Softball Hosts SIUE and No. 3/3 Texas A&M this Week

COLUMBIA, Mo. – University of Missouri softball (21-24, 3-12 SEC) returns home this week, hosting SIUE (23-16) on Tuesday before welcoming No. 3/3 Texas A&M (37-5, 11-3) for a three-game SEC series Thursday through Saturday at Mizzou Softball Stadium.

First pitch for Tuesday’s matchup with the Cougars is set for 5 p.m., CT on SEC Network+. Nate Gatter and former Missouri Tiger Ashley Moore will be on the call.

Missouri will then face Texas A&M Thursday through Saturday.

Thursday and Friday’s games will be streamed on SEC Network+ and Saturday’s series finale will air on SEC Network. Noah Reed will handle play-by-play duties throughout the series, joined by former Mizzou softball player and NFCA All-Region pitcher Madi Norman Gerlach (Thursday and Friday) and Olympic Gold medalist Monica Abbott (Saturday).

Missouri is ranked 32nd in the latest RPI and owns the eighth toughest schedule in the country for 2025.

PROMOTION SCHEDULE

• Tuesday vs. SIUE – Bark in the Park / Student Home Run Derby
• Fans are invited to bring their dogs Tuesday. Fans with dogs can only sit in the Berm. Dog owners must sign waivers before entering the Berm. Mizzou Softball chew toys will be available for fans, while supplies last.
• Thursday vs. No. 3/3 Texas A&M – Western Night
• Thursday is Western Night and fans in attendance will receive #OWNIT Cowboy Hats, while supplies last.
• Friday vs. No. 3/3 Texas A&M – Game Show Night
• Fans can take part in interactive games and contests throughout the second game of the series with prizes and giveaways.
• Saturday vs. No 3/3 Texas A&M – Breast Cancer Awareness / Postgame Egg Hunt & Autographs
• The Tigers will wear specialty pink uniforms in support of Breast Cancer Awareness. After the game, kids are invited to participate in an egg hunt. The 2025 team will also be signing postgame autographs.

WEEK SCHEDULE

• Missouri vs. SIUE – Tuesday, April 15, 5 p.m., CT | SEC Network +
• Missouri vs. No. 3/3 Texas A&M – Thursday, April 17, 6 p.m., CT | SEC Network+
• Missouri vs. No. 3/3 Texas A&M – Friday, April 18, 5 p.m., CT | SEC Network+
• Missouri vs. No. 3/3 Texas A&M – Saturday, April 19, 3 p.m., CT | SEC Network

Live Stats: SIUE | TAMU G1 | TAMU G2 | TAMU G3

Live Video: SEC Network+ | SIUE | TAMU G1 | TAMU G2 | TAMU G3 – SEC Network

Tickets: Friday

X: @MizzouSoftball

Notes: Mizzou

SERIES HISTORY – SIUE

• Missouri holds a 7-1 all-time edge over SIUE.
• The Tigers last faced the Cougars in 2024 (April 17), earning a 4-1 victory at Mizzou Softball Stadium. During the game, Kayley Lenger added a two-run homer while Taylor Pannell recorded the save.
• Head coach Larissa Anderson is 4-0 in her career against SIUE.

SERIES HISTORY – TEXAS A&M

• Texas A&M leads the all-time series with Missouri, 42-35.
• The two teams last met in a series during the 2023 season (April 29-30) in College Station, where the then No. 25/23 Aggies took two of three.
• After dropping the opener 6-2, the Tigers bounced back with an 8-1 win in game two before falling in the finale, 11-4.
• Mizzou last hosted Texas A&M in a series in 2022 (April 29 to May 1), earning a 3-0 sweep of the Aggies. MU took the opener 7-5 in eight innings, before 7-2 and 11-6 wins.
• Head coach Larissa Anderson holds a 7-2 career record against the Aggies.

MISSISSIPPI STATE RECAP

• Mizzou dropped its weekend series at No. 15/16 Mississippi State, falling 2-1 in Starkville, Mississippi.
• Mizzou notched a 12-8 win on Saturday, powered by a season-best 14-hit effort that featured five doubles and three home runs.
• Taylor Ebbs matched a career-high with three hits (3-for-4 Saturday, fourth three-hit game in career), including a double and a homer, and drove in a season-best three RBI. It also marked her 10th multi-hit game.
• Madison Walker delivered her second grand slam of the season (second of career) – her team-leading 15th homer – to cap a six-run fourth inning. She will break into Mizzou’s top-8 for a single season with 16 homers.
• Claire Cahalan and Abby Hay each added two-hit performances, while Stefania Abruscato doubled twice and drove in a run. Cahalan had a career-best matching two hits (2-for-4, sixth time in career with two hits) to go with two runs and an RBI. Hay had a personal-best matching two hits (2-for-4, 12th time in career with two hits) including a double to go with two runs and an RBI.
• Marissa McCann earned the win, her first in SEC play this year, pitching 5.2 innings to improve to 8-9.
• Taylor Pannell struck out two in a scoreless seventh to secure the victory and surpass 100 career strikeouts. She also recorded her 100th career inning pitched Sunday.
• In Sunday’s finale, Ebbs crushed her ninth homer of the season in the first inning to give Mizzou an early 2-0 lead. The home run is one off her career-high of 10 set in 2022 at Kentucky and the second in as many games. The senior from Keizer, Oregon, now has 34 career homers. She finished Sunday 1-for-2 with two RBI (27 in 2025) and a run for her team-leading ninth multi-RBI game. She has five RBI over the past two games.

