The No. 5 seed Missouri Tigers scored five runs in the last two innings to break a scoreless tie as they advanced at the Big 12 Championship with a 5-0 win over No. 4 seed Oklahoma State.
When I talked with Ehren Earleywine earlier this week, featured on my Pressbox Podcast, he told me OSU was the one team they wanted a crack at again after the Cowgirls swept MU in Columbia in early April.
Jana Hainey threw a complete game shutout. It’s the first time Hainey has thrown a seven inning complete game since April 15, 2009 against Missouri S&T. The senior allowed just four hits and didn’t allow a walk and struck out a season-best six batters.
Missouri broke the scoreless tie with a pair of runs in the top of the sixth. Marston and Ashley Fleming led off the inning with back-to-back singles, and moved up on a sacrifice bunt by Abby Vock. Lindsey Muller then came through with a single into right field, plating both runners and giving Mizzou the first lead of the day.
The Tigers added some insurance in the top of the seventh to push their lead to 5-0. With one out, Taylor laid down a perfect bunt single, setting up her 38th stolen base of the season. Megan Christopher drew a walk to put two on. After a groundout advanced the runners to second and third, Fleming crushed a three-run home run over the right-center field wall, her ninth home run of the season.
Fleming finished the day 2-for-4 with two runs, a home run and three RBI. Muller was 1-for-3 with two RBI, while Taylor added a pair of hits and a run.
The No. 5 seed Tigers advance to take on No. 1 seed Texas in the semifinals, beginning tonight at approximately 7:30 p.m. CT.
Recap courtesy of MUtigers.com
