Maddie Gallagher got to play hero on Friday for Missouri, driving home the pair of runs the Tigers needed to advance to the SEC softball tournament championship game with a 2-1 win over LSU. And Gallagher delivered her second RBI in walkoff fashion in extra innings.
After the squads were dead even at 1-1 following seven innings, LSU was held scoreless in the top of the 8th inning. And when a pair of runners got aboard — and then to second and third base on a wild pitch — with Gallagher up to bat, she knew her job was simple.
She delivered with a deep fly ball for a game-winning sacrifice.
“We just do everything for each other, for the team,” Gallagher said to ESPN’s Holly Rowe. “So that was my job. They got on base, I just had to score them. So I got it to the outfield.”
With the win, the Tigers now roll into the SEC championship game on Saturday.
“It’s so important, but I know we’re going to keep it,” Gallagher said of the momentum build for Missouri. “We love each other. We’ll do anything for each other. This was just a great momentum switch for us.”
But before anything else, the Tigers will get rested.
Due to weather delays, the quarterfinal matchups were completed on Friday morning before the semifinals kicked off later in the day. That means Missouri played, and won, a pair of games on Friday.
And with the first game starting at 9 a.m. local time, it has been a long day for Gallagher and Co. So while they could stick around for the second semifinal game, the plans might be for a low key evening back at the hotel.
“We woke up at 6:30 this morning so we might be heading home,” Gallagher said to Rowe.
Mizzou’s head coach broke down how she wanted her hitters attacking the zone
On the back of a solo home run from Gallagher, Missouri had gotten out to a short-lived lead over LSU in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament on Friday. But facing LSU’s Kelley Lynch in the circle, Missouri head coach Larissa Anderson knew they’d likely need to be shrewd to plate a few more runs.
In a brief interview with ESPN’s Holly Rowe, Anderson shared that she wanted her players to be smart and selective in the box. With Lynch’s ability to come after hitters with power pitching, Anderson wanted her hitters to narrow down what part of the zone they want pitches to hit.
“Have a plan,” Anderson said. “We can’t look for everything and try to hit everything. We’ve gotta really zone in and maybe cut the plate in half, either vertically or horizontally.”
The Missouri offense needed to come through again for them to get a win and advance to the SEC tourney championship game after LSU knotted the score at 1-1 in the 5th inning.
But a bit of relief might have come for Missouri, as LSU went to the bullpen and inserted Sydney Berzon in the circle in the bottom of the 5th inning.
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