Friday, April 11
Starkville, Miss.
6 p.m. CT
University of Missouri
at
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15/16 Mississippi State
Softball Travels to No. 15/16 Mississippi State for Weekend Series
4/10/2025 5:04:00 PM | Softball
COLUMBIA, Mo. – University of Missouri softball (20-22, 2-10 SEC) heads to Starkville, Mississippi, this weekend for an SEC road series against No. 15/16 Mississippi State (31-10, 7-5 SEC).
Mizzou will face the Bulldogs Friday through Sunday at Nusz Park in Starkville, with all three games slated for SEC Network+. Game times for the weekend series are 6 p.m., CT, 2 p.m. and 1 p.m. Will Kollmeyer, Madisyn Farmer and Cody Blaszczak will be on the broadcast this weekend at MSU.
Missouri entered the week ranked 29th for RPI and has the seventh toughest schedule in 2025.
WEEKEND SCHEDULE
- Missouri at No. 15/16 Mississippi State – Friday, April 11, 6 p.m., CT | SEC Network+
- Missouri at No. 15/16 Mississippi State – Saturday, April 12, 2 p.m., CT |SEC Network+
- Missouri at No. 15/16 Mississippi State – Sunday, April 13, 1 p.m., CT | SEC Network+
Live Stats: MSU G1 | MSU G2 | MSU G3
Live Video: SEC Network+ | MSU G1 | MSU G2 | MSU G3
Notes: Mizzou | Mississippi State
SERIES HISTORY – MISSISSIPPI STATE
- Missouri leads the all-time series with Mississippi State, 15-10.
- The Tigers last faced the Bulldogs in a series in 2024 (April 27-29), taking two out of three games on No. 18/18 MSU at Mizzou Softball Stadium.
- Missouri earned a 4-0 shutout in the opener before securing the series win with a 4-1 Senior Day victory. MSU then took the finale, 3-2.
- Mizzou was last in Starkville in April 8-10, 2022, taking the finale 8-5 in eight innings after MSU took the first two games.
- MU last won a series in Starkville, taking two of three in 2014 (April 4-5). Mizzou won the opener, 6-0, before dropping game two, 9-3, and securing the finale, 8-1.
- Head coach Larissa Anderson is 7-6 in her career against Mississippi State.
SIU RECAP
- Mizzou fell to Southern Illinois, 5-3, Wednesday evening at Mizzou Softball Stadium.
- Julia Crenshaw recorded two RBI for the Tigers, including a solo home run and an RBI double. The home run marked her career-best 11th of the season. She finished 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBI to go with a walk. Crenshaw's RBI double in the bottom of the third marked her team-leading 12th of the season.
- The O'Fallon, Missouri, native also drew her 31st walk of the season. She has now hit safely in three-straight games after her team-leading 14th multi-hit game.
- Kayley Lenger, a junior from Liberty, Missouri, recorded two hits, including her second double of the season to go with a run. She is currently on a three-game hitting streak.
- Freshman Nevaeh Watkins made her first career start in left field.
- Marissa McCann was handed the loss (7-9 in 2025), allowing three earned runs on three hits to go with five strikeouts over 3.2 innings in the start.
NO. 1 TEXAS RECAP
- Mizzou dropped all three games of its series with No. 1 Texas this past weekend in Columbia.
- Center fielder Kayley Lenger was featured on SportsCenter's Top 10 for her diving catch on Saturday. She came in at five on ESPN's top plays.
- In Sunday's opener, the Tigers nearly completed a comeback, falling 4-3.
- Kara Daly launched a three-run homer in the seventh to bring Mizzou within one. The blast was her ninth of the season and 39th of her career which ranks 10th in program history.
- Daly and Julia Crenshaw both scored their 100th career runs on the play.
- Crenshaw went 2-for-4 and caught her seventh runner stealing of the season (tied for first in SEC) in the first game of Sunday's doubleheader.
- Cierra Harrison tossed her fourth complete game of the year, allowing four earned runs with three strikeouts.
- In the finale, Madison Walker tied the game at 1-1 with a solo homer in the fourth, her 14th of the season. She is two away from joining the Mizzou top-8 for homers in a single-season.
- Texas would go on to win, 3-1 in eight innings with a two-run sacrifice fly.
- Crenshaw tallied a season-high matching three hits (3-for-4), bringing her total to five hits over the doubleheader (5-for-8).
- Marissa McCann pitched 5.2 innings, allowing one earned run over the finale.
QUICK HITTERS
- Missouri is now 20-22 overall (2-10 SEC) in 2025.
- Missouri has five ranked wins this season, after taking down No. 20/21 Northwestern, No. 7/8 Duke, No. 16/18 Nebraska, No. 1/1 Oklahoma and No. 19/21 Ole Miss.
- The Tigers are outscoring opponents 47-24 in the first inning.
- Overall, Julia Crenshaw paces the Tigers' offensively, hitting .390 with a team-high 48 hits, 12 doubles, 11 homers, 27 RBI, 40 runs and seven stolen bases.
- Crenshaw leads Mizzou in SEC play, batting .421 with seven RBI and four homers.
- Madison Walker leads Mizzou with 14 home runs (two in SEC play) and 35 RBI. She is slugging .574 this season. Walker is second in the SEC for home runs (14, 0.33 homers/game, sixth in SEC). She is tied for first on Mizzou with eight multi-RBI games this season with Kara Daly.
- Defensively, Crenshaw, a senior catcher from O'Fallon, Missouri, is first in the league with seven runners caught stealing.
