Southern Illinois Shocks Mizzou Softball at Home

The Missouri Tigers looked to recover from a series sweep to the No. 1 ranked Texas Longhorns in a midweek standalone matchup with Southern Illinois.

Missouri (20-22) failed to rebound despite a strong defensive showing in the early going. The Salukis took control in the second half of the matchup to hand Missouri the 3-2 defeat

Marissa McCann took the mound for the Tigers and produced stellar start. She recordied 4 strikeouts across the first two innings. Freshman left fielder, Neveah Watkins, was a defensive standout. In her first start for the Tigers, Watkins efforts were highlighted by a diving grab in the top of the second to keep the Salukis hitless.

Meanwhile, the Tigers struggledd to find any momentum of their own at the plate. Despite making consitent contact, Missouri failed to record a single hit through the opening two innings, leaving the score tied 0-0.

McCann remained consistant through the third, maintaining the shutout while the tigers offense found its footing. Kayley Lenger broke the hitting slump with a double. This sparked a rally as Julia Crenshaw responded with a double of her own and driving in Lenger for the first score of the game. Crenshaw advanced to third on a Stefania Abruscato pop fly and she then made her way home on a Salukis error.

The floodgates opened for the Southern Illinois offense in the fourth inning. McCann struggled to replicate her early succes. She gave up a single and a double in back-to-back at bats, bringing Southern Illinois' Emily Williams to the plate. She crushed a McCann pitch for a three-run homerun to take the lead.

Head coach Larissa Anderson made the call to sub in Taylor Pannell to close out the inning in McCann's place. Amidst confusion during the pitching swap, Anderson was issued an administrative ejection, barring her form the dugout for the remainder of the contest.

Without Anderson, Pannell and the Tigers escaped the following inning, allowing a single run which Pannell surrendered with a triple from Southern Illinois' Jackie Lis who drove in Emma Austin.

Julia Crenshaw put the Tigers back in the scoring column in the bottom of the fifth. She brought the game within one run with a solo blast, her eleventh homerun of the season, as the Tigers entered the sixth inning trailing 4-3.

Both defenses held strong through the sixth inning, each retiring three consecutive batters with the Salukis' maintaining the narrow lead entering the seventh.

The Salukis added a final run to the board in the final inning, scoring on an error on a dropped fly ball by Madison Uptegrove. Southern Illinois closed out the game in three at bats to earn the road victory.

Missouri returns to SEC competition for a weekend series against No. 15/16 Mississippi State. Game 1 starts at 6 p.m. on Friday in Starkville, Miss.