(Courtesy Missouri Athletics)
Redshirt sophomore OF Taylor Gadbois (Maryville, Mo.) put on a clinic in Wednesday’s doubleheader at Iowa, leading No. 13 Mizzou Softball in hits by batting 5-for-8 (.625) at the plate over the two games. The current Southeastern Conference leader in stolen bases, the speedy Gadbois recorded four steals, two in each game, to bring her season total to 38.
Fellow redshirt sophomore Sami Fagan (Dunnellon, Fla.) also enjoyed a solid doubleheader, batting 4-for-6 (.667), all while making her first two starts of the season at catcher. Both Fagan and Gadbois recorded doubles in Game Two of the twin bill, while Fagan accounted for three RBI and one stolen base of her own, overall.
In a back-and-forth battle in the second game of the day, Mizzou (32-12) took the lead, 7-4, with a flurry of runs in the fourth and fifth innings. Two runs were driven in by Fagan on a single up the middle with two outs in the fourth, with junior 3B/C Angela Randazzo (Poway, Calif.) following suit with a single in the same direction, scoring Fagan.
In the fifth with two outs, freshman IF/OF Kelli Schkade tripled to right center to score both junior 1B Kelsea Roth (Yorba Linda, Calif.) and junior IF Corrin Genovese (East Amherst, N.Y.). It was the third triple of the season for Schkade, but Iowa fought back with extra-base hits of its own. The Hawkeyes scored six runs on six hits in the bottom of the fifth inning, with two doubles, one triple and one home run to their credit. The half-inning proved too much for the Tigers to overcome, dropping a 13-9 Game Two result.
A stretch of untimely errors derailed Mizzou’s chances in Game One, which resulted in three unearned runs crossing the plate for Iowa in the bottom of the second. Iowa hit a double to left center to score the first run before a foulout got two down against the Hawkeyes. Two more singles scored two more runs for Iowa (12-23) to set the score at 3-1 to Iowa, which was the eventual final score of the opening game.
Mizzou was on the board in Game One when the first of Gadbois’ five hits was singled in by senior OF Mackenzie Sykes (Blue Springs, Mo.) in the top of the first inning. Gadbois finished the initial contest batting 2-for-4, before hitting 3-for-4 in the night cap.
Head coach Ehren Earleywine’s squad returns home for more SEC action with Ole Miss from Friday, April 18-Saturday April 19. Mizzou and the Rebels play a doubleheader on Friday (5 p.m./7 p.m.), before a 2 p.m. series finale on Saturday.