- Crenshaw is fourth in the SEC with 12 doubles and seventh with 93 total bases.
- Marissa McCann ranks second in the SEC with 20 starts, fourth for innings pitched (112.2) and 11th for complete games (six).
- McCann is five innings away from 200 in her collegiate career and has pitched a career-high 112.2 innings over her sophomore campaign.
- Missouri sits second for sacrifice bunts in the SEC with 26.
- Claire Cahalan has knocked three triples to lead Mizzou. She and Crenshaw both went on a team-best 15-game reached base streak this season.
- NCAA Division I saves leader Taylor Pannell has 22 in her career. She has also pitched 98.2 career innings with 99 career strikeouts.
- Kara Daly ranks sixth in the NCAA Division I active career leaders with 227 games.
- Head coach Larissa Anderson picked up her 350th career win with a 10-3 victory over Duke on Feb. 8. Anderson was also inducted into the Gannon University (Erie, Pennsylvania) Athletics Hall of Fame that same day.
- Anderson signed an extension with Mizzou through 2028 over the fall.
- Mizzou is coming off an impressive 2024 that saw the Tigers earn a berth in the NCAA Tournament for the 17th consecutive year (27 total regional appearances). MU made its 10th Supers appearance in program history in 2024.
- The Tigers totaled 48 wins (48-14, 13-11 SEC) in 2024, their highest total in the program's SEC era and fourth most in program history. Missouri's 13 SEC wins in the 2024 campaign are the most since 15 in 2021.
- The Tigers return six starters from the 2024 NCAA Super Regional team including SEC All-Defensive right fielder Kayley Lenger, NFCA All-Region first baseman Abby Hay along with catcher Julia Crenshaw and third baseman Kara Daly.
- Mizzou added 10 newcomers including seven freshmen and three transfers for the 2025 season.
- Missouri returned the 11th best team ERA (2.03) in 2024 led by starters Cierra Harrison and Marissa McCann along with NCAA saves leader Taylor Pannell.
- Missouri ranked fourth in the NCAA in 2024 with an average attendance of 2,784. In the postseason, MU had the highest home attendance of Regionals (10,016) and Super Regionals (11,608, MU record). Mizzou set single-game (4,021, vs. Duke, May 26, 2024) and single-series attendance records over the postseason weekends.
JULIA CRENSHAW
- Senior catcher Julia Crenshaw heads into the weekend after hitting safely in each of the last three games.
- She recorded two RBI for the Tigers, including a solo home run and an RBI double in the Wednesday midweek against Southern Illinois. The home run marked her career-best 11th of the season. She finished 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBI to go with a walk.
- She now leads Mizzou with 14 multi-hit games this season.
- Crenshaw went 5-for-8 in Sunday's doubleheader against No. 1 Texas, including a 3-for-4 performance in the finale that matched her season high.
- She crossed the plate for the 100th time in her career in game one Sunday.
- The O'Fallon, Missouri, native, paces the Tigers with a .390 batting average to go with 12 doubles, 11 homers, 40 runs and 27 RBI. Her 12 doubles are fourth in the SEC.
- She had a team-best 15-game reached base streak earlier this season.
- Defensively, she is first in the SEC with seven runners caught stealing.
- She paces the Tigers in SEC play, hitting .421 (.816 slugging) with four homers and seven RBI.
- Crenshaw was listed No. 12 on Softball America's weekly catcher player rankings on March 31.
MADISON WALKER
- Sophomore corner infielder Madison Walker crushed her 14th home run of the season in the series finale against No. 1 Texas, a solo shot that knotted the game at 1-1 in the fourth. In the SEC, Walker ranks second for the home run total this season.
- She's now just two homers shy of joining the Mizzou top-8 for home runs in a single season. The single-season record is 20 set by Amanda Renth in 2008.
- Walker launched home runs in consecutive games against South Dakota State and Princeton and has hit round trippers in back-to-back games three times this season.
- She has also notched two, two-homer games this season including most recently against Nebraska (March 2).
- Walker has also tallied 35 RBI this season, and she leads the team with Kara Daly with eight multi-RBI games this season.
ROAD WARRIORS
- The Tigers opened their 2025 campaign as the only NCAA Division I institution that competed in the NFCA Division I Leadoff Classic, Shriners Children's Clearwater Invitational Presented by EvoShield and Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic.
- MU returned home after spending 19 days in hotels and traveling a total of 6,986 miles across the country to start the 2025 campaign.
- Missouri entered this week ranked 29th for RPI and has the seventh toughest schedule in 2025.
UP NEXT
- Following their SEC road series against Mississippi State, the Tigers will return home for a midweek matchup against SIUE on Tuesday, April 15.
- Missouri then hosts No. 3 Texas A&M for a weekend series, April 17-19.
- Tuesday's midweek matchup against SIUE is Bark in the Park and Student Home Run Derby with first pitch set for 5 p.m., CT.
FOLLOW THE TIGERS
- For all the latest on Mizzou Softball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team @MizzouSoftball (X, Instagram, Facebook).
- The Diamond Club is accepting new members. Email MAF@missouri.edu or call 573-882-0704 to join.
- Join us in Expanding the Tradition of excellence in Mizzou Softball! This special initiative focuses on building a Rock M at the Mizzou Softball Stadium, a centerpiece of Tiger pride. The Rock M debuted this season at the Mizzou Softball Stadium.
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Players Mentioned
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RHP
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UT
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RHP
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LHP
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INF
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OF
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