Hump Day Blues: Mizzou Softball Hits New Low with Loss to Southern Illinois

One year ago last week, Mizzou softball took a terrible tumble.

In the clunkiest of clunkers, the Tigers lost 1-0 to Southeast Missouri State. They tallied just three hits against Paytience Holman, whose dominance in the circle made the cloudy sky above a little darker for the home team. The Redhawks were no schmucks — they finished No. 2 in the Ohio Valley Conference and made the NCAA Tournament, giving both Arkansas and Villanova scares before bowing out. But SEMO had been run-ruled twice by Auburn and lost twice to the Razorbacks, both of whom finished behind the Tigers in the rankings. On paper, this was a game Mizzou should've won.

The loss revealed a serious problem that'd popped up in previous games: an offense with a sky-high ceiling, but a floor low enough to bottom the Tigers out down the stretch. Sure enough, that's what happened ... sort of. Mizzou didn't score more than five runs once over its final 22 games of the 2024 campaign. MU's season eventually ended at the hands of Duke — in the Super Regionals, that is. Despite the troubles at the plate, which included the no-show against SEMO, the Tigers almost reached the pinnacle of college softball anyway.

This year's Tigers, however, likely won't be able to say the same.

Mizzou has plummeted to the cellar of the SEC, and on Wednesday, the Tigers redefined rock bottom with a 5-3 loss to Southern Illinois. Mizzou dropped to 20-22, its worst record since 2006, which was also the last time the Tigers failed to reach the NCAA Tournament. If they don't right the ship soon, they'll likely join that team in unwanted MU history.

Like SEMO last year, the Salukis are top dogs at the mid-major level, sporting a glistening 13-1 record in Ohio Valley Conference play. They'd also defeated Wisconsin once and Purdue twice while also giving Auburn, Georgia Tech and Kansas admirable fights. Like last year's contest against the Redhawks, however, Wednesday's game was likely one Mizzou should've taken.

The evening featured Mizzou committing a handful of mistakes that allowed Cinderella to stay in the dance. In the circle, Marissa McCann gave up a three-run home run with two strikes and two outs in the top of the fourth, putting SIU ahead 3-2. Out of the 20 longballs she's allowed this season, seven have come with two runners on base, a suboptimal percentage to say the least. After the ball descended into the berm, so did her rosin bag to the dirt, which she slammed with out of frustration. The bag exploded at her feet; like the negative vibes in Mizzou Softball Stadium. The white remnants remained in the circle for a long time, only washed away by the grounds crew well after the stands had emptied.

In the field, Madison Uptegrove experienced the dimmest lowlight of her collegiate career. With two outs in the top of the seventh, a ball off the bat of Emma Austin went straight up in the air toward Uptegrove. It looked to be an easy putout ... until Uptegrove dropped the ball. Mikaela Coburn scored from third, upping the Saluki lead to two.

At the plate, Julia Crenshaw carried the load once again, going 2-of-3 with two RBIs. That included a towering solo home run into left field. Kayley Lenger also recorded a pair of hits, continuing a solid stretch of games after starting the season ice-cold offensively. The main issue was everyone else; those not named Crenshaw and Lenger went 1-of-19. Coach Larissa Anderson, who's made her fair share of personnel adjustments this season, made a drastic move on Wednesday. Kara Daly, who'd started every game since Feb.13, 2022, wasn't in the starting lineup. However, those who did see the field couldn't produce enough to stave off the defeat.

There was a lot of weird in Columbia on Wednesday. Blair Murphy, who lost the Columbia mayor election to incumbent Barbara Buffaloe the night before, threw out the first pitch. Even worse for Murphy, the toss went well over the catcher's head. In the minutes following the game's conclusion, downtown Columbia was hit with rain, drenching the intramural soccer games being played on Stankowski Field. After just a few minutes, the showers stopped; not even the rain was consistent.

Anderson couldn't catch a break, either. She was given an "administrative ejection" early in the game, which wasn't made clear to the press box until a team spokesperson came in and told everyone the news. The reasoning wasn't immediately clear — Anderson had made a visit to the circle, chatting with McCann before returning to the dugout. Not too long after the first meeting, Anderson went out and talked to McCann for a second time. The NCAA rulebook states that a defensive team is allowed one "conference" per inning; any other conference has to be due to a pitching change. If such doesn't occur, the person who initiated the confernece is to be ejected. Since McCann stayed in the game after the second conference, which was catalyzed by Anderson, the coach was tossed.

Since beating Oklahoma on March 22, the Tigers have lost eight of their last 10 games. Before this season, they hadn't experienced a four-game losing streak since 2022; with Wednesday's loss, they've now done so three times this season. Their schedule the rest of the way isn't very friendly on paper; each SEC team still on the schedule is ranked, and the lone remaining midweek contest is against SIUE, which is 10-4 in the Ohio Valley Conference.

As Southern Illinois celebrated the monumental win, "No-no-no no no, no place I'd rather be!" blasted from the stadium loudspeakers. The chorus to "Rather Be" by Clean Bandit featuring Jess Glynn couldn't have been any more different than the vibe in Columbia.

With unwanted history creeping closer, there are many places Mizzou would rather be.

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