3 keys to victory for Mizzou softball in its 2022 NCAA softball tournament regional

Tournament season has made its way to Columbia, with the Missouri softball squad set to take on Missouri State on Friday in the first game of the NCAA regionals.

The double-elimination bracket also includes Illinois and one of college softball’s most successful programs historically in Arizona.

The Tigers, who drew the 15th overall seed in the tournament, will need to be at the top of their game to make it back to the super regional round. Here are three keys to doing so:

Help from Hatti

It has been an eventful season for fifth-year senior catcher Hatti Moore. She had originally decided not to come back for her final year of eligibility, before changing her mind in June and opting to return.

Then in September, a disaster struck. A semi-truck hit Moore’s car on Interstate 70 in Boone County. The accident left the catcher with a concussion, facial lacerations and other injuries that forced her into twice-weekly physical therapy.

Moore was unable to practice again until January.

“I wanted to come back,” Moore said. “Obviously this is my last year and I knew that if I didn’t, I would never be able to, but I wanted to do it for my teammates. They're all really supportive and helped me through everything."

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Once she returned to the team, Moore struggled at the plate. She continued to work in the cage, but still, the coaches had to make a decision on her playing time.

Head coach Larissa Anderson and Co. kept her on the field.

“We’re not relying on Hatti to do all the offensive production,” Anderson said. “We have eight other players, so it’s like, ‘Hey, you still be you. Catch the ball behind the plate, do a great job with that, we’ll pick you up offensively, and if you’re giving us something more, that’s just going to be icing on the cake.’ So it doesn’t put as much pressure on Hatti.”

Moore’s hitting has picked up in recent series, echoing the performance of the rest of the team. She hit three home runs in a single game against Texas A&M. In the SEC Tournament, she contributed a key home run against Tennessee, a ball that settled atop a palm tree past the fence.

According to Anderson, Moore has been invaluable on defense as well, helping guide the team’s pitching staff.

"It’s being able to give that immediate feedback every single day on the expectations and the standards that our pitchers need to have in order to be competitive and compete on the highest level,” Anderson said.

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Confident pitching

Assisted by Moore, the Tiger pitching staff will need to be at the top of its game for Missouri to move past a regional bracket that includes one of the nation’s top offenses in Arizona. So far in the postseason, Laurin Krings and Jordan Weber have been up to the task.

The two combined to throw three consecutive shutouts in the SEC Tournament, blanking Auburn, Alabama and Tennessee. Their catcher pointed to one thing she felt made them more effective in recent games.

"Their confidence,” Moore said. “I love watching them throw. That was probably the most fun I’ve had watching them throw. They just had fun, there were no doubts in their minds at all, and that makes my job easy when I’m watching them have fun.”

Weber, who threw the shutouts against Auburn and Tennessee, said she was locked in throughout the SEC Tournament. Weber currently holds a 2.57 ERA for the season.

"The focus that I had was all there,” Weber said. “My pitches were doing really well, and when my team is producing for me, it just makes me want to go out there and do better.”

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Keeping the edge

The 2022 season has turned out to be an underdog story for Missouri. Despite dropping in the SEC early on, the Tigers fought back to sweep two late-season series against Kentucky and Texas A&M.

After riding the seventh seed into the SEC Tournament championship game, where Missouri fell to Arkansas 4-0, the team was given the opportunity to host its regional. As the highest seed in the bracket, the Tigers will no longer be the underdogs, at least on paper.

In their own minds, the story might be different.

“Every team that is here in this regional and in this tournament is here for a reason,” outfielder Brooke Wilmes said. “Can’t take anyone lightly.”

Wilmes was among the seniors from last year’s super regional team who came back for another run. She was well aware that the weekend’s games will likely be her last on Missouri’s home field.

“Since we started this year, everything’s a last for us,” Wilmes said. “But we don’t really want to think about that, going out and thinking that this could be our last weekend, because if we do, we’re going to play tight.”

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Missouri State made the tournament after winning the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. The in-state opponent could be a trap game for the Tigers, should they be overlooked.

However, Anderson said she was making sure that didn’t happen.

“We just worry about Friday,” Anderson said. “We worry about Mizzou softball, so we don’t worry about who we’re playing, what they do.”

Missouri and Missouri State are scheduled to face off at 1 p.m. Friday. The game will be shown on the SEC Network.

Matt Stahl is the Missouri athletics beat reporter for the Columbia Daily Tribune. Follow him on Twitter @mattstahl97.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Mizzou softball's 3 keys to victory in the NCAA regional tournament