Missouri Softball Shuts Down South Carolina in Series Opener

In the final conference series of the season, No. 15 Missouri softball opened the pivotal three-game weekend slate on a high note.

Behind a dominant tag-team pitching performance from Laurin Krings and Marissa McCann, the Tigers shut out South Carolina 2-0 on Friday to move back to .500 in SEC play.

For the Gamecocks, a few missed opportunities ended up being amplified with Missouri's offense struggling as well. They had a runner on third base three separate times, but all three times saw the following batter get retired to end the inning.

However, their struggles on offense also stemmed from them not being able to put consecutive runners on base. South Carolina never had more than four players bat in a single inning, and two of the three times that a runner did reach third base was because of a wild pitch by Krings.

Outside of the wild pitches, Krings recorded her third consecutive quality start, allowing just three hits in five innings of work. in relief, McCann closed the game with back-to-back no-hit innings en route to her second save of the season.

At the plate, Missouri experienced its own set of troubles against Sage Mardjetko, who pitched her second straight complete game for the Gamecocks. However, the Tigers did just enough; in the top of the fourth, Kara Daly's chopper off the glove of Mardjetko scored Julia Crenshaw from third. The hit broke what had been an ice-cold stretch for Daly, as she entered Friday having gone just five for her last 55.

The other run came from Katie Chester, who ripped an RBI single into left field. This marks yet another clutch pinch-hit knock for Chester as of late, as her two-RBI single against Mississippi State last Sunday proved pivotal in Missouri's 4-1 over the Bulldogs.

The win keeps hope alive for Missouri to potentially secure the No. 5 seed in the SEC Tournament. At 11-11 in conference play, the Tigers need two more wins to vault No. 13 LSU, who sits at 12-12 with no more regular season conference games remaining. The current No. 5 seed, No. 12 Georgia, sits at 11-10 with a three-game series against No. 19 Mississippi State on tap this weekend.

Missouri will be back in action tomorrow looking to pick up another SEC series victory. First pitch is set for 5 p.m. CST.