In a season that has been anything but ordinary for Missouri softball, the No. 14 seed Tigers face a do-or-die matchup against 11th-seeded Ole Miss in the opening round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament on Tuesday.
Typically for Mizzou, the SEC Tournament is just a stepping stone — it’s the NCAA Tournament that concludes the season.
However, with a 25-30 record heading into the conference tournament, the Tigers’ fate ahead of Sunday’s NCAA Tournament Selection Show is anything but certain.
A Division I school has to have played a minimum number of events (27 games in softball) and have at least a .500 record to qualify for selection as an at-large team in an NCAA championship event. All conference tournament games count toward a program’s minimum number of events.
In order to reach .500, Mizzou would need to win the SEC Tournament — something it has never done. But the Tigers haven’t been far off.
Mizzou has made the SEC Tournament final two of the last three years, falling to No. 2 seed Florida in 2024 and losing to top-seeded Arkansas in 2022. MU was seeded fifth and seventh, respectively, in those tournaments.
“The game doesn’t care what seed you are,” MU coach Larissa Anderson said following the team’s regular-season finale, a 1-0 victory over No. 24 Georgia on Saturday.
The Tigers will face Ole Miss for the fourth time this season, having previously lost two of three games in a series in Oxford, Mississippi. The Rebels swept a doubleheader to open the series March 30, but the Tigers salvaged a 9-5 win a day later.
Tuesday’s game will start 35 minutes after the first game of the tournament concludes. First pitch between No. 12 seed Georgia and 13th-seeded Kentucky is slated for noon.
Mizzou comes into the matchup riding the momentum of its first SEC series victory of the season.
“We’re playing to win,” junior pitcher Cierra Harrison said. “We have nothing to lose.”