The last time Missouri and Washington softball met in the postseason (2013), the Huskies ended the Tigers’ season in Super Regionals.

11 years later, it was Missouri doing the season ending, as MU emerged victorious 4-1, ending Washington’s season and moving on to the regional final, where they’ll have to beat Omaha twice to go to Super Regionals.

Offensively, the Tigers were powered by three players: Abby Hay, Maddie Gallagher and Jenna Laird.

Hay continued her hot hitting, as she sparked Missouri in the bottom of the second with a solo home run that barely cleared the wall in center field. She also registered an RBI single to pad Missouri’s lead in the fifth inning.

Gallagher preceded Hay’s contributions in the fifth inning with an RBI single of her own; although she got jammed on an inside pitch, she hit it straight up the middle where no Husky could get to it.

However, the most unexpected run of the evening came from Laird in the bottom of the third. Facing a 2-2 count, Laird took a pitch right over the plate way over the wall in right field. It was her first home run in 750 days (Apr. 29, 2022) and electrified the home crowd who also seemed aware of Laird’s streak.

Krings was also masterful on the mound once again. Making her second start of the day, she allowed just one earned run in four and two-thirds innings pitched with four strikeouts. Along with the changeup, Krings was working her riseball the entire evening. Marissa McCann relieved her and performed exceptionally as well, throwing two and one-thirds innings of shutout ball while picking up her third save of the year.

Similarly to Missouri’s previous game against Indiana, the top of the lineup did the bulk of the work on offense, as Laird, Honnold, Gallagher and Hay accounted for six of MU’s seven hits.

Now, the Tigers will have to avenge their opening game loss to Omaha on Sunday if they want to make Super Regionals…twice. If they accomplish that, it’ll be their first Super Regional appearance since 2021, when they fell to James Madison.

On the other side, the Mavericks will look to become the second four-seed in a region since 2005 (when the modern tournament format was first used) to make Supers. The only other one was DePaul in 2005.

First pitch is set for 1 p.m. CST.

The rest of Missouri softball’s regional games have a simple picture: Win or hang up the bats for the season.

Missouri, which is the No. 7 national seed and host of the NCAA Columbia Regional, will face Indiana in an elimination game Saturday afternoon at Mizzou Softball Stadium. The Tigers lost against Omaha in their opener, and now must win four straight games to make a super regional.

More: Missouri softball stunned by Omaha in NCAA Columbia Regional opener

Regional 2-seed Washington and No. 4-seed Omaha were facing off in the winner’s bracket for a direct berth in Sunday’s championship. Missouri, in order to extend its season by another day, must eliminate Indiana and then defeat the loser of the Huskies-Washington matchup later Saturday.

Missouri, coached by Larissa Anderson since 2019, reached the championship in the 2024 SEC Softball Tournament, knocking off Ole Miss, Arkansas and LSU before falling to Florida in the title game. The Tigers, who are 43-16 this season, have more wins than in any other season under Anderson.

Mizzou last advanced to an NCAA Super Regional in 2021, when the Tigers fell to James Madison. MU has fallen in the regional round every other season in Anderson’s tenure.

Mizzou’s bats went cold in a 3-1, extra-inning loss to Omaha on Friday evening, which means the Tigers are now on the brink of another season ending at the regional stage.

The NCAA Columbia Regional started Friday and will run through Sunday, when the championship will be played. You can find live score updates from Missouri’s elimination game against the Hoosiers here:

More: Missouri softball coach explains what went wrong in shocking loss to Omaha in NCAA Regional

What channel is Missouri softball vs. Indiana softball on today?

• Stream: ESPN+ | ESPN app
• Date: Saturday, May 18
• Time: 4:55 p.m. CT

ESPN+ will have the exclusive stream of the Tigers and Hoosiers’ regional meeting.

Full NCAA Columbia Regional softball schedule

Friday, May 17

Game 1: Washington 8, Indiana 7

Game 2: Omaha 3, Missouri 1

Saturday, May 18

Game 3: Omaha 3, Washington 2

Game 4: Indiana vs. Missouri at 4:55 p.m.

Game 5: Loser Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4 at 7 p.m.

Sunday, May 19

Game 6: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 6 at 1 p.m.

Game 7: If necessary at 3:30 p.m.

Live score updates for Missouri vs. Indiana in NCAA Columbia Regional

More: Missouri softball: Complete schedule for NCAA Columbia Regional

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder which is one reason why I will rarely ever criticize what someone else thinks is beautiful, but in the case of People Magazine’s choice for the most beautiful Missouri restaurant they’re dead wrong.

People Magazine (oh, wait…magazines aren’t much of a thing anymore so let’s just call them “People”) says that Grünauer in Kansas City is (in their eyes) the most beautiful Missouri restaurant. Here’s the view of their restaurant if you’re about to walk in.

And here’s the view if you’re standing outside of Grünauer.

No offense intended to Grünauer as I hear it’s a spectacular place to eat, but “beauty” is not a word that comes to mind when you’re staring at a parking lot in downtown Kansas City.

Let me suggest that People could have made a better choice when it comes to “beautiful” Missouri restaurants. How about The Blufftop at Rocheport Les Bourgeois Vineyards with this view.

If you’re sitting at a table at this spectacular Missouri winery, you have this view.

Again I want to emphasize nothing against the People Magazine choice for Missouri’s most beautiful restaurant since that’s a very subjective thing, but don’t you think this would have been a more compelling choice?