Heather Tarr examines how Washington's bats can break through vs. Missouri
The Washington offense has been kept at bay through four innings of elimination softball in the Columbia Regional, and Missouri pitcher Laurin Krings is largely to credit for that. But Huskies head coach Heather Tarr remains confident that her team can still break through.
And they’ll need to with Missouri up, 2-0, late in the game and the Tigers poised to eliminate Washington. Speaking with the broadcast, Tarr spoke of the need to overcome Krings and her mix of pitches.
“Yeah, she’s got a little bit of blend with all of her pitches and she’s tough,” Tarr said before Washington went down on strike outs in the top of the 4th inning. “She’s a veteran. She knows what she’s doing and give her some credit, but we’ve gotta figure out a way to put some more competitive balls in play.”
With the remaining outs for Washington getting slim, Tarr said her team isn’t tensing up, though.
“It’s like one of those pre-conference weekends where you’re playing a little bit of everybody and everybody’s good. So for us, we’re just trying to extend the life of this team, this year,” Tarr said.
And Tigers head coach Larissa Anderson said it was a no-brainer to give Krings the ball to start the elimination game. Plus, Krings wanted it.
“She wanted the ball,” Anderson said. “You’ve got a senior, and we’re playing every out as our last out and she wanted the ball, so we’re going to give it to her, every time.”
Fortunately for Tarr, and likely to Anderson’s chagrin, the Huskies finally broke through for a run in the top of the 5th inning and chased Krings, heading to the bottom of the 5th with Missouri up, 2-1.
Ultimately, though, the Washington offense couldn’t crack any more runs and with Missouri tacking on two more, it spelled the end on the Huskies season as Missouri advanced to the regional final.
Lilly Vallimont reflects on helping Michigan to elimination game win
It looked like Michigan catcher Lilly Vallimont might’ve been done for the day after just a few pitches in Michigan’s 4-2 win over Kentucky in an elimination game in the Stillwater Regional, as she took a foul ball of her right wrist in the top of the 1st inning.
But the redshirt freshman powered through, wrapping up the swollen protrusion on her throwing arm and sinking back behind the dish. But just staying in the game wasn’t enough, as she would hit a two-run home run to account for half of the Wolverines RBIs in a must-win game.
“I’m really feeling it right now but I was just trying to give my all to my teammates,” Vallimont said on the ESPN broadcast postgame. “If my bat’s struggling, I’m trying to give my all to my pitcher behind the plate. It was a great win, it was a great team win.”
Despite toughing it out, Vallimont was feeling the pain in her forearm throughout the day as the adrenaline peaked and wore off.
She joked she came to the plate with an aggressive mindset prior to her home run, in part because of the pain in her arm.
“Honestly, I think it helped me because I was just — I didn’t want to get to two strikes,” Vallimont said, “so I was like, ‘First pitch, I’m swinging.’”