Softball Downs Drake to Stay Undefeated in Midweeks

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The University of Missouri Softball team (20-11, 1-5 SEC) continued its undefeated midweek run with a 7-1 victory over Drake (6-17, 0-3 Missouri Valley) Wednesday at the Mizzou Softball Stadium.

The Tigers were powered by a dominant effort in the circle from Cierra Harrison, who tied a career-high eight strikeouts while allowing just a single run in five innings of work to improve to 6-1 in her freshman campaign.

On offense, Harrison received a wealth of support from Kara Daly, who drove in four runs, two of which came via home run.

The Tigers took an early 1-0 lead in the second inning on a RBI double from Payton Jackson.

Jackson, a junior from Missouri City, Texas, registered her sixth RBI of the season to score Chantice Phillips, who came aboard on a walk. 

Daly extended the Mizzou lead with her seventh home run of the campaign (20th in her career) in the third inning to push the Tigers edge to 3-0. Alex Honnold scored on the dinger after a leadoff single followed by a stolen base.

In the fourth inning, the Tigers added another run to the board, as Jackson came home on a throwing error to increase the cushion to 4-0.

The Bulldogs would put a run on the scoreboard with a RBI double from Carey Koenig in the fifth before a dominant bottom half of the inning by the Tigers. 

Mizzou tacked on three more runs during the frame. Honnold led off with a single, followed by Julia Crenshaw reaching on a throwing error. 

Daly then drove both runners home with a double down the left field line, before coming around to score on a single from Phillips to extend the Tigers’ lead to 7-1.

Laurin Krings hurled two scoreless innings to close out the game. The junior from Loveland, Colorado, kept Drake at bay while punching out a pair of Bulldogs in her 16th appearance of the season. 

To wrap up Mizzou’s fifth midweek win in as many games (4-0 at home), the Tigers’ infield rolled up a double play to seal the 7-1 win.

NOTES

• Missouri extended its all-time series advantage over Drake to 27-4.
• The Tigers stole eight bases, the team’s second-most this season and just the second time in 15 seasons (eight vs. Villanova on March 9, 2008) that the Tigers have swiped that many bases.
• Leading the charge on the basepaths was Alex Honnold, who stole four bases to set a career high. 
• Honnold also notched three hits, matching a season high (fifth game) for her 11th multi-hit game of the campaign.
• Cierra Harrison tied a career best eight strikeouts. She pitched five innings, allowing just one run on two hits to go with a pair of walks. 
• Kara Daly drove in four runs for her seventh multi-RBI contest of the campaign, tying Jenna Laird for the most on the team. It is also her fourth game with at least four RBI, tops among Tigers.
• Daly also notched a pair of hits (double and home run), marking her seventh multi-hit game of 2023.
• Jenna Laird extended her reached-base streak to 12 games and has reached base in 30 of Mizzou’s 31 contests.
• Chantice Phillips, Payton Jackson (double), and Riley Frizell also all had a hit Wednesday. 

UP NEXT

Mizzou next heads to No. 21/25 Auburn for a weekend series. Game times are 6 p.m., 5 p.m., and 6 p.m., CT in the Saturday-Sunday-Monday series. Saturday’s game is on SEC Network+ while Games 2 and 3 are on SEC Network.

FOLLOW THE TIGERS

• For all the latest on Mizzou Softball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team @MizzouSoftball (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook).
• Single game and limited season tickets are currently on sale. Tickets can be purchased online, in-person at the Mizzou ticket office, or by calling 1 (800) CAT-PAWS.