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COLUMBIA, Mo. – The University of Missouri Department of Athletics has extended the contract of Tigers Softball Head Coach Larissa Anderson through the 2026 season, Director of Athletics Desiree Reed-Francois announced Tuesday.
Anderson, entering her fourth season at Mizzou, has built the Tigers into a perennial postseason team who made the NCAA Tournament in 2019 and played host to a Super Regional in 2021.
She has won 66 percent of her games at the helm of the Tigers program with a three-year mark of 96-49 and a 226-122-1 record in eight seasons as a head coach. A Mizzou-record six players were tabbed for National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-Region accolades last season and 11 student-athletes earned Easton/NFCA All-America Scholar Athlete honors for earning a 3.5 GPA and above.
“This is a well-deserved extension for Larissa,” Reed-Francois said. “Excellence is our standard and she has built our softball program into one of the best in the nation. Under her direction, the team has shown improvement every season, been successful in the classroom, recruited at a high level and had a thrilling postseason run in 2021. We are looking forward to a bright future as she and her staff continue to build on last season’s success.”
“I want to thank Desiree Reed-Francois for the opportunity she has continued to give me,” Anderson said. “It is a privilege to work with a dynamic and accomplished leader who puts the best interests of our student-athletes at the heart of her decision making and I am extremely grateful and humbled to be the head coach at Mizzou. Working with such amazing student-athletes the past three seasons has been special and I am looking forward to what the future holds for our program. Columbia has truly become home for my husband Patrick and me while Mizzou Nation has become our family.”
The Tigers enter 2022 with the entire starting lineup intact from 2021’s record-setting, NCAA Super Regional team. Mizzou set a program record last year with 91 home runs and led the nation in with a 1.37 ERA in the NCAA Tournament thanks to dominant performances from Jordan Weber and Laurin Krings. Mizzou, which last made the College World Series in 2011, set a program record with a .979 fielding percentage, finishing ninth in the nation.
Mizzou Softball Stadium was recently named the 2021 Netting Professionals/National Fastpitch Coaches Association Field of the Year. The Tigers set attendance records throughout the 2021 postseason run, selling out the final game of the Super Regional with a stadium-record crowd of 2,686.
Mizzou opens up the 2022 season at the Northern Lights Invitational from Feb. 11-13 in Leesburg, Florida.
2022 SOFTBALL TICKETS
Tigers fans can make a $25-deposit to secure new season tickets for the 2022 season. Current season-ticket holders will receive their renewal notice via email and the online ticket account. Fans with questions can contact the Mizzou Ticket Office at 1-800-CAT-PAWS or tickets@missouri.edu.
FOLLOW THE TIGERS
For the latest on Mizzou Softball, stay tuned at MUTigers.com or follow the program on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (@MizzouSoftball).
