The Texas offense was limited in action in its first set of conference losses all season.
The pitching staff on Saturday for No. 11 Missouri proved to be just as daunting for the Longhorn bats this weekend as they were last season. The No. 3 Longhorns were held to a season low of four runs in two games as they lost the final two games of the three-game series against the Tigers this Easter weekend.
The losses also marked the first home defeats of the 2012 season.
“Yeah, we just have to hand it to Chelsea [Thomas],” said junior outfielder Torie Schmidt about the Missouri pitcher and the lack of a Texas offense. “She did a good job of mixing up pitches, and we just didn’t make the adjustments that we needed to make.”
On Friday, the Longhorns managed four runs, but the normally explosive Texas offense was not able to mount a late rally to counter 11 runs scored by Missouri. The Tigers won 11-4. The Longhorns pounded out 12 hits against 14 for Mizzou.
The game was tied through much of the game until three runs by Missouri put Texas down at the top of the fifth. A two-run effort in the bottom of the sixth tied the game, but seven runs by the Tigers in the seventh sealed the win.
Recently this season, Texas has been infamous for gritty game-saving comebacks, however, the seven run deficit was too much. The Longhorns made a valiant effort in the seventh, with Schmidt and sophomore catcher Mandy Ogle producing two hits with two outs. However, junior outfielder Taylor Hoagland, who is normally clutch at the plate, struck out swinging to end the game, breaking the Longhorn’s 10-game win streak.
Hoagland, along with senior second baseman Lexy Bennett and sophomore outfielder Brejae Washington, led the Texas offense Friday night with two hits each.
On Saturday, the Longhorns suffered their first shutout all season with a 2-0 loss. The last shutout was a 1-0 loss to the University of Houston in the first round of the NCAA postseason tournament last May. The Longhorns were held to only five hits.
The Missouri pitcher struck out nine Longhorn batters and issued two walks in the win. The strikeouts came at unfortunate times for Texas. The Longhorns managed to get runners on the bases twice during the shutout, but Missouri didn’t bow to the pressure. Washington was struck out three times in the loss.
“You have to tip your cap. She was a little bit different each day,” said Texas head coach Connie Clark. “She appeared to have a specific game plan with each of our hitters. We just couldn’t string anything together. We had a couple things here and there, but we weren’t able to string them together.”
Printed on Monday, April 9, 2012 as: Missouri pitches shutout, Texas loses two of three
