COLUMBIA, S.C. - The Missouri Tigers' appearance in the Southeastern Conference Softball Tournament was a short one.
Missouri's offense managed a paltry four hits as the third seed dropped a 6-0 decision to sixth-seeded LSU on Thursday.
And all of those hits were singles, as Taylor Gadbois, Emily Crane, Corrin Genovese and Natalie Fleming had one apiece.
LSU, the 25th-ranked team in the nation, scored two runs in the top of the first to take control. It added one in the fourth, two in the fifth and one in the sixth to pull away.
Missouri, ranked 14th in the nation, saw an impressive streak come to an end with the loss, as starting pitcher Tori Finucane (21-6) suffered her first loss since March 30. She gave up five runs, although only two were earned thanks to three Missouri errors, in five innings of work. She allowed seven hits and walked two while striking out two.
Casey Stangel pitched the final two innings, allowing one earned run on one hit and one walk. She struck out one.
Missouri (41-16) will now await the determination of when it will play next, as the NCAA Division I Championship softball selection show will take place at 9 p.m. Sunday.
Also on Thursday, Finucane was announced as one of the 10 finalists for the National Fastpitch Coaches Association's inaugural Division I National Freshman of the Year award. It will be awarded prior to the start of the Women's College World Series that will be held in Oklahoma City.
Finucane won the SEC Freshman of the Year award after a regular season that saw her finish second in the league in overall ERA (1.70) and conference-games ERA (2.03). She won 11 league games, placing her fourth in the conference, as she was named first-team all-conference.
After Thursday's loss, she now has a 1.73 ERA to go with 168 strikeouts in 1901/3 innings of work. She has walked 57 and opponents are hitting .223 against her.
The list of finalists will be trimmed to three May 22, with the winner beig announced May 27.