Missouri Tigers
2023 Missouri Tigers softball team
Founded1975
UniversityUniversity of Missouri
Head coachLarissa Anderson (2nd season)
ConferenceSEC
LocationColumbia, MO
Home stadiumMizzou Softball Stadium (Capacity: 3,300)
NicknameTigers
ColorsOld gold and black[1]
   
NCAA WCWS appearances
1983, 1991, 1994, 2009, 2010, 2011
AIAW WCWS appearances
1981[2]
NCAA Super Regional appearances
2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2021
NCAA Tournament appearances
1982, 1983, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023
Conference Tournament championships
1983, 1991, 1997, 2009
Regular Season Conference championships
1991, 1997, 2011

The Missouri Tigers softball team represents the University of Missouri in NCAA Division I college softball. The team is coached by head coach Larissa Anderson, who was hired on May 26, 2018.

History

Early history (1975–1987)

In response to the passage of Title IX in 1972, Missouri began sponsoring women's softball, women's basketball, and women's track & field, women's swimming, women's volleyball, women's tennis, women's golf, and women's field hockey during the 1974–1975 academic year.[3] Alexis Jarrett was the first women's softball coach at Missouri, also coaching the women's basketball (1974–1975) and women's track and field teams (including cross-country) from 1974–1977 while serving as the women's assistant director of athletics (1974–1976) and sports information director for the eight women's sports (1974-1977).[3] Jarrett would have success, going 14–7 in both years at the helm for a .667 win percentage and finishing 2nd in the 1975 and 1976 AIAW State Championship.[4] The 1975 team also finished sixth in the unofficial Big Eight Championship held at Kansas State.

For the next four years, Missouri would continue to have moderate success under head coach Debbie Duren, peaking in 1980 with a 2nd place finish in the Big 8 Tournament and a 5th place finish in the AIAW Region 6 Championship.[4]

Barb Preist took over as head coach in 1981 and led Missouri to greater heights, including a 5th place finish in its first appearance in the Women's College World Series in 1981.[2][4] In 1982, Preist led Missouri to an appearance in Mideast Regional in the inaugural NCAA Division I tournament.[5]

Joyce Compton took over for Preist after the 1982 season and in her first season as head coach led Missouri to its first Big 8 Tournament Championship and to its second appearance in the Women's College World Series.[2][4] The 1980–1983 teams were led by Missouri's all-time wins and shutouts leader and 1983 All-America Teresa Wilson.[4] After Wilson's departure, Compton was unable to build off of that 1983 season, failing to reach the NCAA Tournament in each of her next three years before accepting the head coach position at the University of South Carolina.[4][6] Compton was replaced for one season by Rhesa Sumrell, under whom Missouri would suffer their only losing season between 1979 and 2002.[4] Missouri has had only three losing seasons (1978, 1979 and 1987).

The Miller era (1988–2002)

Jay Miller was brought in as Missouri's 6th head coach in 1988. After three years of a fair amount of success, the Tigers had a breakout year in 1991 behind All-American pitcher Karen Snelgrove, winning both the Big 8 Championship and Big 8 Tournament Championship and reaching the WCWS for the third time in school history.[4] Anchored by sluggers Mary Babb and Barb Wright, Miller would go on to lead Missouri to its fourth WCWS appearance in 1994, as well as Missouri's first Big 12 Championship in 1997.[4] All in all, in his 15 years as head coach, 10 different Missouri players would earn All-American honors under Miller.[4]

The Singleton years (2003–2006)

Ty Singleton took over as head coach in 2003.[4] Missouri had moderate success under Singleton, earning three straight trips to the NCAA Tournament from 2003–2005 but failing to make it past the Regional stage and unable to win any conference championships.[4] Singleton did earn Big 12 Coach of the Year honors in 2003 but ultimately was let go in 2006 following just Missouri's third losing season since 1979.

