Softball Set to Face Auburn in Weekend Road Series

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The University of Missouri softball program (20-11, 1-5 SEC) continues conference play this weekend with a road series at No. 21/25 Auburn (22-9, 1-2 SEC) Saturday through Monday in Auburn, Alabama.

The series will open at 6 p.m. CT Saturday at Jane B. Moore Field before a 5 p.m. tilt Sunday and a 6 p.m. first pitch for the Monday finale.

Saturday’s game will be broadcasted on SEC Network+ with Brit Bowen and Kasey Cooper on the call. Games two and three will be on SEC Network with Mark Neely and Michele Smith in the booth.

Missouri ranks second in the SEC with a .979 fielding percentage (ninth in the NCAA). The Tigers are also second for stolen bases (66, 17th in the NCAA) and triples (0.32 triples/game).

Missouri

at No. 21/25 Auburn

Dates: March 25-27, 2023

Venue: Jane B. Moore Field

Location: Auburn, Ala.

Game Times: 6 p.m., CT Saturday | 5 p.m., CT Sunday | 6 p.m., CT Monday

All-Time Series: Mizzou leads Auburn, 11-9

Last Meetings: Missouri 1, No. 17/20 Auburn 0 | SEC Tournament Opener | May 11, 2022

No. 18/20 Missouri 0, No. 24/25 Auburn 3 | March 28, 2021 | Columbia, Mo.

No. 18/20 Missouri 6, No. 24/25 Auburn 5 | March 27, 2021 | Columbia, Mo.

No. 18/20 Missouri 2, No. 24/25 Auburn 1 (9 Innings) | March 26, 2021 | Columbia, Mo.

FOLLOW THE TIGERS

Live Video: SEC Network+ Saturday | SEC Network Sunday | SEC Network Monday

Live Stats: Saturday | Sunday | Monday

Twitter: @MizzouSoftball

Notes: Missouri

Series History

• Mizzou leads the all-time series with Auburn, 11-9.
• Head coach Larissa Anderson is 3-2 in her career against the Tigers.
• The two teams last met in the 2022 SEC Tournament (May 11, 2022) with Mizzou shutting out Auburn, 1-0, in Gainesville, Florida, en route to the Championship Final.
• Jordan Weber tossed her third shutout of the season with eight strikeouts and Jenna Laird drove in the game’s only run on a double (2-for-3) to left field in the 2022 SEC Opener.
• In the last regular-season series, Missouri took two of three in 2021 (March 26-28) in Columbia, Missouri.
• MU walked off Auburn in the bottom of the ninth on March 26, 2021, in the opener, 2-1. Pitchers Jordan Weber and Emma Nichols led the way for Mizzou. Weber set a new career-high with 13 strikeouts over six innings of work while Nichols added four strikeouts over the final three frames.
• Megan Schumacher pitched 4.1 innings of one run relief pitching in game two of the series (March 27, 2021), keeping the Auburn bats off the board for the final three innings.
• Jenna Laird drove in two runs with an RBI single to center in the fourth that gave Mizzou the one-run lead that they did not look back from.

Last Time Out

Mizzou continued its undefeated midweek run with a 7-1 victory over Drake 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 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.

Chantice Phillips, Payton Jackson (double), and Riley Frizell also all had hits Wednesday after Daly (2-for-3) and Alex Honnold (3-for-4).

AL PAL

Alex Honnold batted .500 with a 1.071 slugging percentage and a .611 on-base percentage this past week. Honnold opened the week with a pair of doubles in the midweek doubleheader against Illinois on March 14. She finished game one of the doubleheader with the Illini, 2-for-3 hitting.

Honnold then hammered a career-high two home runs and was responsible for a personal-best five Tiger runs (5 RBI) as Mizzou opened the Florida series with a 7-3 upset victory. She finished the contest 3-for-4 at the plate with two runs.

Honnold added a hit and a RBI in game two with the Gators.

