Missouri softball gets past Kansas

COLUMBIA, Mo. - The Missouri Tigers advanced to the finals of the NCAA Tournament softball regional Saturday with a 5-3 victory against the Kansas Jayhawks.

Trailing 3-2 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning, the Tigers scored three times in the frame on their way to the victory.

Emily Crane got rally started with a single. Sami Fagan then walked before Amanda Sanchez singled to tie the game at 3.

Kelsea Roth then doubled down the third base line, scoring both Fagan and pinch runner Kayla Kingsley for a 5-3 Missouri advantage.

"Well they had me worried for a while, but the surge in the fifth inning - three really good at-bats in a row by Crane, Fagan and Sanchez and then Roth, I guess that's four with the double down the line," Missouri coach Ehren Earleywine said. "But those were four really good at-bats."

Both teams scored two runs in the first, with Missouri's scoring on a home run by Fagan. It was her 12th home run of the season.

"I thought as big as it was for the team, it was even bigger for Sami," Earleywine said. "She hasn't - the last couple weeks - been killing it, but sometimes it just takes a ball like that to get you going so I was really happy to see her hit that. It was good for the team, too, but I think it was really good for her."

Tori Finucane got the win in the circle to improve to 21-8 on the season.

Missouri (41-14) will play for the regional title at noon today.