COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Softball fell to No. 8 Georgia, 1-0, on Friday afternoon, as both offenses were kept off balance by two great pitching performances.  Friday afternoon's home-opening match saw Georgia's Mary Wilson Avant grab her sixth win this season, Laura Mathis notch her second save, and redshirt senior P Madi Norman drop to 6-5 on the season.

Norman was phenomenal yet again for head coach Larissa Anderson, as she surrendered just four hits and one run, which was unearned. Norman struck out five batters in seven innings of work, marking the ninth time this season the redshirt senior has recorded three or more strikeouts. She now has 48 strikeouts on the year.

Georgia SS Alyssa DiCarlo scored the game's only run in the top of the fifth inning on a two-out fielding error from senior 1B Kolby Romaine. The one unearned run was enough for the Bulldogs to hang on to win 1-0.

TOP TIGERS

• With her single to right field in the first inning, sophomore RF Brooke Wilmes extended her current hitting streak to seven games. She also increased her reached-based streak to 12 games, which stretches back to Feb. 21.
• Freshman OF Danie Garrison's steal in the fourth inning was her seventh of the season. Garrison leads the team in stolen bases and is now 7-8 (.875) on steal attempts this year.
• For the fifth time this season and the fifteenth time in her career, Norman did not allow any earned runs.

TURNING POINT

With two outs and a runner on second, Norman rolled out a ground ball to third. Sophomore 3B Kimberly Wert fielded it well on the run, but her throw to first was mishandled by Romaine.  DiCarlo took advantage, turning for home to score the only run of the day. Mizzou was unable to mount a rally in the remaining innings.

QUOTEABLES

"There are three phases to this game, and we only excelled in one area today," Coach Anderson said. "We got a phenomenal pitching performance from Madi, but our defense and offense failed us. I tell the girls all the time that a game can be lost in the first inning or the fifth inning. That's what happened to us today. We will adjust and come back ready to go tomorrow."

UP NEXT

Mizzou and Georgia will face off in game two of the weekend series tomorrow, with first pitch set for 2 p.m. CT at Mizzou Softball Stadium. The game will be streamable on SEC Network +.

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