The Earleywine legacy (2007–2018)

In 2007, Missouri lured Jefferson City native and 2005 ACC Coach of the Year Ehren Earleywine away from the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.[7] Earleywine would earn Big 12 Coach of the Year honors in his first season and again in 2011.[4]

In 2008, in winning the Iowa City Regional, Earlywhine led Missouri to its first ever Super Regional appearance, where the Tigers fell to the Alabama Crimson Tide.[5] In 2009, Missouri would win the Big 12 Tournament and defeat the UCLA Bruins en route to the 2009 Women's College World Series, Missouri's first WCWS appearance since 1994.[4] Missouri would host a Super Regional for the first time in 2010, defeating the Oregon Ducks to advance to the 2010 Women's College World Series.[5] In 2011, Missouri won the Big 12 Championship for the second time and defeated the Washington Huskies on the way to the 2011 Women's College World Series, Missouri's third consecutive trip.[4] In Missouri's last season as a member of the Big 12 in 2012, Missouri fell just short of a fourth consecutive WCWS appearance, losing to the LSU Tigers in the Super Regionals.[5]

From 2008–2013, Earleywine led Missouri to six straight Super Regionals.[5] From 2009–2011, Earleywine led Missouri to back-to-back-to-back WCWS appearances.[5]

In seven seasons under Earleywine, six different players have earned All-American honors and three players, Rhea Taylor (2008, 2010, 2011), Ashley Fleming (2011, 2012), and Chelsea Thomas (2011, 2012, 2013), have earned multiple All-American honors.[4] Thomas won conference pitcher of the year honors three times (twice in the Big 12, once in the SEC) and was a Top 3 finalist for USA Softball Player of the Year honors in 2011.[4]

Earleywine was fired from Missouri on January 26, 2018, less than two weeks before the 2018 regular season was set to begin.[8] Gina Fogue replaced Earleywine as head coach on an interim basis; she led the Tigers to a 30-29 record during the 2018 season, but was not retained following the year.

The Anderson tenure (2018–present)

Larissa Anderson was hired as the Tigers' head softball coach on May 26, 2018.[9] Anderson signed a five-year contract with Missouri after spending four years as the head coach at Hofstra.

In 2019, the Tigers received NCAA sanctions due to academic misconduct. This included a one-year postseason ban, scholarship and recruiting limitations, and a monetary fine.[10][11] The sanctions were in effect for the 2020 season, which ended up being cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[12] The NCAA later ruled that the postseason ban would not apply to the 2021 season.[13]

Head coaches

Name Years Won Lost Pct.
Alexis Jarrett 1975–1976 28 14 .667
Debbie Duran 1977–1980 78 50 .609
Barb Preist 1981–1982 91 32 .740
Joyce Compton 1983–1986 115 77 .599
Rhesa Sumrell 1987 14 18 .438
Jay Miller 1988–2002 556 309 .643
Ty Singleton 2003–2006 130 88 .596
Ehren Earleywine 2007–2018 226 104 .685
Gina Fogue (interim) 2018 30 29 .508
Larissa Anderson 2018–present n/a n/a n/a

