COLUMBIA, Mo. — Missouri’s softball team can continue its postseason run from the comforts of home.
The Tigers earned the No. 7 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, which means they will play at home for the regional and if they win that then in the super regional round.
Only eight programs secure that privilege each postseason, which means Mizzou now has a smoother path to the College World Series.
“This has always been something that we’ve set out to do from Day 1, one of our goals,” coach Larissa Anderson said. “We put ourselves in a position to get a top-eight seed. They’ve earned it, and they deserve it.”
MU’s region includes Omaha, Indiana and Washington. The Tigers will play Omaha at 4:30 p.m. Friday on ESPN+.
If Missouri wins, it will play the winner of Friday’s Hoosiers-Huskies matchup at 3 p.m. on Saturday. The NCAA softball tournament is double-elimination, which means that a losing team can still win the regional by winning out after its first defeat.
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Sunday’s action will determine the winner of the Columbia regional, pitting whichever team wins its first two games against the team that emerges from the consolation ladder after losing one game. If the one-loss team wins on Sunday to level their standing, there will be an added winner-take-all game to settle who advances.
If Mizzou makes it out of its region, it would then host a super regional, which is played as a best-of-three series among the remaining 16 teams. The Tigers’ possible opponents in that round are Atlantic Coast Conference champions and No. 10 seed Duke as well as South Carolina, Utah or Morgan State.
The dual brackets and hosting scenarios can lend degrees of uncertainty to the postseason. But on a game-by-game basis, the first weekend of the tournament is simple: keep winning, keep going.
“I’m not going to say it’s easy — because it’s not easy,” Anderson said. “But it is almost a little bit easier to not play the same opponent three times. That’s extremely difficult in our conference, but our conference prepares us for postseason.”
MU’s play in the Southeastern Conference is exactly why it’s in this position at all. All 13 SEC softball programs made it into the NCAA Tournament, a reflection of how much of a gauntlet conference play is.
But the Tigers’ run at the SEC tournament over the weekend might be what vaulted them into a position to host two rounds of postseason play. After earning the fifth seed in the conference tournament, Mizzou marched all the way to the title game, in which it fell to Florida.
That wasn’t the only factor that seemed to appeal to the NCAA’s selection committee. Missouri spent a significant portion of its season on the road, traveling to neutral-site tournaments early in the year and playing other teams on the road. Of the Tigers’ 54 regular-season games, only 14 were played at home.
MU’s 15-7 record in road games and 19-3 record at neutral sites stands out to those evaluating the program.
“I know the committee looks at that, and that’s huge,” Anderson said. “But it also prepares your team to be extremely competitive away from home. It’s easy to have the home-field advantage when you’re playing in your own stadium, but to be just as competitive, sometimes more, when you’re away from home, it gets recognized.”
Those away days have earned the Tigers a high-stakes homestand. Entering Sunday’s selection show, Mizzou seemed to be a lock for hosting a regional but on the bubble of potential super regional hosts. That led to a bit of suspense inside the team’s watch party as national seeds were unveiled in order.
“I’m more nervous for the selection show than I am any game I ever coach because you have no control at all,” Anderson said at the event. “I can’t control anything and I’m not in the room, so I don’t know what those conversations are. I knew that our résumé, we had the body of work to host. I didn’t know if it was going to be a top-eight seed because I don’t know what they’re thinking at the time. “
After some oohs at other teams’ placements and celebratory hugs at Mizzou’s seeding, the Tigers seemed immediately ready for the NCAA Tournament to run through Columbia.
“It feels exciting,” primary starting pitcher Laurin Krings said. “I’m ready to go. We can play tomorrow. I’m like, ‘Let’s go, let’s get it done.’”
SIUC, SEMO also in tournament
Southern Illinois University Carbondale and Southeast Missouri State also qualified for the regional field.
SIUC (42-9), which won the Missouri Valley Conference tournament, is going to the Baton Rouge (La.) Regional and opens play at 2:30 p.m. Friday against California (36-17). The Salukis will face either Jackson State (33-17 going into the tourney) or host Louisiana State (currently 40-15) on Saturday. Those teams face each other on Friday.
SEMO (28-24), which won the Ohio Valley Conference tourney, heads to the Fayetteville (Ark.) Regional and faces host Arkansas (36-16) at 7:30 p.m. Friday. The Redhawks then will play either Arizona, which is 34-16-1 heading into the regional, or Villanova (currently 31-22) on Saturday. Those teams meet on Friday.