Something felt off about Friday’s game immediately. The overcast skies, the cooler temps, the spontaneous rainstorm that just as quickly went away but was enough that water droplets kept dripping off the roof onto the fants’ seats behind home plate for the remainder of the game ... I don’t know what it was, but the vibes of the team, despite the gymnastics team being on hand for autographs with their NCAA Championships third place trophy in hand, felt off. Maybe it was the sadness of knowing this season was coming to a very likely unceremonious end sooner than later. Maybe it was because it was Senior Day, with five Missouri seniors, three of whom have been here their entire careers, being celebrated at Mizzou Softball Stadium for the last time. Maybe it was the sadness of knowing that this season had not gone how anyone had planned. I can’t really describe it, but I just didn’t have a great feeling about it.

A day after an unlikely sixth inning rally and some stellar defense led to a come-from-behind victory in Game 1, the Tigers had a chance to secure their first series victory of the season. They had gotten to star Bulldog pitcher Lilli Backes the day before and were feeling confident and now would face left hander Randi Roelling.

But the vibes... The vibes were off. It started in the first inning.

With Game 1 closer Taylor Pannell in the circle and not Cierra Harrison like I think most expected, Georgia cleanup hitter Sarah Gordon hit a pitch right back at Pannell, which bounced off of her and weirdly rolled past second baseman Abbie Wilhelm. Strangely, she just kinda stopped to watch it as it drifted into no man’s land in shallow left, which allowed Tyler Ellison, who had reached on a single earlier, to score very easily, making it 1-0. Alarm bells went off in my mind. This did not look like yesterday’s team.

After a subsequent wild pitch, head coach Larissa Anderson took her first of what seemed like many visits to the mound to get the team and her pitcher back on track. Did it work? Well, temporarily at least, as Pannell struck out the final batter of the inning looking. In the second, TP worked around another weirdly hit ball, this time a single to third that left Kara Daly without a play, but she had no issues the remainder of the inning.

Looking to avenge the Georgia run in the first, the Tigers tied it up in the second, as Madison Uptegrove launched a pitch to right field to tie the game 1-1. Fellow Rock M’er and certified “ball knower” Quentin Corpuel informed me that this was Uptegrove’s first home run of the year against a Power conference opponent, as the other three were against SIUE, KC and Princeton, respectively. Kayley Lenger followed with a five-pitch walk, but the Tigers couldn’t get anything else going. Feels like a statement we’ve heard before, eh?

When asked about Uptegrove’s performance on the day, Anderson said, “She’s starting to learn how to hit. What I’m seeing too is she’s starting to stay behind the ball a little bit more. When she starts to lean forward and try to get it out in front, that’s when she will hit either those weak pop-ups or those really easy ground balls because she’s topping it and creating too much backspin. When they trust their swing, they see it deeper, which allows them to stay behind the ball a little bit longer. So that’s the adjustment I’m seeing with her, which just tells me she’s trusting her swing better.”

The weirdness continued for Pannell & and Co. in the third, as Dallis Goodnight reached on a bunt single and Ellison was hit by pitch. And then somehow — I really don’t know how — Goodnight got caught in a rundown trying to steal third, and despite the Missouri fielders being all over it, someone (I don’t know who) waited a bit too long to toss it to Daly after the back and forth and she was called safe at third... pretty easily, I might add. And for good measure, Ellison ended up safe at second. A fielder’s choice took out the lead runner at home for the second out, but a walk loaded them up for Emily Digby, who thankfully flew out to right center. It could have been so much worse.

In the fourth, the Bulldog batters seemed to have figured out things against Pannell, as they made contact, and often. Marisa Miller led off with a single, and after a sac bunt advanced her to second, Goodnight’s RBI single made it 2-1, before an Ellison single to center made it 3-1. Ruh-roh.

The Tigers got one back in the home half, as an Uptegrove walk was followed by a Lenger (AKA “Bruiser”) hit by pitch. Two strikeouts by Game 1 heroes followed, before Crenshaw walked to load the bases, and a pass ball allowed Uptegrove to score, unearned, to take UGA’s advantage down to one.

In that inning, Anderson told us after the game, “She (Taylor) was leaving her change-up up. She started to throw, so the right-handed hitters see a backdoor curve coming from the left-hand side. It started to cross the plate a little bit more because she was losing a little bit of her glove side.”

Credit to Pannell, though, as she adjusted. “She had to make a directional adjustment, and being able to control that front side a little bit more, which is why her change up started to get hit. To get hit, because it was coming into the right handed batters a little bit too much. It was a little too elevated. But once Crenshaw recognized it behind the late and then communicated it to Taylor, she was able to make that adjustment.”

Georgia didn’t get any back in the in the fifth or sixth, getting just a single out and another hit batsman out of Pannell, and despite the crowd (and the press box) thinking that Daly was going to go yard to center at the bottom of the fifth, making her the de facto Game 2 hero, the ball was caught at the warning track.

Unlike Game 1’s sixth inning heroics, that did not happen on Friday with the same cast of characters, as after a Lenger pop up, both Wilhelm and Dodge struck out.

Pannell exited the game, allowing 8 hits to go with 3 earned runs, a walk, three strikeouts, a wild pitch and two hit by pitches. I told you; it was a weird game.

Enter Jayci Kruse, who got to pitch a senior day seventh, and while she allowed two one-out baserunners courtesy of a Gordon single and a Lyndi Rae Davis walk (the crowd disagreed with the call), two nice fielding plays ended the threat and kept the game close.

Full disclosure: we asked to speak to Kruse after the game as we haven’t talked to her in her four years as a Tiger, but she was a bit too emotional after the Senior Day festivities.

It couldn’t have lined up better for Missouri in the bottom of the seventh, as the Tigers got the top of the order to finish the game out. Just what you’d want. Unfortunately, a comeback was not in the cards tonight, as Crenshaw, still searching for her first hit of the series, grounded out to short, Neveah Watkins, who had entered as a defensive replacement for Stefania Abruscato struck out looking, and Walker flied out to center.

Another close loss in a season full of what-ifs. The Tigers only managed three hits — one each from Walker, Wilhelm and the aforementioned Uptegrove (all underclassmen), but they also struck out an astonishing 8(!) times and despite working 6 walks, they left 7 stranded on base.

Julia Crenshaw, normally a force at the plate, has yet to get a hit in this series, working three walks and two strikeouts in seven at-bats.

The Tigers (24-30) close out their regular season schedule tomorrow at 1pm at Mizzou Softball Stadium and then leave Monday for Athens for the SEC Tournament .