Missouri Tigers’ rally falls short as Duke Blue Devils win Super Regional Game 3

Extra innings were required to decide the winner of this weekend’s NCAA Softball Super Regional at a raucous Mizzou Softball Stadium in Columbia.

With the host Missouri Tigers and Duke tied 0-0 through eight innings of Sunday’s winner-to-WCWS Game 3, sophomore Blue Devils center fielder D’Auna Jennings blasted a leadoff homer to right in the ninth.

That opened the floodgates for Duke (50-7) as the Blue Devils scored three more times, then withstood a late MU rally, to win 4-3.

As suggested by the final scoreline, pitching stole the show for most of the afternoon. Each team’s starter was super-sharp from the jump.

For Mizzou (46-18), senior Colorado native Laurin Krings — in the circle for a third straight day — allowed just three hits, striking out three; Duke sophomore Cassidy Curd allowed four and struck out seven. Neither hurler issued a walk in eight innings of work.

In fact, until serving up just the second homer of Jennings’ college career, Krings hadn’t allowed so much as a baserunner since Clair Davidson’s single in the third inning.

That home run by Jennings was massive, however, and succeeded in chasing Krings.

Lee’s Summit West High School product Taylor Pannell was summoned in relief, but Duke plated its second and third runs on Amiah Burgess’ screaming RBI triple down the right-field line and Ana Gold’s booming double to the wall.

The Blue Devils scored their fourth run via a Texas Leaguer on which two Mizzou fielders collided while attempting to track down the ball. But freshman Marissa McCann — MU’s third pitcher of the afternoon — got the final out to give MU one more turn at the plate.

Things began well enough for the Tigers in the bottom of the ninth when Jenna Laird and Alex Honnold led off with back-to-back singles off Duke’s relief pitcher. Mizzou’s situation looked even better after Abby Hay, a freshman from Columbia Rock Bridge, drove in both teammates with a towering shot to right-center.

But that was as close as the Tigers would get. Curd re-entered the game to record the final out after putting the tying run aboard on Kara Daly’s single up the middle.

Next for the Blue Devils

With the hard-fought win, Duke now advances to the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City.

The Blue Devils — who will be making their first WCWS appearance — face the juggernaut Oklahoma Sooners (54-6), who are seeking their fourth consecutive title, in a Thursday opener.

OU enters that showdown on a nine-game winning streak.

Laurin Krings’ workhorse weekend

Missouri’s Krings was a workhorse all season — and that certainly continued in this Super Regional.

She allowed five runs in Friday’s start against Duke before rebounding Saturday with 4 2/3 innings of two-hit ball.

Saturday’s performance by Krings was crucial as the Tigers beat the Blue Devils 3-1 to force Sunday’s Game 3.

Record attendance at Mizzou Stadium

All three weekend games against Duke were sellouts at Mizzou Softball Stadium, which led to a few attendance records.

As noted in a Mizzou Softball social-media post during Sunday’s game, Sunday’s announced crowd of 4,021 pushed the Tigers’ three-game announced attendance total to 11,608. Both are program records.