Mizzou Softball Falls Flat in Run-Rule Loss to Louisiana

The Tigers drop to 5-11 on the season.

Mizzou Athletics

Entering the final day of the Cajun AC Louisiana Clash, Missouri softball had lost three of four games in Lake Charles and sat at 5-10 overall. One silver lining, however, was that those three losses were by a combined six runs.

On Sunday, however, the Tigers were trounced by Louisiana 9-1 in six innings, tallying a disheartening run-rule defeat that punctuated a porous start for Larissa Anderson's crew. It was Missouri's first run-rule loss to a mid-major opponent since Feb. 2020, when the Tigers fell 11-3 to UC Davis in six innings.

Third baseman Addy Waits led off the game with a triple, and two batters later, first baseman Abby Hay brought her home with an RBI double.

Over the next six innings, Missouri recorded just three hits. Louisiana starting pitcher Bethaney Noble, who entered Sunday having pitched 14 shutout innings in three appearances so far this season, was dominant once again. The only earned run she allowed was the RBI double by Hay in the top of the first inning.

The Tigers weren't much better in the circle. Anderson made a last-minute switch at the beginning of the game, replacing expected starter Cierra Harrison with freshman standout Abby Carr. But her outing saw the wheels fall off a bit, as she allowed seven hits and four earned runs in just three and two-thirds innings. Nathalie Touchet, who'd also been having a strong start to the season, gave up three hits and two earned runs in one a two-thirds innings.

Already ahead 4-1, the Ragin' Cajuns poured in five runs in the bottom of the sixth to sea a dominant win. The game-winning hit came courtesy of a two-RBI single from UL first baseman Emily Smith off of freshman pitcher Rylee Michalak.

The Tigers will look to keep their season from flying off the rails when they host the Mizzou Invitational next week, which will be their first home games of the season. MU's first action will come on Friday against Wichita State at 3 p.m., which will be followed by a contest against Miami (Oh.) at 5:30 p.m.