Mizzou Links for Wednesday, April 17 (AKA: Another excuse for Karen to incessantly drill softball content into your brains)
Your favorite diamond sports team (sorry baseball, but congrats on your Tuesday win) is set to wrap up midweek play today at 5pm at Mizzou Softball Stadium. The Missouri Tigers (33-11, 7-8 SEC) just wrapped up an unbelievably fun series win over then-no. 9 Florida, and will face SIUE (14-28, 6-12 OVC) before heading out to Athens to take on the no. 9 Bulldogs (33-10, 8-7 SEC) this weekend.
Third SEC series win in 2024 ✅#OwnIt #MIZ pic.twitter.com/uGoSxObSl4
— Mizzou Softball (@MizzouSoftball) April 17, 2024
The new polls are out, and while a couple publications, namely Softball America & D1 Softball, are intent on recognizing the Tigers for their worth, the “ones that matter” (NFCA & USA Softball) aren’t too keen to reward them… why exactly? I have no idea. It’s not like they just took two of three from the no. 9 team in the country, and also took two of three from another team (cough-cough, LSU) that it seems no matter how many times they lose, they just won’t drop in the polls outside the top 10. It’s annoying, really. Taylor Pannell agrees with me, btw. She liked my tweet questioning the decision, LOL.
Tigers in the Rankings: Week #OwnIt #MIZ pic.twitter.com/FBv6nL1S9U
— Mizzou Softball (@MizzouSoftball) April 16, 2024
Moving on.
Larissa Anderson met with the media on Tuesday morning, and she was on fire. These last couple press conferences she’s had real mic-drop moments, whether it be pointing to the score sheet while asking us if we see runs notated on there by way of untraditional ways (which you can’t, of course), to talking about why they’re having trouble winning series finales (get too high and emotional so they’re gassed for Game 3) to what she had to say on Tuesday.
Let’s review.
On the crowds this weekend and its impact:
“The crowd was absolutely amazing, the whole way through from Friday through Sunday made a huge impact, I think, on the game Friday and Saturday in terms of the energy. I think was the first time Florida, with their freshman (Rothrock) pitching, played in an environment like that.”
On the role of Marissa McCann going forward
“I’ll start first with what her role is going to be. I anticipate that she’ll be working into the mix as the starter for the SEC series. What I need to figure out is the role that Krings will then take, because I’d like to be able to utilize her. I think that McCann was effective, being able to throw all three games, and so I don’t want to lose that opportunity. So it’s really trying to figure out what’s going to put us in the best possible situation.
On the impact moving McCann to a starter has on the rest of the rotation:
“When Harrison throws, she throws a rise ball. She’s still in the mid-60s. Her stature is not like a 6’2 player. So she has to utilize the power in her body every single pitch, which is really taxing. She went 100 pitches on Saturday, so that’s where her max is, so knowing that she probably will be able to go seven innings, if we need to have some middle relief, who do we want with the game on the line, knowing that we have Pannell to come in to close. We’re trying to figure out where are we going to We’re trying to figure out where are we going to bridge that gap if we run into that and if we use McCann as a starter, will Krings fill that role? That’s kind of a little uncertainty right now.”
On Krings’ recent struggles (re: bullpen vs. starts)
“I mean I wish I knew (what the problems were)… We wouldn’t be in this situation right now. I’m putting them in situations and I give them consequences if they throw the ball ;dead red’ and I’m able to put devices in the middle of the whole plate so becomes really obvious when they throw the ball over the heart of the plate. And if they did, they have a consequence which is like a burpee or a sprint or something like that. So putting that in the back of their mind, the concentration is a little bit greater because they don’t want to do burpees and they don’t want to do those sprints. But taking that same mindset to a game… A game should probably be more, like there’s more at stake. I’m not able to connect enough with Krings to get her to have that same level of concentration and it could be the crowd and could be just her mentality or her entire life has kind of been just to throw, and that’s where I’m kind of playing around. Do I let her be who she naturally is… Just come in and throw hard and maybe that’s where Krings is going to be the best. So it’s kind of figuring out to let to let that horse run… to allow her to be at her best and her strength because maybe her strength isn’t spinning and having pinpoint control.”
