improved the Tigers to 18-3 on the season, and the five home runs tied a school single-game record, matching the mark achieved four times previously (last time on Feb. 15, 2013 vs. UC-Santa Barbara).
The five big flies gave Mizzou 15 in its last seven games alone, after the Tigers hit a combined 11 home runs in their first 14 games of the season. Sophomore C Kirsten Mack (Riverside, Calif.) was the main culprit Saturday, as she smacked a career-best two home runs and drove in three as part of a 3-for-3 night. Her first homer, a solo shot to deep center that led off the top of the third, gave MU a 6-1 lead. In Mack's next at-bat, she homered to left with one on in the fourth to make it 10-1, giving her six home runs this season, tying her for the team lead with junior C Sami Fagan (Dunnellon, Fla.).
Mack was joined in the long ball party by senior 1B Kelsea Roth (Yorba Linda, Calif.), freshman 3B Amanda Sanchez (West Covina, Calif.) and senior C Alyssa Cousins (Carrollton, Texas). Roth hit a solo shot to lead off the top of the second, while Sanchez gave MU an 8-1 lead with a two-run blast to left center field in the fourth and Cousins followed with a two-run shot of her own in the fifth (her first career home run) to make it 12-2 at the time.
Roth's shot gave MU a 2-1 lead and was her fourth of the season, and fourth in her last six games. It was the 35th career homer for Roth, moving her into sixth place on Mizzou's career chart.
The Tigers jumped to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, on an RBI groundout by senior SS Corrin Genovese (East Amherst, N.Y.). Her run-producing grounder scored junior CF Taylor Gadbois (Maryville, Mo.), who opened the inning with a double and later moved to third base on a passed ball. Longwood answered in their half of the inning with a solo home run to tie the game at 1-1.
Mizzou's lead would grow to 5-1 in the second inning as Mizzou would load the bases after Roth's homer, and score three more times on bases-loaded walks to junior RF Emily Crane (Troy, Mo.), Genovese and Sanchez.
The offensive fireworks were more than enough for sophomore RHP Tori Finucane (Germantown, Md.), as she got the win to improve to 8-3 on the season. Finucane worked 3.0 innings and allowed one run on two hits while striking out four. Sophomore RHP Cheyenne Baxter pitched the final two innings, and allowed three runs, but all three were unearned due to Tiger errors.
Mizzou was originally scheduled to play two games Saturday, with single tilts against Binghamton and North Carolina State. Rain forced a cancellation of several games in the tournament, however, including Mizzou's game with Binghamton. The Tigers will conclude their tournament play against North Carolina State Sunday at approximately 10:45 a.m. central time.