No. 7 Missouri softball quiets No. 10 Duke offense, uses 4th-inning outburst to stay alive (2024)

By Brandon HaynesSt. Louis Post-Dispatch

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Taylor Pannell is familiar with high-leverage situations, but the sophom*ore closer for the Missouri softball team found herself in a predicament Saturday.

Needing a victory to keep the season alive, the No. 7 seed Tigers turned to Pannell for a six-out save, and she answered the call to close out Missouri’s 3-1 victory over No. 10 seed Duke in the second game of the Columbia Super Regional at Mizzou Softball Stadium.

“I just knew I had to empty the tank, give it everything for this team,” Pannell said. “They got me this far, and I was gonna do whatever it takes to get this win.”

Facing a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the sixth inning, Pannell displayed her grit through the scare with a strikeout of Ana Gold —who came feet from a grand slam when she drilled a foul ball down the left-field line—and by eliciting a popout by Kelly Torres.

Pannell followed her sixth-inning heroics by retiring Duke in order in the seventh, including a game-ending strikeout, to seal the victory and a place in history. The sophom*ore earned her 15th save of the season, which tied the NCAA Division I single-season record established by Mallory Aldred of Canisius in 2008 and equaled by Taylor Bauman of Florida Gulf Coast in 2018.

“I feel like it’s really special to do this at home in front of our crowd,” Pannell said. “I had no idea this was going to be a save until somebody told me. It’s just really special; words can’t describe how it feels.”

Missouri (48-17) will face Duke (51-7) in a winner-take-all Game 3, which will take place Sunday at Mizzou Softball Stadium at a time to be announced. A win would propel the Tigers to their first Women’s College World Series since 2011, while a loss would send Duke to the WCWS for the first time.

Laurin Krings returns to form

Tigers senior Laurin Krings wasn't impeded by a line drive toward her face.

Facing Duke three-hole hitter Aminah Vega, Krings (17-9) used quick thinking to raise her glove and deflect a line drive headed straight for her. The Loveland, Colorado, native then retired Vega with a throw to first base as part of a fourth consecutive shutout inning.

Krings retired the first nine batters she faced en route to a two-hit, three-strikeout effort against Duke. The senior starting pitcher navigated through 4⅔ innings before turning it over to freshman Marissa McCann and Pannell to finish off the win.

Krings’ strong performance came one day after she scattered five runs and seven hits across 4⅔ innings in Missouri’s 6-3 loss to Duke in the opening game of the best-of-three series Friday.

“The whole key with Krings is her changeup,” Missouri coach Larissa Anderson said. “(Friday), the speed of her changeup and her hard stuff was too close, so they were able to get the bat on the ball … we emphasized getting that changeup a little bit slower.”

The lone blemish on Krings’ line was a solo home run to left field in the fifth inning by Francesca Frelick to cut Missouri's lead to 3-1. Frelick's homer was her second in as many days.

The performance gave flashbacks of the Tigers’ last Super Regional win, a complete game effort from Krings in which she allowed just one run and four hits against James Madison in 2021. In that series, Missouri also won the second game, but it suffered losses in the opener and finale.

The Tigers are aiming to avoid a similar fate this time around.

“Tomorrow doesn’t care what we did today,” Anderson said when asked about what she learned in 2021. “Today’s win does not carry over. It’s a whole new slate, and they’re going to be coming after us the same way we’re going to be going after them.”

Abby Hay comes through in fourth-inning rally

A few seniors set the table, but it was a freshman who lit the spark to keep the Tigers' season alive.

Columbia native Abby Hay brought home the go-ahead run in a three-run fourth inning for the Tigers.

“I think whenever the game is on the line and our season is on the line, it just pushes us to be that much better,” Hay said. “We love each other, and we don’t want to go down yet.”

Hay drove the fourth pitch of her at-bat to shallow right field, scoring senior center fielder Alex Honnold, who forced a throw home. The throw came in offline, and senior second baseman Maddie Gallagher also came around to score from first when miscommunication between Duke's pitcher and catcher resulted in no play at the plate. With the swing, Missouri grabbed a 2-0 lead.

A groundout from Fort Zumwalt West alum Julia Crenshaw brought in Hay, who advanced to third on the error, to make it a 3-0 lead for Missouri. The Tigers left zero runners on base in the win. But from the fourth inning on, Missouri managed just one hit in 3⅔ innings against reliever Cassidy Curd, who has pitched nine one-hit innings against the Tigers across the two games.

“The first thing I said to (hitting coach) Jeff Cottrill is, ‘What do we need to do to hit (Curd)?' ” Anderson said. “We just gotta be a little bit shorter to the ball and realize that she provides the power, that we don’t have to try and generate that power.”

Defense reigns supreme early on

Duke left fielder Amiah Burgess set the tone with a diving catch in shallow left field, robbing Missouri shortstop Jenna Laird of a leadoff hit. The Blue Devils flashed the leather again to end the inning when D’Auna Jennings sprinted to rob Gallagher of a two-out hit.

Crenshaw nearly snapped the scoreless deadlock in the second inning when she unloaded on the first pitch of her at-bat, driving it to deep center field. However, a leaping catch from Jennings at the wall kept it tied.

“I feel like, for me, it’s routine,” Jennings said. “(Defense) has always been our strong suit all year.”

Missouri left fielder Claire Cahalan made a lunging catch down the left-field line in the bottom of the second inning to add another web gem to the tightly contested battle.

The defensive displays helped both Krings and Duke starter Jala Wright (19-2), who allowed three hits and three runs in 3⅓ innings, carry dueling perfect games into the fourth inning.