About facing Georgia this weekend:
“Florida was pretty similar, with a lot of offensive power in their lineup, too. We spell it out… Three of our pitchers— Krings, Harrison and McCann— they throw the ball up in the zone, they’re rise ball pitchers and the ball is going to be hit out if you don’t keep the ball off the plate. And with Krings, the velocity that she throws all you really have to do is get the barrel on the ball and it’s going to travel. So she does have to work the outside a little bit more and get the whole ball off the plate. I was kind of breaking down some stats and I think the most obvious one is we let too many leadoff batters on base, and when we give up home runs, we would much rather have them be solo shots than, you know, two and three-run home runs because those are a little tougher to come back from.”
On Taylor Pannell:
“She’s embraced the role from Day One and set foot here on campus. She loves it. She loves coming out the bullpen. She wants the game on the line. She wants the crowd. She wants the energy. She wants to finish it. And that a tough mentality. And again, that’s why Major League closers make so much money is because it’s really, really hard to deal… I can’t say enough about how she has the ability to lock in and be determined and be focused and her and I have a really, really cool connection where she’s like, all I need to do is look at you and you just give me this look and I just lock into whatever batter.”
On the success of freshmen Stefania Abruscato & Abby Hay:
“The two of them are just so highly competitive. And that’s really what they bring. The bring such great energy. They’re the type of players that when they’re successful, everyone really rises to the occasion around them because they know how hard they work and what they put in and just what they bring.”
On analytics
On Saturday, we really moved to hit on every single pitch that was thrown to us; we attacked it. We set up a program that we haven’t been able to set up since we moved back outside since we were inside and it takes a lot of work. But it gives us exit velocity. So those types of things, and explaining to them that, you know, if you’re defensive and you just put the ball in play, your exit velocity is probably around 55mph. When you really use the ground and drive into the ground to hit your exit velocity can hit 75mph. and anyone who hits 55, especially when you have a 30mph wind blowing in, the ball is just going to stay in the air. It’s not gonna go very far. So getting them to see that result. Feel what that feels like, which is what we’re going to do in practice today. That the way we need to hit against Georgia and we need to hit against everybody. That’s using the ground and really driving ahead, putting in a really good swing and a good pitch.”
On the lack of home runs:
“Some of our balls, our line drives, they look like they’re good hits, there’s just not hit hard enough to really carry because we’re not really utilizing the ground as much as we should.”
Spray chart:
On to the Links!
Fun Fact:
I went on a podcast, friends! To talk all about my fave topics, #Mizzou Softball and Gym, with some former MU JSchoolers at @BleavUnwritten. It was so fun! Be sure to have a listen on Friday, and hopefully I sound super knowledgeable
— Karen S (@karensteger) April 17, 2024
Yesterday at Rock M
- Sam updated the Mizzou Basketball 2024 Transfer Tracker
- Dylan and I wrote, New Mexico transfer Nyah Wilson commits to Mizzou WBB
- Cal’s new Tobias Ten: Softball Edition is up!
- Nate’s mathing again, Transfer Portal Math: Three Positions to Watch
- Josh identified Three Priorities for the Spring Transfer Portal
- COMING UP: Brandon & Me, the Dream Softball Team (I know this is improper grammar but it rhymes more than “I” does) have cooked up some season takeaways thus far— only three SEC series left, friends! That’ll be up early this morning.
- IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Go see Cal’s art!!! | Read my Taylor Swift lyric-infused Regional Finals recap/season thoughts/future look— Judges have a marvelous time ruining everything at Regional Finals | Read the Game 3 finale recap from me & Brandon | Nathan looked at Mizzou Football’s Transfer Losses: What do they mean for the roster?
