No. 11/12 Softball Splits Opening Day Doubleheader

Friday, February 11

Leesburg, Fla.

9 a.m.

University of Missouri

1-0

Penn State

0-1

Penn State

Mizzou

2/11/2022 5:51:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

LEESBURG, Fla. – University of Missouri softball (1-1) took one of two games on the first day of the season. The Tigers downed Penn State by a score of 2-1 in extra innings to get the season started but fell in the second game of the doubleheader to UConn 6-2.

GAME ONE

Jordan Weber got the Tigers off to a strong start, going six innings while allowing only one hit and striking out 10 batters. Weber brought a no-hit bid into the sixth, when it was broken up with two outs.

The Tigers threatened in the bottom of the third after a Casidy Chaumont single and a Jenna Laird double, but ultimately both were stranded in scoring position.

The Nittany Lions had their best scoring opportunity in the top of the sixth inning. After a one-out walk, the PSU runner was called out for leaving early before the next batter ripped a double into the right-center gap to break up the no-hit bid. Weber then got the next batter to fly out to center to close out the sixth.

In the bottom half of the sixth, Megan Moll entered as a pinch hitter with two outs, and she drove the first pitch that she saw deep to right field, however the Penn State right fielder reached over the fence to pull it back and record the out.

Neither team broke through with a run during the first seven innings, so the game went to extras. The game employed the international tiebreaker and thus each half inning began with a runner on second. Penn State was able to take advantage and with one out, took a 1-0 lead. After an infield single, Schumacher struck out back-to-back batters to limit the damage.

The Tigers then had their opportunity to bat in the eighth. Chaumont was placed on second and Wilmes immediately sacrificed her over with a bunt. Jenna Laird then walked to put runners on the corners with one out. After a groundout moved Laird to second, the Tigers faced their last out. Hatti Moore was able to draw a walk to load the bases and then Megan Moll tied it up with a walk of her own on a 3-2 count. Kimberly Wert provided the heroics with a line drive down the left field line for a walkoff single.

GAME TWO

Mizzou then took on UConn in the second game of the day. The Tigers jumped out in front with a Jenna Laird solo blast to right center in the top of the third. However, UConn answered immediately, scraping across a run on a double steal in the bottom of the third.

UConn extended the lead in the fourth, pushing three more runs across after a leadoff double. The Huskies recorded five hits before Emma Nichols entered to close out the side.

After UConn added another in the bottom of the fifth to make it 5-1, Hatti Moore smacked a double off the left field wall to score Brooke Wilmes, who led off with a single. The Huskies again matched the Tigers with a run in the bottom of the sixth.

NOTES

Brooke Wilmes moved into a tie for seventh in program history with 229 career hits.

Wilmes also extended her hitting streak to 12 games, dating back to last season.

Jordan Weber went six innings and allowed only one hit while striking out 10 batters against Penn State.

Jenna Laird was the only Tiger with multiple extra base hits on the day after smacking a double to left in game one and slamming a home run to right center in game two.

UP NEXT

The Tigers will look to bounce back on Saturday against Wisconsin at 2:30 p.m. CT before facing No. 10/13 Virginia Tech at 5 p.m. CT.

FOLLOW THE TIGERS

For all the latest on Mizzou Softball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team @MizzouSoftball (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook).