In 2020, Missouri’s season started with the news of a postseason ban brought on by a former player’s actions from years earlier. The team responded by beginning the season with nine straight wins, all of them over Power Five and NCAA tournament teams. Resiliency was the name of the game for the program before the season’s sudden end.
When 2021 came around, that resiliency showed up yet again. Picked to finish eighth in the SEC preseason poll, the Tigers won five of their eight conference series’ during the regular season and finished fourth in the SEC standings. The Tigers made it to the SEC tournament semifinals, swept through the regional round, hosted a Super Regional, and finished one win shy of a berth in the Women’s College World Series.
Here’s the best news for Tiger fans: Virtually the entire roster that made that deep postseason run returns for another shot at Oklahoma City in 2022.
Scroll down the Mizzou stat sheet from last season, and you’ll see a lot of check marks in the “returner” category. Ten players appeared in the starting lineup at least thirty times last season; of that group, nine players are back in CoMo for this season. The lone, departed exception is Cayla Kessinger. Both an incredibly clutch hitter and a reliable part of the batting order, Kessinger’s absence may be Mizzou’s only offensive hole, but it’s a big one.
After initially electing to return for her super senior season in ’22, Kessinger announced on social media last week that she has decided to forego playing one final year. Citing her mental health, Kessinger posted a lengthy statement online that talked about her decision-making process. The decision not to play was actually the second about-face of the offseason; Kessinger had initially chosen not to take her final season of eligibility before later joining the other members of her class in returning for the fall.
Mizzou’s six-member class of graduating seniors is about as star-studded as any in the nation. All-American Brooke Wilmes leads the group that also includes defensive standout Casidy Chaumont; reliable backstop Hatti Moore; slugging infielder Kim Wert; and regular starters infielder Kendyll Bailey and outfielder Abby George. All six were part of that group that started at least thirty games a season ago, and all but George appeared in more than fifty games in 2021.
Wilmes’ team-leading .373 batting average and 55 RBIs helped earn her much-deseved All-American honors last season. She collected 79 hits on the year, good enough for fifth all-time in a single season in Mizzou program history, and also clubbed thirteen home runs. Not just a tough out at the plate, she was also spectacular defensively, notching six outfield assists and committing just one defensive error.
Outside the upper classmen, true sophomore Jenna Laird vaulted to the top of the heap on her team’s last year, finishing second on the team with a .369 batting average and notching 13 doubles, eight home runs, and 38 RBIs, with twelve stolen bases and a pair of triples also to her credit.
The Tigers saw a change-over at hitting coach this fall, with the departure of Chris Malveaux and the promotion of Michaela Transue from volunteer assistant to a full-time position. The combination of returning veterans and the continuity of an inner-staff promotion to fill the role should both be great benefits for the Mizzou right out of the gate this season.
No other team takes Missouri’s approach in the circle, and if they did, it might not be possible to duplicate the team’s masterful management of their staff. Even at a time when many college teams are morphing into the mindset of boasting a pitching staff instead of just one workhorse ace at the top, no team throws four pitchers, each with comparable innings loads. No team, that is, except for Mizzou.
Jordan Weber led the team with 119 innings of work last season; Laurin Krings collected 97 innings in the circle; and Megan Schumacher and Emma Nichols notched 75 and 66 innings, respectively. Even behind those four, former Hofstra and Syracuse transfer Sophie Dandola notched almost 25 innings of work on her own, as well.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but all four of the Tigers’ main pitchers from a season ago return in 2022 – and all of them have multiple years of eligibility left. It’s a unique approach to the circle, but one that head coach Larissa Anderson and her staff have mastered.
This is a Missouri team that could challenge for a conference championship, and their SEC schedule puts them in prime position to quickly turn that possibility into a probability – they avoid Florida, LSU, and Arkansas this season. Don’t overlook the Tigers as one of the teams that will challenge to be among the top of the heap and playing in the season’s final days.
