Sluggish Offense Plagues Mizzou Softball in Loss to Georgia

Missouri softball couldn't tally a series win over No. 16/14 Georgia, dropping the series finale to UGA 4-0 on Sunday.

Once again, the Tigers couldn't muster much offense against Georgia star pitcher Randi Roelling. After allowing just one hit over five innings on Friday, Roelling gave up just four hits while striking out nine batters in her first seven-inning shutout of the season.

The only inning in which Missouri had multiple hits was the top of the third, but even that was stained with a dash of failure. With one out and no runners on base, third baseman Addy Waits tried to turn a double into a triple, but she was thrown out at third.

Georgia scored one run per inning from the second to the fifth. Its final two runs came courtesy of solo blasts from left fielder Jaydyn Goodwin and designated player Tyler Ellison.

Missouri's pitchers had up-and-down afternoons. Starter Cierra Harrison gave up a double and a walk with two outs in the bottom of the first, but she stranded both runners with a strikeout in the next at-bat. But a double and consecutive singles put Georgia on the board in the bottom of the second.

Harrison was pulled for Marissa McCann in the top of the third after allowing a single and a double.

Two of McCann's three hits she allowed were the solo home runs, but she was solid outside of that in two and two-thirds innings. Abby Carr retired the Bulldogs in order in the bottom of the sixth.

Missouri is now 22-22 overall and 6-9 in the SEC. The Tigers are in a three-way tie for ninth in the conference standings with Mississippi State and LSU, but those teams have tiebreakers over MU because they each have better overall records than the Tigers.

Even so, the gap between Missouri and the next tier of SEC teams is still wide. South Carolina, which is directly behind MU in the SEC standings, is 3-12 in conference play. Missouri and South Carolina will play a three-game series at Mizzou Softball Stadium that starts on Friday evening.

Missouri will hit the road to face arch-rival Kansas in its next game, which is slated for Wednesday at 5 p.m. The Jayhawks are 29-12 overall and 10-5 in the Big 12, good for third place in the conference behind No. 1 Texas Tech and No. 11 Arizona. Looking for its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2015, KU has taken two of three games in each of its first five series against Big 12 opponents.

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