The Missouri Tigers, desperately in needs of wins and running out of season to get them, picked up a pivotal 5-0 shutout victory against no. 25 South Carolina (25-21) on Saturday evening in CoMo to move to 24-23 and 7-10 in the SEC (10th place) on the season. Because teams must be .500 to be eligible for the NCAA tourney, grabbing wins against the bottom portion of the conference — Columbia (L)East has just four SEC victories — when they have upcoming series against the no. 6 and no. 9 teams remaining
is an absolute necessity.
“I said yesterday, we’ve got to play better, and we played better,” Mizzou head coach Larissa Anderson said post-game. “Pretty simple, right?”
Simple indeed. Marissa McCann was unflappable on Saturday, earning her first complete game shutout in SEC play of her career. She threw 113 pitches in her seven innings of work, allowing just four hits and two walks to go with a half dozen strikeouts.
“McCann was phenomenal,” Anderson said. “She threw so great, both sides of the plate. Like, we literally threw every pitch she has in her repertoire. We didn’t have to live in one pitch. She commanded every pitch she has, which becomes extremely effective in what she’s able to do and keep hitters off balance. So I’m really, really impressed and happy with her.”
“I feel really good,” McCann said post-game. “I think the whole team feels really good after today, and it builds some really good momentum going into Game 3 of the series.”
With the pitching on point and the Tiger defense firing on all cylinders, they were able to keep the Gamecock bats in check and off the board, leaving just the offense to get it going. It took a bit to get going and it was a bit unconventional, but they got it done, using a wacky fourth inning to slam the door shut.
Fourth Inning Frenzy
The Tigers technically won the game in the third off of South Carolina’s second pitcher of the day, Neeley Lamb, when Stefania Abruscato’s hard-hit sac fly to right allowed Kayley Lenger, who was aboard with a sac bunt, to score and make it 1-0.
It was the fourth inning, however, when the damage was done. Abby Hay led off with a single and was replaced on the base paths by Linny Ramsey. A misplayed fielder’s choice (or well-placed hit, if you’re the optimistic type) by Sidney Forrester kept both runners safe, and she was also replaced on the base paths by Addi Koller. Madison Uptegrove’s sac bunt advanced the runners to second and third for pinch hitter (and 17-year old!) Gracie Britton, who came in in place of Claire Cahalan. Britton, normally used in later innings, singled, and then was able to take TWO extra bases on an error, basically making it a triple in my eyes and giving the Tigers a 3-0 lead.
When asked about Britton, who came in at a pivotal spot, Anderson said, “Gracie has the ability to be able to drive the ball to the outfield, and if Claire (Cahalan) puts it in play, it was gonna be in the infield, and South Carolina plays so000 close to home plate so there’s no way they would have been able to get anybody in on an infield hit.”
She continued. “It’s real impressive for a 17 year old, because she’s still 17 to have such great control of the strike zone, like she swings at pitches that she knows she can hit, and she takes the ones that she an and that’s real impressive, just her composure and how she’s very, very even keeled. She’s got a great swing. I mean, we wouldn’t have recruited her if she didn’t.”
Cahalan came in to run for Britton and scored on a wild pitch, one of three costly ones for the Gamecocks in the game, to make it 4-0, which took Lamb from the game in favor of pitcher number three, UK transfer Julie Kelley, who immediately gave up a walk to Sophie Smith and a single by Lenger to put two on for Abruscato, whose two-out RBI single to left made it 5-0.
That was all they’d need, and really, all they’d get. Aside from three walks in the next two innings, courtesy of Abby Hay in the fifth and Claire Cahalan and pinch hitter Saniya Hill in the sixth, the Tigers basically stored up all their offense in that one inning.
Anderson said the focus this game was on taking quality at-bats, and that’s just what the Tiger did. “Coach Ep and Bella were talking to the hitters on what to be able to eliminate, and it was just like, let’s barrel up some balls to get the starter out. And that’s when we go to the bullpen, then we know we’ve gotten to them. I was real impressed that we saw four different pitchers that we were getting on time and swinging at good pitching right out of the shoot. It didn’t take us a long time to be able to capitalize on those situations.”
Carolina Offense Halted
As for South Carolina, with as lights out as McCann was throwing, they really only had one shot in this game. In the third, she allowed her first hit of the game, a double, and a subsequent bunt single advanced the runner to third. A heads up play by left fielder Claire Cahalan on a fly ball led to a play at the plate for a crucial double play. A Gamecocks’ challenge could have potentially reversed the call, but it was ultimately unsuccessful and that was it… really their only chance. After Sidney Forrester, who Anderson described as “not the swiftest outfielder” and “a little limited in her range” made a diving catch in right for the third out, it was over.
When asked how having the defense perform how they did changes the dynamic for her pitchers, Anderson said, “It gives them a little confidence and comfort in knowing that the balls might be put in play and the defense is going to bail them out.”
There was a lone single in fourth and a double in the fifth, but the team from the Other Columbia wasn’t able to manufacture any other offense until a walk in the seventh that was erased on a fielder’s choice to end the game and secure Mizzou’s W. This was the Tigers’ first five-run win in exactly a year, when they knocked off no. 1 Texas A&M on this day in 2025.
UP NEXT: The Tigers go for the series win against South Carolina on Sunday at Mizzou Softball Stadium at 1pm.
“I think it comes down to all of us,” McCann said, when asked about how the team prepares for Sunday’s game. “It’s just holding each other accountable, like we’re gonna have great energy in the dugout and we’re gonna pick each other up. So I think it just comes down to everybody playing their part. And I think we’re pretty pumped for [Sunday].”
