All facets of Mizzou sports continue to impress in the recruiting trail and Larissa Anderson’s Mizzou Softball team is one of the headlines.
After adding four 2027 commits near the end of September (go check out my column on them!), the Tigers didn’t slow down, adding four-star pitcher Olivia Ricciardi before the end of the month, then beginning October with back-to-back commitments from four-star infielder/outfielder Nola Tylke and pitcher Jaylynn Brown.
Ricciardi, a Tampa, Florida product, is the 121st ranked player in the 2027 class per Softball America and Rivals, and the 42nd best pitcher in the class. Ricciardi competes on the U18 Puerto Rican National Team, who just competed in the U18 Women’s Softball World Cup at the end of September. Puerto Rico didn’t find much success at the competition, but the Florida product started two games in the circle, finishing with an ERA of 3.23 over 13 innings pitched. Not bad when you’re competing against some of the top competition in your age from around the globe. Ricciardi attended a camp at Mizzou at the end of August that clearly did the trick in helping the pitcher choose the Tigers.
Following Ricciardi”s commitment on Sept. 25, Mizzou Softball fans only had to wait a few days before the good news kept coming.
The next set of commitments both came on Sunday night from Nola Tylke and Jaylynn Brown.
Tylke, a Acworth, Georgia product, can play just about anywhere except pitcher and catcher according to her SportsRecruit page. She’s listed as a SS, 2B, 3B, UTL, LF, RF on her page, but from doing some research I found that she is likely to fit in at Mizzou as a middle infielder.
Tylke has been quite dominant in her high school time in Georgia. During her sophomore season at Harrison High School, Tylke led her team in batting average (.515), on base percentage (.565), hits (52), doubles (18), triples (5), home runs (4) and RBI (46). She also led her team to a victory in the Georgia 6A Region 3 Championship and a Sweet 16 state appearance. As a sophomore, Tylke was named the Player of the Year in her region. With plenty of time to continue growing, Tylke looks like an exciting prospect for the Tigers.
Tylke announced her commitment at 9:20 on Sunday. Just an hour later, another pledge came.
Brown is the most recent addition from coach Anderson and she’s an in state pitcher who’s already broken a record at her high school.
Brown attends Centralia High School and already racked up 500 career strikeouts just 11 games into her junior season. Only one other Panther, Baylee Douglass, has achieved the feat in program history. While Douglass reached the 500 mark during her senior season, Brown still has plenty of time to continue racking up strikeouts.
The Centralia product notably threw 19 strikeouts against North Callaway in the Class 3 District 4 semifinals to punch the Panthers a ticket to the district championship. The 19 strikeouts was a program record, topping you guessed it, Baylee Douglas (17).
The Panthers ended up winning the district championship but falling short in the state tournament against Oak Grove in the championship. Sitting at 21-4 on the season, I’d expect Brown and Centralia to come into playoffs hungry for revenge after coming so close last season.
Larissa Anderson and the Missouri Tigers continue to make strong moves in bettering the future of Mizzou Softball, which is good considering the on-field performance wasn’t to par last season. With Anderson potentially on the hot seat this season, this certainly helps her chances of continuing as Mizzou’s coach.
