NORMAN, Okla. – It was a tale of two games for No. 18/17 Mizzou Softball on the final day of the Courtyard Marriott Tournament. In the opener, the Tigers run-ruled Louisiana-Monroe in five innings by a score of 20-0. It is the most runs a Mizzou team has scored in a game since 2007. In the second game, No. 1 Oklahoma used the long ball to defeat the Tigers 11-0 in five innings.
GAME ONE
The Mizzou bats were cooking in the first game of the day, and they started early. In the first inning, Brooke Wilmes led off with a single up the middle and Cayla Kessinger drove a 2-2 pitch over the left-center wall to give the Tigers an immediate 2-0 lead.
In the second inning, Cayla Kessinger did it once again. With Abby George aboard following a walk, she ripped the first pitch that she saw over the right field wall to make it a 4-0 game. However, the Tigers were not finished in the inning. After Hatti Moore and Kimberly Wert walks, followed by a wild pitch, Emma Raabe ripped a line drive into left center, scoring Kendal Cook, who had run for Moore, and Wert.
Leading 6-0 entering the third inning, Abby George reached on an infield single and stole a base. ULM wanted nothing to do with the hot-hitting Kessinger, walking her on four pitches. Hatti Moore got in on the scoring, ripping a ball that deflected off of the bag at third for an RBI double. Kimberly Wert followed up the double with a deep fly ball that reached the warning track in left center, but ultimately ended up as a sacrifice fly, making the score 8-0.
TURNING POINT
Megan Schumacher continued to mow down the ULM batters. After allowing a double to start the game, Schumacher retired 13 straight batters.
While the game was likely out of reach, the Tigers ensured that there would be no comeback in this one. In the bottom of the fourth inning, Mizzou put up 12 runs. Jenna Laird got things going quickly driving a 2-1 pitch over the right field wall for her second home run of the season.
After Jazmyn Rollin walked and stole a base, pinch-hitter Riley Frizell crushed one to right-center, knocking a few leaves off a tree that sits behind another exterior wall for her second home run of the year.
Brooke Wilmes singled for the second time in the game, and Chantice Phillips entered as a pinch-hitter. Phillips drove the first pitch that she saw into right-center field for an RBI double, the first hit of her career. Hatti Moore then ripped a single into center field to put runners on the corners.
Megan Moll entered as a pinch-hitter and reached on an infield single, scoring Phillips from third to put the score at 13-0. Kelsee Mortimer stepped up to the plate as a pinch-hitter and poked a single into right field for her first career hit, loading the bases.
After Mortimer’s first career hit, Alexis Burks appeared as a pinch hitter and she, too, knocked a single into right field for her first career hit, scoring two runs. The Tigers now led by a score of 15-0. Jazmyn Rollin again drew a walk and Mizzou loaded the bases.
Alex Honnold was the next batter to the plate, and she drove a double into right-center field to clear the bases and give the Tigers a 18-0 lead.
After hitting a home run in her first plate appearance of the inning, Riley Frizell did it again. Frizell drove a 1-0 pitch to a nearly identical location in right-center, while adding a little bit of distance. Frizell’s second home run of the inning put the score at 20-0 for Mizzou.
Riley Heckenkamp appeared as a pinch-hitter after Frizell’s homer and she ripped a line-drive single into center field for her first career hit. She was the fourth Tiger to earn her first career hit in the inning.
TOP TIGERS
Megan Schumacher quietly shut down the ULM batters, allowing only two baserunners in the contest. She earned her second-career shutout victory.
Riley Frizell had a massive inning for Mizzou. The freshman went 2-for-2 at the plate with two home runs and four runs driven in.
Cayla Kessinger also had a multi-home run day for the Tigers. She was 2-for-2 at the plate with two home runs and four runs driven in, while also drawing a walk and scoring three times.
Jenna Laird went 2-for-2 at the plate with a solo home run.
NOTES
20 runs are the most a Mizzou team has scored since 2007 (Columbia College; 3/16/07). It is the most runs that a Mizzou team has scored against a Division I program since 1995 against St. Louis (23). St. Louis finished that season 1-45.
The Tigers hit five home runs in the contest for the first time since 2015 vs. Illinois (3/25). Mizzou has never hit more than five home runs in a game.
Mizzou recorded 18 hits in the contest, the most since 2008 (Wichita State; 3/12).
GAME TWO
In the second game of the day, the Tigers did not enjoy the same offensive success that they did in the opener.
Oklahoma scored early and often in the game. Tiare Jennings led off the game with a solo shot to left field. After a one-out double, Kinzie Hansen knocked one over the center field wall to give the Sooners a 3-0 first-inning lead.
TURNING POINT
Mizzou needed a spark but was unable to find one offensively. Oklahoma continued to pour on more runs via the long ball. The Sooners launched five home runs in the game and three in the first two innings. Oklahoma led 10-0 after the third inning and the run rule was in place.
The Tigers threatened in the fourth inning after a leadoff double by Cayla Kessinger. Ultimately, she was stranded at third base and Mizzou remained scoreless. Jocelyn Alo added to her impressive numbers with an RBI double in the bottom of the fourth, putting the score at 11-0 where it would finish.
TOP TIGERS
Cayla Kessinger went 1-for-2 in the game with a double. She was one of two Tigers to record a hit in the contest.
NOTES
Mizzou was shut out for the first time this season.
The Tigers were shut out for the first time in 2021.
UP NEXT
The Tigers return home for the Mizzou Tournament, beginning Friday at 12:30 pm with Kent State.