More Links:
Football
- St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Mizzou football enters spring transfer portal window ‘open-minded’ and ‘aggressive’ (Eli Hoff)
- Columbia Tribune: Missouri football transfer portal tracker: Who is joining, leaving MU?(Calum McAndrew)
- KC Star: How many Missouri Tigers could be selected in NFL Draft? Perhaps a record number (Blair Kerkhoff)
- PowerMizzou: Four Down Territory (Jarod Hamilton)
- Mizzou Central (SI FanNation): 2024 NFL Draft Profile: Missouri Kicker Harrison Mevis (Christopher Walsh)
- Theo has some thoughts:
el oh el https://t.co/ZgHRSG4SUw
— Theo Wease Jr (@_TheoWeaseJr) April 16, 2024
Hoops
- St. Louis Post-Dispatch: How Mizzou men adding guard Tony Perkins fits Dennis Gates’ transfer portal plan (Eli Hoff) | Why Mizzou prospect Annor Boateng has Tigers excited, from saxophone to Hoops Summit (Hoff) | The graphic below is absolutely absurd, but Eli shared it so here goes:
Ready for this? #Mizzou predicted (far too early for this sort of thing, but alas, it’s out there) as one of the last four in for next year’s NCAA Tournament, landing as an 11 seed. https://t.co/bn7Et9vxcU pic.twitter.com/8S2ZVo5PoG
— Eli Hoff (@byEliHoff) April 16, 2024
- Columbia Tribune: Missouri basketball coach Dennis Gates hopes for “2 to 3” commits this week (Calum McAndrew) | Missouri women’s basketball lands first transfer of offseason (McAndrew)
- Columbia Missourian: Mizzou women’s basketball lands New Mexico transfer Wilson (Parker Gillam)
- PowerMizzou: Where the 2024 Tigers landed in the final Rivals150 (Drew King) | Soon-to-be Tigers: Catching up with 2024 guard Annor Boateng (King)
- Mizzou Central (SI FanNation): Behind the Recruitment and Expectations of Missouri Freshman Annor Boateng (Matt Guzman, Chase Gemes)
- ABC17: Mizzou’s Robin Pingeton picks up first offseason commitment (Nathalie Jones)
- Southeastern 14: OOOH! Friend of the Site Blake Lovell is breaking down Mizzou’s addition of Jacob Crews
- This is fun.
I also asked Gates for his thoughts on how much Mizzou fans have embraced the bat signal photo.
He went as far as to explain that it was an organic moment of excitement that created the iconic image, nothing photoshopped.
I almost got him to reveal the full origin story of what… https://t.co/emBMPIm5h5
— Brenden Schaeffer (@bschaeffer12) April 16, 2024
- Interesting. Also, shame on this site for the click-baity headline. He didn’t bet on basketball at all.
Doesn’t look like a lot here. He never bet on basketball and he stopped operating the account after he got a deal with Toronto. https://t.co/Uq5SkZFeiM
— Aaron D. (@CoachAirDry) April 16, 2024
Other Mizzou Sports
- SOFTBALL: Mizzou softball rises in rankings following series win over Florida (Peter Metanchuk) | No. 13/13 Softball Takes on SIUE in Final Midweek Wednesday | Abruscato named SEC Freshman of the Week | Mizzou softball freshman earns first-ever SEC weekly honors (Nathalie Jones, ABC 17) | Mizzou softball puts emphasis on offense in home stretch of regular season (Nathalie Jones, ABC 17)
SEC Freshman of the Week
Congratulations Stefania Abruscato!!
https://t.co/20WEs6FIBX#OwnIt #MIZ | @StefaniaAbrusc1 pic.twitter.com/gXACWPlLna
— Mizzou Softball (@MizzouSoftball) April 16, 2024
Tiger Chat with Nat ️
Who had the best moves? ⬇️#OwnIt #MIZ | @natouchet pic.twitter.com/EbYCZR832Y
— Mizzou Softball (@MizzouSoftball) April 16, 2024
- BASEBALL: Missouri Baseball Closes Road Trip with a 6-2 Win Over Missouri State (Amber Winkler, MizzouCentral)
Lohse finishes off the victory with a punchout!#MIZ 6, MSU 2 | F# | ⚾️ pic.twitter.com/BVGRy1ckRw
— Mizzou Baseball (@MizzouBaseball) April 17, 2024
- GYMNASTICS: Mizzou gymnastics No. 11 in year-end Road to Nationals rankings (Grayson Pitts, Columbia Missourian) | From the Netherlands to Nationals: gymnast Mara Titarsolej is ready to shine in Texas (Nate Salsman, The Maneater)
- TENNIS: Tennis opens SEC tournament Wednesday against Alabama (MU Tigers)
- CLUB HOCKEY: Congrats to Nick Spolec on winning the ACHA M3 Player of the Year!
⭐️ACHA M3 PLAYER OF THE YEAR⭐️
Congratulations to our very own Nick Spolec on winning the 2024 ACHA M3 Player of the Year. Spolec tallied 93 points in 33 games this year for the Tigers. pic.twitter.com/jQo9hEe0RO
— Mizzou Club Hockey (@MizClubHockey) April 16, 2024
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