COLUMBIA, Mo. — One swing sucked the air out of a record crowd at Mizzou Softball Stadium, but a few others sealed it.
A solo home run by left fielder D’Auna Jennings in the top of the ninth inning snapped a scoreless tie in the Columbia super regional and started an offensive onslaught for 10th-seeded Duke as it beat No. 7 Missouri 4-3 in the title game of a best-of-three series. The Blue Devils (52-7) thus advance to the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City that begins Thursday. They’ll meet No. 2 Oklahoma first.
“I’ll give credit to Duke; they’re an unbelievable team,†Missouri coach Larissa Anderson said. “It was an unbelievable game, (a) pitchers’ duel. I’m just so proud of our team and battling.â€
Jennings turned on the fourth pitch she saw in the at-bat from Tigers starting pitcher Laurin Krings, sending it beyond the right field wall for her second homer of the season. The swing spoiled a dominant performance for Krings, who had retired 16 successive hitters up to that point.
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Missouri closer Taylor Pannell, who tied the NCAA Division I saves record Saturday, stepped in to relieve Krings and obtained two quick outs before her appearance unraveled. The sophomore plucked Francesca Frelick with a pitch before Amiah Burgess (triple) and Ana Gold (double) each drove in a run to make it 3-0.
“As soon as they hit the home run, it was really time to make a (pitching) change,†Anderson said. “It was really time to change the momentum. It just didn’t work in our favor.â€
Freshman reliever Marissa McCann then stepped in for Pannell, forcing a pop fly from Kelly Torres that dropped in between Tigers first baseman Abby Hay and right fielder Kayley Lenger to extend Duke’s advantage to 4-0.
Hay avenged the play in the bottom half of the ninth, smoking a 3-1 offering over the right-center field wall for a three-run homer. However, the power surge provided too little too late.
“That just shows you the fight and grit of these young women,†Anderson said. “That’s what they take from this. ... Athletics is a game, but it’s the lifetime lessons that you learn from facing adversity with your back’s against the wall.â€
The ninth-inning outburst overshadowed a back-and-forth pitchers’ duel between Krings and Duke sophomore starter Cassidy Curd.
Krings, pitching in her final collegiate game, allowed one run, struck out three and yielded three hits across eight-plus innings. The senior carried the Tigers through the postseason, starting seven successive games, six of which were elimination games.
“She’s done everything for us,†said Missouri shortstop Jenna Laird, who started in all of her 246 games for Missouri. “We couldn’t be here at this game right now if it weren’t for her. ... She’s Mizzou. I mean, you look at her (and) I’m always going to think of her as one of my best teammates.â€
In front of a stadium record crowd of 4,021 fans, Krings went pitch-for-pitch with Curd.
“(Krings) trusted everybody on the team and everybody who was behind her,†Anderson said. “She (was) going to give everything she possibly could until she didn’t have anything left, and that’s what she’s done really all year long.â€
Curd had arguably one of the best starts of her career, giving up two runs on six hits with seven strikeouts in 8⅓ innings. The southpaw allowed five hits, including two in the bottom of the ninth, but held Missouri’s lineup to just seven hits in 17 total innings of the series.
She finished with 80 strikes on 107 pitches with no walks in the longest start of her career.
“I’ve told coach (Marissa) Young that whenever my number is called, I’m going to give her everything that I have,†Curd said. “I’m going to give this team everything that I have at all times.â€
Duke nearly jumped out to an early lead in the top of the first by using back-to-back hits to set up a one-out jam with runners on the corners and a familiar foe stepping to the plate.
Cleanup hitter Frelick, who had home runs in two straight games against Krings, stepped up to the plate, looking to set the rally ablaze but popped up for the second out. Amiah Burgess then smacked a one-hopper to Krings, who fired to first in ample time to escape the jam.
Missouri had an opportunity with a runner at second and one out in the third inning, but Curd navigated through the jam by forcing Laird and senior center fielder Alex Honnold, who started 214 games in her Tigers career, to fly out.
Neither team mustered much additional offense until the ninth-inning surge. Duke’s four run ninth ended Missouri’s winningest season since 2011 at 48-18, one win shy of the Women’s College World Series.
“Love,†Anderson said about what she saw in the last minute that the team spent with each other on the field. “They truly love each other, and they just wanted to fight for tomorrow, fight for another game.
“When you have a group of people so invested ... you have a really special thing, and that’s what we have right now.â€