Honnold most recently notched three hits, matching a season high (fifth game in 2023) for her 11th multi-hit game of the campaign against Drake on Wednesday. She also swiped a career-best four bases.

The junior from West Des Moines, Iowa, leads the Tigers in 2023 with Julia Crenshaw and Kara Daly with seven home runs. In the SEC, she ranks first for batting average (.493, 10th in the NCAA), first for OBPs (.604, fifth in the NCAA) and fourth for slugging percentage (.918, ninth in the NCAA).

Honnold has registered 11 multi-hit games in 2023 and registered six multi-RBI games (29 total RBI).

In SEC play, Honnold is hitting at a .350 clip with a .650 slugging percentage.

Luck No. 7

Three Tigers have compiled seven home runs (10th in the SEC) thus far in 2023 as MU is led in the category by Alex Honnold, Julia Crenshaw, and Kara Daly.

Crenshaw belted her career-best seventh home run in the finale at Florida on March 19. Both Crenshaw and Honnold compiled their first career SEC home runs this past weekend in Gainesville.

For Crenshaw, the home run snapped a hitting slump of seven games.

She is fourth on the team with a .286 batting average with 28 RBI and a .593 slugging percentage.

The O’Fallon, Missouri, native, has tallied nine multi-hit games this season and posted five multi-RBI games.

On the Daly

Kara Daly was third on the Tigers this past week with a .333 batting average (.867 slugging percentage) on three doubles, a triple, a homer and five RBI.

Daly registered a double and triple to go along with four RBI in the Tigers’ 7-0 finale win over Illinois on March 14.

She added a personal best two doubles, going a career-high 3-for-4 with a run and a RBI in game one of the road series at Florida.

Daly most recently drove in four runs for her seventh multi-RBI contest of the campaign Wednesday against Drake. She is now tied with Jenna Laird for the most on the team. It also was her fourth game with at least four RBI, tops among Tigers. Daly notched a pair of hits (double and home run), marking her seventh multi-hit game of 2023.

Daly, a sophomore third baseman from Jefferson City, Missouri, is first on the Tigers with 30 RBI (eighth in the SEC, 29th in the NCAA) and is slugging .629.

Let’s Go Chuck

Freshman first baseman Katie Chester hit .300 in four starts this past week. She registered three hits over the Florida series including a career-best matching 2-for-3 day at the plate in the Friday afternoon win.

Chester also reached base in all three games in Gainesville.

The Liberty, Missouri, native has made 22 starts in 28 appearances this season. In SEC play, Chester is hitting .333 with a .538 slugging percentage.

The Adventures of ChannyP

Left fielder Chantice Phillips hit .308 this past week with four runs, two doubles, and a RBI. She posted a hit in each of the three games in Florida including back-to-back doubles in the first two games of the series.

Phillips, a Kansas City, Missouri, native, extended her hitting streak to four games with a RBI single against Drake on Wednesday.

Phillips missed 11 games during non-conference play due to injury before returning to the lineup at the Oklahoma State/Tulsa Invitational March 3-5. She has started 20 games in the outfield this season including each of the last 15.

In the Circle

Four Tigers pitchers have earned two or more wins this season.

Laurin Krings leads the Tigers with a 7-5 mark, throwing five complete games over 70.2 innings. She has registered 58 strikeouts (13th in the SEC) and has an ERA of 2.58. Krings was dominant in a complete-game victory over No. 8/8 Northwestern. She also registered a season-high 11 strikeouts in a complete-game shutout of Illinois on March 14. Krings has posted five or more strikeouts six times in 2023 including six of her last seven starts.

Freshman Cierra Harrison has 53 strikeouts and is second for Tiger starters with a 2.65 ERA. She is 6-1 in 2023 with a complete-game win over Maine and career-best eight strikeouts against Butler. Opposing batters are hitting .195 against Harrison this season.

Harrison has registered seven or more strikeouts five times and most recently matched her career-high eight punchouts against Drake on Wednesday.

