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Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Missouri State (28-20) made the most of its moments in the spotlight at the NCAA Softball Regional here Saturday, shutting out Illinois by a 2-0 score in its first elimination game of the day before suffering a narrow 2-0 defeat at the hands of host Missouri to end the night and bump the Bears from the tournament.
Steffany Dickerson won the day, showing the heart of a champion by pitching 13.2 innings and striking out seven hitters. She didn’t walk anyone, gave up just five hits and allowed just two runs in that span while closing out her Missouri State career to a standing ovation from a capacity crowd at Mizzou Softball Stadium.
Daphne Plummer led the MSU offense with two hits on the day, while Olivia Krehbiel’s two-run home run in the Illinois game was all the spark the Bears needed to secure the program’s fourth NCAA Tournament victory.
Game 1
Missouri State 2, Illinois 0
The Bears got a one-hit pitching effort from senior right-hander Steffany Dickerson, and Olivia Krehbiel’s two-run home run in the third was all the Bears needed to send Illinois home with a 2-0 victory in Saturday’s first elimination game.
Dickerson (22-8) struck out five, didn’t walk any, and allowed just a leadoff single to the Fighting Illini’s Avery Steiner in the fourth. Otherwise, she was flawless in the circle, tallying six 1-2-3 innings and becoming just the fifth Bears pitcher to record 22 pitching victories in a season.
She also helped spark MSU’s first offensive threat of the evening, smacking a one-out double into the right field corner in the second ahead of a walk to Annie Mueller. However, Illinois starter Sydney Sickels (12-10) pitched her way out of the jam, keeping the game scoreless.
That all changed in the third when Madison Hunsaker drew a two-out walk to bring up Krehbiel. The MSU third baseman then squared up a 1-1 pitch over the center field wall, 220 feet away, for her 11th homer of the season and make it a 2-0 contest.
Steiner’s leadoff single to left in the fourth seemed to give the Big10 squad some hope, but a pair of putouts by Kelsey Lewis and a Dickerson strikeout ended the only threat of the game by Illinois.
It marked Missouri State’s first NCAA victory since eliminating Iona in the 2011 Regionals in Norman. Likewise, it was just the team’s second-ever NCAA Tournament shutout, marking its first since a 1-0 first-round win over regional host Missouri in 1983.
Game 2
Missouri 2, Missouri State 0
In the nightcap, Jenna Laird’s leadoff triple in the top of the first inning helped home standing Missouri jump out to an early lead, and the Bears could not solve right-hander Laurin Krings in a 2-0 defeat.
Laird would score on a base hit by Brooke Wilmes that gave the Tigers an early 1-0 lead. However, Dickerson (22-9) would retire 22 of the next 25 batters she faced with Kara Daly’s second-inning home run being the only other hiccup in an otherwise stellar effort by the MoState senior pitcher.
The Bears put runners in scoring position in the first, second, third and fifth innings, but could not find the clutch hit they needed to stage a comeback. Daphne Plummer singled and stole second to open the MSU first inning but was stranded there when Krings struck out Dickerson to retire the side. Plummer also reached second base in the third, but Krings responded with two more K’s. All told, MoState would strand six runners in the contest while getting two base runners erased on video reviews.
Krings (16-9) fanned 11 MSU hitters and gave up just three hits and three walks.
The Tigers (38-21) had just one hit after the second inning and stranded three runners in the game. Daly had two of Mizzou’s four hits.
Madison Hunsaker, who relieved Dickerson with two outs in the top of the seventh, struck out the only hitter she faced. She also walked as part of MSU’s fifth-inning rally.
