COLUMBIA, Mo. - The Missouri softball team broke the game open with a big fifth inning Friday and beat Indiana State 7-0 in the Tigers' opening game of the NCAA Tournament Columbia Regional.
The Tigers scored five runs in the fifth, highlighted by a three-run, pinch-hit home run by Jordan Zolman.
"When (Missouri head) coach (Ehren Earleywine) put me in, he just told me to be aggressive," Zolman said. "I know whenever I'm put in a situation like that I'm looking to hit, not exactly walk. I was just looking for a pitch I could barrel and hit somewhere hard and score a run.
"It felt great. I knew as soon as it came off the bat that it was gone."
Earlier in the fifth, Corrin Genovese drove in a run when she reached on a fielder's choice and Kelsea Roth had an RBI single.
The Tigers got their first run in the bottom of the first when Amanda Sanchez grounded into a double play with the bases loaded and no outs to score Taylor Gadbois.
Missouri didn't score again until the fifth, but Earleywine was glad to have any kind of lead.
"I've played so many of these games where you're the top seed and you play the bottom seed, and in the fourth or fifth inning it's 0-0 because you're sitting around waiting around for the three-run homer. ... Thank God, it was 1-0 after four innings," he said.
Missouri scored its final run in the sixth when an RBI single by Sanchez plated Gadbois.
Emily Crane had three hits to pace a 10-hit attack for Missouri, while Roth had two hits and one RBI and Gadbois had a pair of singles.
That was more than enough support for sophomore hurler Tori Finucane, who got the win in her postseason debut after missing last year's postseason due to injury. Finucane (20-8) scattered two hits across five innings and struck out four while walking just one.
"I was really excited," she said. "Last year, it was rough not being able to help out, so I was really excited that I got that opportunity this year. It was just really nice to come out and get that first win."
Cheyenne Baxter pitched two hitless innings to close out the win.
With poor weather in the forecast for today, the start times for the regional have been moved up. Missouri (40-14) will play Kansas (39-13) at 10 a.m., followed by an elimination game between Indiana State (26-30) and Louisville (30-18) at 12:30 p.m.
The loser of Missouri and Kansas will then meet the winner of Indiana State and Louisville at 3 p.m.
Kansas beat Louisville 1-0 in Friday's first game of the regional.
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