‘Gutsy’ Missouri softball survives two elimination games in regional. How the Tigers dug deep

The first word out of Missouri softball coach Larissa Anderson’s mouth told the tale.

“Gutsy,” she said of her Tigers.

You won't find many arguments from Columbia to Seattle to Bloomington.

Mizzou faced two elimination games over the course of a mammoth Saturday in the NCAA Columbia Regional, and Mizzou survived two elimination games. The No. 7 national seed Tigers sent Indiana packing with a 5-1 win in the first game, then bounced Washington with a 4-1 win that ended about six hours after Missouri starter Laurin Krings threw her first pitch.

In the approximately six hours that it took to keep their season alive, those guts were on display all over.

More: Missouri softball eliminates Washington, reaches NCAA Columbia Regional championship

Krings started both games for Mizzou.

Anderson said, after the starter went 6 ⅓ for a win over the Hoosiers, Krings came up to her in the 45 minutes that separated the two games and reminded the coach she had been instructed to go “as long I can, as hard as I can.” Krings told her to come get her when it looked like there was nothing left in the tank.

That came after 163 pitches over 11 total innings of work, in which she’d allowed 10 inconsequential hits for just two earned runs en route to a pair of wins.

Gutsy.

“Extremely difficult to do mentally, physically,” Anderson said. “And for her to just gut herself and will herself to be able to do what she did is extremely impressive.”

Abby Hay, the Tigers’ hometown freshman first baseman who was part of a Missouri team that could scant buy a hit against Omaha and small-balled its way past Indiana, took the regional into her own hands, blasting a second-inning home run over center field.

In her hometown, that got the ball rolling against the typically free-scoring Huskies team.

That took nerve.

“Last year I was in the (Mizzou Softball Stadium) stands,” Hay said. “So knowing that, like, in a year that I was on the field doing that — it was just awesome. I mean, I love this community and I've always loved it. So to give back to them, it means a lot.”

Jenna Laird, Missouri’s leadoff hitter, hadn’t hit a home run since April 2022. She did that one inning after Hay to double up on Washington.

Marissa McCann, another Columbia native who Anderson called “tough as nails,” took 12 pitches to retire seven straight to close the door on the Huskies.

All of it required courage.

Even Friday night, a day removed from two gritty wins that kept MU running for at least another day, the Tigers had to dig deep.

More: Krings flings gem as Missouri softball ousts Indiana in NCAA Columbia Regional

Laird said the players and coaches sat down and talked, coming to the conclusion that what occurred “should never have happened.” They settled on entering a new day with the mentality to “win every pitch.”

When Saturday morning rolled around, Hay said the players’ group chat was abuzz. With elimination staring them in the face, the Tigers weren’t quite ready to call it quits.

“We were just saying that we don't want to be done yet,” Hay said. “We love each other and we're not going to go down without a fight, and I think that just kind of fired everyone up.”

And after the second game was done — another season-saving win in the books — Laird said she shared a look with her fellow senior, center fielder Alex Honnold.

“We know our team wants it just as bad as we do,” Laird said. “Our freshmen want it just as bad for us as we want it for them.”

Anderson, at 10:48 p.m., sent Hay and Laird away from the postgame press conference early because they were getting close to their curfew and needed treatment.

That's because Missouri will need to do the same all over again Sunday, as it is matched up against Omaha in the regional championship needing two wins to book its spot in the NCAA Super Regional.

First pitch against the plucky, regional 4-seed Mavericks is set for 1 p.m. Sunday. Omaha stifled Missouri’s bats behind stellar defense and star ace Kamryn Meyer in the regional opener, before dealing the Huskies their first blow toward elimination Saturday.

Omaha, this year’s Summit League champion, came to play. The Mavericks have shown their own mettle in bunches, holding Mizzou’s bats near-silent in a 3-1 victory.

Missouri showed nerve on Saturday, but there's a demon the Tigers still need to conquer.

“Tomorrow,” Hay said. “We're not gonna let the fat (pitches) go.”

More: Missouri softball: Complete schedule for NCAA Columbia Regional

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: How 'gutsy' Missouri softball survived two elimination games in regional