COLUMBIA, S.C. - A first-inning grand slam by freshman 3B Amanda Sanchez (West Covina, Calif.) gave the #20/21 Missouri Tiger Softball team a quick 4-0 lead Sunday evening at South Carolina, and that blast propelled Mizzou to a 9-3 win. Mizzou improved to 12-3 overall on the season, and 2-0 in SEC play, as they are guaranteed a series win in their league-opening weekend, while South Carolina fell to 17-7 and 0-2.
Five batters into the game, Mizzou had the bases loaded for Sanchez, after a one-out single by junior RF Emily Crane (Troy, Mo.), followed by a double from junior 2B Sami Fagan (Dunnellon, Fla.) and a walk to senior SS Corrin Genovese (East Amherst, N.Y.). On a 1-1 pitch, Sanchez lofted a high drive to left field, and the ball cleared the wall for her second homer of the season, and MU's first grand slam of the year.
That would be all sophomore starter Tori Finucane (Germantown, Md.) would need, as she turned in an effective 5.0 innings of work to improve to 4-3 on the season. Finucane struck out four Gamecock batters and allowed three hits and one earned run while throwing an economical 53 pitches.
Fagan would drill her team-best fifth home run of the season to lead off the third inning to give the Tigers a 5-0 lead. She would later plate a run with a single in the sixth to give Mizzou a 6-1 lead, and ended the night 3-for-5 with two RBI and three runs scored.
Genovese went 3-for-3 hitting cleanup Sunday, marking her second-straight three-hit game of the series. Her single in the sixth pushed MU's lead to 7-1. South Carolina scored twice in the bottom of the sixth to cut the Tiger lead to 7-3, but Coach Ehren Earleywine's squad responded with two in the top of the seventh to make it 9-3 and account for the final score. Crane, who was 2-for-5 on the evening, drove in both runs in the frame on an infield single that scored senior 1B Kelsea Roth (Yorba Linda, Calif.) from third, and freshman OF Morgan Walters (Buford, Ga.) from second, and she came all the way around and slid under the tag on a play at the plate.
Sophomore RHP Cheyenne Baxter (Norborne, Mo.) worked the final two innings and struck out three batters while allowing two hits and two runs (one earned).
Mizzou will go for the sweep tomorrow evening in the series finale, scheduled for a 6 p.m. (central time) first pitch. The game will be telecast live on the SEC Network, and live audio will also be available on www.mixlr.com/Mizzou-Softball/.