COLUMBIA, Mo. – Missouri hurler Laurin Krings (15-9) struck out 11 and helped the No. 15 seeded Tigers to a 3-1 win over Missouri Valley Conference champion Missouri State here Friday in the opening round of the NCAA Softball Regionals.
The Bears (27-19) scattered six hits, including two by Daphne Plummer, and got a dazzling effort from starting pitcher Steffany Dickerson (21-8) who surrendered just two earned runs in 5.2 innings of work.
Missouri broke up a scoreless deadlock with a pair of runs in the third. Brooke Wilmes started the rally with a one-out double to right, her second two-bagger of the afternoon. She scored two batters later on an infield groundout by Kendyll Bailey. The Tigers then plated a second run on a two-out infield error, spotting the home club two tallies with just one ball leaving the infield.
The Bears cut the deficit in half in the top of the sixth when Olivia Krehbiel scored on a base hit to center off the bat of Annie Mueller. Krehbiel led off the inning with a double to right-center and was stuck there until Mueller smashed a two-out, 2-2 pitch to get MoState on the board.
The Tigers then manufactured an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth when Wilmes legged out a two-out infield hit after a diving stop by Missouri State second baseman Kelsie Lewis made a close play of it at first. The inning started with a hit to left by Hatti Moore whose pinch-runner Kendal Cook scored on the infield single by Wilmes.
Wilmes finished the day with three of Missouri’s 10 hits, including both of its extra-base knocks.
For their part, the Bears kept things close throughout, loading the bases in the top of the third before Krings struck out NFCA All-Region catcher Alex Boze. MSU rallied again with runners on base in the fifth, sixth and seventh with the Tigers (37-20) limiting the damage. The Bears stranded seven on the day.
Dickerson also dug herself out of trouble in the early going, pitching out of trouble in the first, second and fourth innings. She finished with one walk, two strikeouts and 117 pitches in the loss. She gave way to lefty Madison Hunsaker in the bottom of the sixth.
Missouri State will play an elimination game Saturday at 4 p.m. against the loser of the Arizona-Illinois game.