Jordan Weber is 5-4 this season with a 3.73 ERA to go with 30 strikeouts. Weber threw a no-hitter at FIU with a season-high four strikeouts. She pitched a complete-game, allowing just two runs on three hits with a season-high five strikeouts against Illinois on March 14.

Weber also picked up her first SEC win of the season on March 17 at Florida, letting up just three runs on five hits with four strikeouts over 6.2 innings.

Megan Schumacher is 2-1 thus far in 2023 with a 3.79 ERA over 20.1 innings (11 strikeouts). Schumacher registered a complete-game shutout, allowing just one hit as the Tigers notched a 10-0 run-rule win over Maine March 4. The start was her first of the 2023 campaign, tallying two strikeouts.

Our Leadoff Hitter

Jenna Laird has reached base in all but one game this season (30 of 31) and currently extended her streak to 12 with a base hit against Drake on Wednesday.

Laird hit .400 this past week and has notched a hit in each of the past five games.

The shortstop is second on Mizzou in 2023 with a .416 (ninth in the SEC) mark at the dish. The East Meadow, New York, native, is also second in the SEC (13th in the NCAA) with 42 hits this season.

She has compiled a 1.003 OPS and paces the Tigers with 15 multi-hit games (three hits four times) and seven multi-RBI games.

On the basepaths, Laird is first in the conference (ninth in the NCAA) with 21 stolen bases (0.68 stolen bases/game, second in the SEC).

In the SEC, Laird paces the Tigers with a .500 batting average and a .609 on-base percentage.

Gallagher Honored on SportsCenter Top 10 Plays

Maddie Gallagher was featured on SportsCenter’s Top 10 on March 15 for her diving catch in foul territory in game 2 of the doubleheader with Illinois. Her catch was selected No. 4 in the compilation of Top 10 plays.

Addie Lange’s Journey to Missouri

Redshirt junior catcher Addie Lange has had quite the journey to Mizzou. The Gallatin, Tennessee, native, dreamt of playing for the Tigers and transferred to Missouri after earning 2021 NJCAA First Team All-American honors at Vol State.

Read her full journey in the Gallatin News article.

2023 Preseason SEC Poll

Missouri Softball was selected to finish eighth in the Southeastern Conference in 2023, the league announced Jan. 26. The Tigers received 63 points in the annual preseason poll voted on by the conference’s 13 head coaches.

Jenna Laird Preseason Accolades

Missouri Softball junior shortstop Jenna Laird has been named to five 2023 preseason lists ahead of the season. She was named to the 2023 Preseason All-SEC Team on Feb. 2, to the Top 50 Watch List for the 2023 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year on Jan. 25 and has also been named to D1Softball’s Preseason D100 Players, Extra Inning Softball’s Extra Elite 100 College Player Rankings and Softball America’s 2023 Preseason Top 100.

Laird led the Tigers in 2022 for batting average (.338), doubles (11), triples (3), runs scored (44) and stolen bases (22) as she garnered 2022 NFCA Third Team All-Region honors.

Laird was named to the 2022 SEC All-Tournament Team after she led the Tigers to the Championship Final, batting .500 over the four games. She was also selected to the 2022 All-SEC Second Team after posting a hitting line of .291/.519/.341 in conference play.

In the field, Laird was tabbed a 2022 Rawlings Gold Glove recipient for her play at shortstop. She posted a .975 fielding percentage, turning 10 double plays in total over 163 chances.

Looking Ahead
Following the road series at Auburn, Mizzou returns to Columbia, Missouri, for a four-game homestand. Missouri will host Northern Iowa on Wednesday, March 29 before Alumni Weekend against No. 16/13 Alabama March 31-April 2.

Missouri will recognize its 1983 Women’s College World Series Team on Friday, March 31, followed by recognition of all Mizzou Softball Alumni prior to Saturday, April 1’s game.

Friday of the Alabama series, fans will receive Girl Power t-shirts and claw clips, while supplies last. Saturday, fans can receive a fanny pack and April 2 is Family Funday Sunday with a postgame egg hunt.

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.