SIU RECAP

• Mizzou fell to Southern Illinois, 5-3 in its midweek matchup April 15 at Mizzou Softball Stadium.
• Julia Crenshaw led the Tigers offensively, going 2-for-3 with two RBI and two runs. The senior launched her career-best 11th home run of the season and added an RBI double in the third, her team-leading 12th double of the year. Crenshaw also drew her 31st walk while recording her 14th multi-hit game of 2025.
• Kayley Lenger chipped in a 2-for-3 performance with her second double of the season and a run scored.
• Freshman Nevaeh Watkins made her first career start in left field.

QUICK HITTERS

• Missouri is 21-24 overall (3-12 SEC) in 2025 following its road series at No. 15/16 Mississippi State.
• Mizzou has six ranked wins this season, having taken down No. 20/21 Northwestern, No. 7/8 Duke, No 16/18 Nebraska, No. 1/1 Oklahoma, No. 19/21 Ole Miss and No. 15/16 Mississippi State.
• Missouri is ranked 32nd in the latest RPI and owns the eighth toughest schedule in the country for 2025.
• The Tigers are outscoring opponents 53-27 in the first inning.
• Overall, Julia Crenshaw paces the Tigers offensively, hitting .381 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 .390 with seven RBI and four homers.
• Defensively, Crenshaw, a senior catcher from O’Fallon, Missouri, is first in the league with seven runners caught stealing.
• Crenshaw and Stefania Abruscato are seventh in the SEC with 12 doubles.
• Madison Walker leads Mizzou with 15 home runs (three in SEC play) and 39 RBI. She is slugging .569 this season. Walker is third in the SEC for home runs (15, 0.33 homers/game, fifth in SEC). She is tied for first on Mizzou with nine multi-RBI games this season with Taylor Ebbs.
• Ebbs smashed home runs in back-to-back games at Mississippi State and totaled five RBI and four hits across the final two games of the series.
• Ebbs is hitting .296 on the year with 34 hits, nine home runs, seven doubles, 27 RBI and a .609 slugging percentage.
• Marissa McCann ranks second in the SEC with 21 starts, fifth for innings pitched (120.1) and 12th for complete games (six).
• McCann surpassed 200 innings in her collegiate career and has pitched a career-high 120.1 innings over her sophomore campaign.
• NCAA Division I saves leader Taylor Pannell has 22 in her career. She surpassed 100 career innings and 100 career strikeouts over the MSU series.
• Claire Cahalan extended her hitting streak to three games over the series at MSU.
• 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.
• Missouri sits second for sacrifice bunts in the SEC with 28.
• Kara Daly ranks ninth 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.

MADISON WALKER

• Sophomore corner infielder Madison Walker launched her second career grand slam (second in 2025) in Saturday’s 12-8 win over No. 15/16 Mississippi State, putting Mizzou ahead for good in the fourth inning.
• The blast marked her team-leading 15th home run of the season. She’s now just one homer 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.
• In the SEC, Walker ranks third for home runs in 2025.
• 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 39 RBI this season, and she leads the team with Taylor Ebbs with nine multi-RBI games this season.
• The Olathe, Kansas, native, is slugging .569 and has started in all 45 games this season.

TAYLOR EBBS

• Designated player Taylor Ebbs racked up five RBI and four hits over the final two games of Mizzou’s series at No. 15/16 Mississippi State.
• Ebbs, a senior from Keizer, Oregon, matched a personal-best three hits (3-for-4 Saturday, fourth-three hit game in career) on a double and home run to go with three RBI (season-best) and two runs Saturday in game two. It also marked her 10th multi-hit game.
• She followed that up Sunday with a two-run homer in the first inning.
• The home run marked her ninth of the season (career-high is 10 in 2022 at Kentucky) and second in as many games. She now has 34 career homers.
• Ebbs finished Sunday 1-for-2 with two RBI (27 in 2025) and a run for her team-leading ninth multi-RBI game.
• She is batting .296 on the season with 34 hits and slugging .609.

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 32nd for RPI and has the eighth toughest schedule in 2025.

UP NEXT

• Following their SEC series against Texas A&M, the Tigers will head to Tuscaloosa to face No. 22/23 Alabama, April 25-27.
• First pitch is set for 6 p.m., CT on Friday, 8 p.m., CT on Saturday and 2 p.m., CT on Sunday.

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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