Two outs. Bottom of the seventh. Bases loaded. For two-way freshman Abby Carr, Sunday’s Shriners Children’s Clearwater Invitational finale was a trial by fire. Facing a surging No. 9 Duke offense, Carr found the perfect pitch to force a game-ending flyout, preserving a 5-4 win and punctuating a massive five-run comeback for Mizzou Softball.
Things weren’t looking up for the Tigers after the first couple of innings when the Blue Devils scored four early runs on Marissa McCann sending her back into
the dugout. Out came Nathalie Touchet, who finished the contest with one of her best outings of the season. The Aledo, Texas, native pitched 3.1 innings allowing zero runs and only three hits before Carr took her spot to close out the contest. The freshman pitched the final 2.1 innings of the game allowing just two hits, and more important zero earned runs.
Following the fiery start from Duke, Mizzou got hot in the fourth inning. An RBI double from Abby Hay put the Tigers on the board after bouncing off the Blue Devil outfielders glove. Then, a sac-fly from Stefania Abruscato put Mizzou just two runs behind, 4-2.
In the fifth, a wild pitch brought Tiny Claire to home plate putting the Tigers within one. By this point, you could tell the momentum was all in Mizzou’s favor.
Prior to any of the Tigers’ runs, Larissa Anderson came on broadcast for a quick interview while trailing. Her biggest emphasis: aggression in the batters box.
Sophomore Madison Uptegrove found the aggression that head coach Larissa Anderson was looking for. After starting the day 0-for-2, Madison Uptegrove found her redemption on an RBI double that scored the game-tying and game-winning runs.
The win could not have come at a better time for the Tigers, after a rough 3-7 start to the season against some top competition. Not only did the win mark Mizzou’s third ranked win of the season, it also came aginst Duke, a team that knocked the Tigers out of a WCWS bid just a few years ago.
“Winning feels good and we’ve got to do more of it,” HCLA said in her mid-game interview.
The relationship between the Tigers and the Blue Devils has become quite the rivalry over the past few years and Mizzou’s been on the favorable end recently. After Duke eliminated Mizzou from Women’s College World Series contention in Columbia in 2024, the Tigers and Blue Devils have matched up in each of the last two seasons, with Mizzou winning both.
Looking ahead, Mizzou (4-7) will look to climb back to that .500 mark with games Houston, McNeese State and Louisiana next weekend. This week, the Tigers will return home for the first time since the start of the season and practice in their own facilities, something HCLA has emphasized.
“The weather’s turned back in Columbia, Missouri. So we will be able to get on dirt at home. It’ll be huge for us to get into a routine,” she said.
