On the heels of a 3-1 victory Saturday that gave No. 1 Oklahoma its first loss of the season, Missouri softball couldn’t quite find the magic again in the rubber game as the Tigers fell 5-1 on Sunday afternoon at Mizzou Softball Stadium.
Like Saturday’s contest, Mizzou (18-15, 1-5 Southeastern Conference) struck first. Senior catcher Julia Crenshaw blasted a solo home run way over the wall in left field in the third inning.
But the Tigers had one hit the rest of the game — an infield single by sophomore left fielder Adi Koller in the fifth.
Oklahoma senior Sam Landry pitched a complete game, finishing the contest with nine strikeouts and scattering four hits. The Louisiana transfer improved to 9-0 on the season after picking up two wins against Mizzou; she struck out four and allowed one hit in the Sooners’ 8-0 win in five innings Friday.
“She got us to chase the balls,” Mizzou coach Larissa Anderson said. “She had such great movement today in her offspeed. … They’re really hard to pick up, and that’s what really gave us trouble.”
Oklahoma (29-1, 8-1) responded right away to Crenshaw’s homer with one of its own. Redshirt freshman third baseman Nelly McEnroe-Marinas hit a solo blast in the fourth, her third homer in as many games and fifth in the last seven games.
Sophomore left fielder Kasidi Pickering hit the go-ahead homer with two outs in the sixth off MU sophomore Marissa McCann. Anderson replaced McCann with junior Taylor Pannell after the blast..
McCann (7-6) took the loss despite recording five strikeouts and allowing just one hit through the first five innings.
“Marissa McCann just threw an absolute gem,” Anderson said. “I’m really proud of her knowing how to be able to get hitters out. And it was just two that got left over the heart of the plate and got hit out.”
An error by freshman shortstop Madison Uptegrove opened the door for Oklahoma to add two more runs with two outs in the seventh. Redshirt junior catcher Isabela Emerling hit an RBI double to left field, and redshirt junior center fielder Hannah Coor smacked an RBI single to right.
“They’re disappointed right now, which is a really good feeling to have,” Anderson said of her players. “It shows me that they have the belief that they can (win against top competition).”
Pannell allowed three hits in an inning of work, and junior Cierra Harrison struck out McEnroe-Marinas to send it to the bottom of the seventh.
The Tigers will look to bounce back against Kansas at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Mizzou Softball Stadium.
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