Maddie Gallagher sac-fly walks off LSU, sends Missouri softball to SEC Tournament title game

Maddie Gallagher, take a bow.

No. 5-seeded Missouri softball defeated No. 8 LSU 2-1 in eight innings in the semifinals of the SEC Softball Tournament on Friday in Auburn, Alabama, and it was MU’s second baseman who drove home both of the runs.

It was MU’s second baseman who sent Mizzou to the SEC Tournament championship.

Gallagher, on a 3-2 count with Jenna Laird at third base, crunched a sacrifice fly deep to center field, allowing the speedy shortstop all the time in the world to reach home and walk the game off.

Missouri moves on to the championship, where it will face the winner of No. 2 Florida and No. 3 Texas A&M, who will face off later Friday evening. The SEC Tournament title game is tabbed for 4 p.m. Saturday, and will air on ESPN.

It’s the second time in three seasons that Larissa Anderson’s Tigers have reached the conference title game. In 2022, Mizzou was shut out by Arkansas.

Missouri was the first team on the scoreboard, and it only took one good swing — a rarity for Missouri on Friday, when they managed just two hits in regulation — to take the lead.

That was courtesy of Gallagher, too.

In the bottom of the third with the game still scoreless, Gallagher, after watching one pitch pass through the zone, took a big swing at the follow-up and sent a solo shot well over the right-field wall.

It was Mizzou’s first hit of the day, and its last until a single in the seventh inning.

LSU’s lone run came from third baseman Madyson Manning, who drove home left fielder Ali Newland from third, which she reached via a double up the right field line and a sacrifice groundout, with a double to left field in the top of the fourth inning.

Until then, MU had struggled to capitalize on the gifts LSU starter Kelley Lynch was offering up. Mizzou put four runners on base in the opening two innings; three on walks, one on a hit by pitch. But a hitless run in the first run through the lineup meant the game stayed knotted at nothing.

Lynch left the game after four innings, striking out five and coughing up just one hit — Gallagher’s home run. Sydney Berzon replaced her in the circle, a couple of days removed from throwing more than 200 pitches against Alabama, and retired the first six batters she faced.

MU’s defense, as it has been through the entire SEC Tournament, was close to faultless. Krings kept LSU scoreless through the opening four innings, facing 14 batters. Of those, five grounded out and four flew out.

Krings came out of the game after 5.2 innings, finishing with a final line of four hits, one earned run and two strikeouts. MU freshman Marissa McCann came on in relief, and drew a fly ball to end the inning, stranding a runner on third.

With two outs and a runner on first, Taylor Pannell entered the game for McCann to get the final out in regulation innings. She threw two strikes, then looked to have allowed a single from leadoff hitter Sierra Daniel, but the runner at first, second baseman Karli Petty, was adjudged to have left first base early, ending the inning.

Pannell retired LSU in order in the eighth inning, setting up the chance Missouri needed.

Laird singled; Honnold laid down a perfect bunt; Berzon threw a wild pitch and the runners advanced …

Then, Gallagher pulled the curtains closed.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Missouri softball walks off LSU to reach SEC Tournament title game