Mizzou Softball: What Happened, What’s Next

This wasn’t how Mizzou Softball’s season was supposed to end.

All the Tigers needed were six outs against Auburn to secure eligibility for an at-large postseason bid barely surpassing the .500 mark — something they haven’t done since their 2024 Super Regional appearance.

Then the wheels fell off.

Within minutes, Auburn had erased a 2-0 deficit, and created a 4-2 lead over MU with time running out. The gap turned to four runs in what turned into a total collapse by the Tigers and they couldn’t find any runs to get back in it.

So now, the Tigers head into the offseason with a lot of questions to be asked about what happened, why it happened and who’s fault it may be. But those questions don’t really matter. The real question on the table: what’s next?

Bright Future?

Despite missing the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back years for the first time since the early 2000s, one thing can be said about the Mizzou team: not only were they knocking on the door at a postseason bid, but they are so young.

Freshman Abby Carr led the team in home runs (12) and RBI (44) along with being a staple reliever in the circle this season. Freshman Sidney Forrester finished second in home runs (10) and finished the season with a perfect fielding percentage. Even freshman Addy Waits, who struggled early in the season, found her way late and became a great leadoff hitter for the Tigers. Waits and Arkansas’ Brinli Bain were the only two freshmen nationally with 40+ walks this season. All these freshmen played major roles on the team’s success and could be awesome options for Mizzou next season. But with the current landscape, who knows if they stay?

While Carr is in-state (St. Louis, Lafayette HS) and likely has a draw to Missouri, what about top recruit Sidney Forrester? She was the No. 17 recruit in the Class of 2025 and one of the few recruits in the top 20 to be eliminated from postseason play. I wouldn’t be surprised if Oklahoma comes knocking at the door for the Miami, Okla. native. Carr sat at No. 75 in the recruiting rankings as a high schooler, but her stock has done nothing but rise. She would be a cream of the crop transfer for any major team looking for a two-way player.

The talent is undeniable, but in the modern era of college athletics, recruiting your own roster is just as important as hitting the trail for new prospects. For Larissa Anderson and her staff, the top priority this summer isn’t just finding new pieces—it’s ensuring that the foundation built by Carr, Forrester and Waits remains in Columbia.

What’s Next for HCLA?

Plenty of questions have rose over the past two seasons as to whether head coach Larissa Anderson is fit for the job as head coach of the Missouri Tigers. While she had high points — like a 42-17 season in 2021 that led to hosting Super Regionals, and an even better 48-win season and Super Regional appearance in 2024 — the recent inconsistency shows that maybe those seasons might have been an outliers rather than a new standard.

For a program like Mizzou, missing the postseason is rare. Missing it twice in a row feels impossible. Prior to missing the last two postseasons with records below .500, the Tigers hadn’t missed back-to-back tourneys since the early 2000s. Prior to missing the playoffs in 2025, Mizzou made 17 consecutive postseason appearances — excluding COVID, in which the Tigers finished the season at No. 25 — stretching back to 2007. This streak explains why the 2025 and 2026 results are coming under such heavy fire from the fanbase.

While the youth is a bright point for Mizzou, numbers are suggesting that the program is idling. Under Anderson, Mizzou has dipped below a .500 conference winning percentage (.453) and finished at or near the bottom of the SEC two of the past four seasons. In an uber-competitive league, back-to-back seasons without postseason appearances for the first time in 24 years is a difficult statistic to ignore.

Anderson has two years and $825,000 guaranteed remaining on her contract that was signed right after the 2024 Super Regional appearance. If Mizzou were to fire her, they would owe 75% of that remaining money ($618,750). On July 1, that drops to 50% of $412,500. That’s not a lot of money for an SEC school, so finances shouldn’t be a problem here. It’s just a matter of whether Laird Veatch believes she is fit for the job with added resources to spend on recruiting, for instance.

The Tigers are at a crossroads. They have (some) of the talent of a Top-25 program and the recent resume of an SEC bottom-dweller. With a manageable buyout, the ‘wait and see’ approach might be a luxury the Tigers can no longer afford. The standard in Columbia used to be excellence; now, it’s just survival.

Keep an eye on the calendar for July 1. If a change isn’t made by then, expect the administration to give Anderson one final shot in 2027.

Updates

May 13: On Wednesday, before we even had chance to post this story, the first domino fell. Avery Adcock became the first Tiger to declare intentions to enter the transfer portal this offseason. While the portal doesn’t technically open until June 8th, and teams aren’t allowed to contact players at this juncture, athletes can still declare their intentions and start giving programs an idea of who is available. It will be surprising if Adcock lone loss this season.