Year-by-year results

Season Coach Record Notes
OverallConference
Big 8 Conference
1975 Alexis Jarrett 14–7 — AIAW State Championship (2nd Place)
1976 14–7 — AIAW State Championship (2nd Place)
1977 Debbie Duren 19–11 — AIAW State Championship (2nd Place)
1978 14–17 — AIAW State Championship (4th Place)
1979 9–15 — AIAW State Championship (4th Place)
1980 36–17 — AIAW Region 6 Championship (5th Place)
1981 Barb Preist 46–20 — AIAW Women's College World Series (5th Place)
1982 46–20 — NCAA Regional
1983 Joyce Compton 40–13 — NCAA Women's College World Series (7th Place)
1984 21–18 —
1985 29–23 —
1986 25–23 —
1987 Rhesa Sumrell 14–18 —
1988 Jay Miller 44–18 —
1989 35–22 —
1990 30–14 — No. 20 Final NCAA poll
1991 39–14 — Big 8 Champions, Big 8 Tournament Champions, Women's College World Series (5th Place)
1992 41–14 — No. 16 Final NCAA poll
1993 31–18 —
1994 40–23 — Women's College World Series (7th Place)
1995 47–19 — NCAA Regional, No. 23 Final NFCA poll
Big 12 Conference
1996 Jay Miller 31–22 11–10
1997 47–16 15–3 Big 12 Champions, Big 12 Tournament Champions, NCAA Regional, No. 12 Final NFCA poll
36–20 5–13
1999 41–21 10–5 NCAA Regional, No. 15 Final NFCA poll
2000 34–27 6–13
2001 31–28 5–11
2002 29–33 4–14
2003 Ty Singleton 31–20 12–5 NCAA Regional
2004 29–26 13–4 NCAA Regional
2005 44–15 10–8 NCAA Regional, No. 20 Final NFCA poll
2006 26–27 7–11
2007 Ehren Earleywine 40–24 13–4 No. 19 Final USA Softball poll
2008 47–17 11–6 NCAA Super Regional
2009 50–12 12–6 Big 12 Tournament Champions, Women's College World Series (7th Place)
2010 51–13 11–7 Women's College World Series (7th Place)
2011 53–10 15–3 Big 12 Champions, Women's College World Series (6th Place)
2012 47–14 17–7 NCAA Super Regional
Southeastern Conference
2013 Ehren Earleywine 38–14 15–8 NCAA Super Regional
2014 Ehren Earleywine 43–18 15–9 NCAA Regional
2015 Ehren Earleywine 41–17 14–10 NCAA Super Regional
2016 Ehren Earleywine 42–16 14–10 NCAA Super Regional
2017 Ehren Earleywine 29–28 7–16 NCAA Regional
2018 Gina Fogue (interim) 30–29 6–17 NCAA Regional
2019 Larissa Anderson 35–25 12–12 NCAA Regional
2020 Larissa Anderson 19–7 3–0 Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
2021 Larissa Anderson 42–17 15–9 NCAA Super Regional
2022 Larissa Anderson 38–22 12–11 NCAA Regional
2023 Larissa Anderson 35–26 7–17 NCAA Regional

Missouri in the NCAA Tournament

Individual awards

Missouri has had numerous players earn national or conference honors including 31 NFCA All-Americans.[4]

All Americans

All Women's College World Series

  • 2010
Rhea Taylor
  • 2011
Chelsea Thomas

National awards

See also

References

  1. ↑ Mizzou Athletics Brand Identity Guidelines (PDF). July 9, 2019. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 Plummer, William; Floyd, Larry C. (2013). A Series Of Their Own: History Of The Women's College World Series. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States: Turnkey Communications Inc. ISBN 978-0-9893007-0-4.
  3. 1 2 Staff (4 March 2004). "29 years of women's basketball at MU and counting...they got attitude, they got history, they got game". Vox Magazine. Archived from the original on 9 February 2013. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 "Missouri Softball History and Records" (PDF). mutigers.com. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "NCAA Softball Championships Record Book" (PDF). NCAA.org. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
  6. ↑ "Joyce Compton". Gamecocks Online. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
  7. ↑ "Ehren Earleywine". mutigers.com. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
  8. ↑ "Ehren Earleywine fired as Mizzou softball coach". kansascity.com. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
  9. ↑ "Larissa Anderson to be Missouri head coach". justinsworldofsoftball.com. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
  10. ↑ "Missouri's NCAA appeal denied, confirming postseason ban for football, baseball and softball". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2023-07-28.
  11. ↑ May, Jake (2019-11-26). "NCAA Upholds Missouri Bowl Ban, Sanctions". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2023-07-28.
  12. ↑ NCAA.com. "NCAA cancels remaining winter and spring championships due to coronavirus concerns | NCAA.com". www.ncaa.com. Retrieved 2023-07-28.
  13. ↑ Rau, Melanie (2020-07-06). "NCAA rules that Missouri baseball and softball bans will not carry over to 2021 season". Columbia Missourian. Retrieved 2023-07-28.
  14. ↑ "NFCA | National Fastpitch Coaches Association".
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