The blazing bats of the Missouri Tigers powered them to an 8-4 win and series sweep of the No. 10/13 Kentucky Wildcats at John Cropp Stadium Sunday afternoon.
The Tigers (16-12, 5-4) strung together 10 team hits and punished Kentucky's starting pitcher Autumn Humes early.
Kim Wert, Mizzou's third baseman, proved deadliest at the plate. The sophomore transfer from Hofstra finished 2-of-4 at the plate with four RBI.
"She was awesome," said Kentucky head coach Rachel Lawson after the game. "It was really hard to pitch to her. She was on time for everything, she was really tough in the box, and she didn't give in."
Wertz finished the series a cumulative 4-of-12 with nine RBI.
The loss drops Kentucky's record to 21-10 overall and 6-3 in SEC play.
The Tigers pummeled the Cats pitching staff, who finished the weekend with an 8.27 ERA.
"It's important as a pitcher to command your pitches, and if you don't and are always throwing in hitter's counts, you have to bring the ball closer to the plate. A team as a good as Missouri is going to be able to get on time and hit that pitch," Lawson said.
Missouri hung 30 total hits on the Cats this weekend, and the Kentucky staff did themselves no favors by walking 22 batters.
Going forward, Lawson said that the Kentucky pitchers have to be better getting ahead of the count.
Sophomore Lauren Johnson had a productive day at the plate Cats, recording two hits and two RBI.
After a scoreless opening inning, Missouri leadoff the top of the second with a single and a walk, setting the stage for Kolby Romaine's slice of a two-RBI single to left field to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead.
Kentucky senior Abbey Cheek lofted the ball over the fence in deep center field in the bottom of the frame to cut Missouri's lead to 2-1. The homer was her ninth of the season.
Mizzou extended its lead to 4-1 in the top of the 3rd with a two-run moonshot by to left field by Kim Wert.
After an RBI single by Brooke Wilmes in the top of the 4th, Wert struck again, this time with a rip to center field that resulted in a two-RBI double to make the Tigers' lead 7-1.
Two-out RBI singles in the 4th inning by Johnson and Sarah Rainwater breathed some life into the Cats and trimmed the margin to four runs, 7-3.
The Cats senior shortstop Katie Reed doubled in a run the 5th to get the Cats within three, 7-4.
Mizzou got the run back when Hatti Moore roped one past Reed into shallow center field during the top half of the 6th.
Humes (7-5) gave up seven runs on eight hits. She walked four batters and struck out one.
Kentucky looks to regroup when they welcome Western Kentucky to JCS on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
