Mizzou Has the Potential to Change the Game

In the weeks that have followed the announcement that Mizzou is moving to the SEC a majority of the conversation has been in regards to football and basketball. There is no doubt that UM will struggle in both sports. They will be going up against some of the biggest football powerhouses in the country. Their schedule will be a collage of national championship winners from the last five years- LSU, Alabama, Florida, and Auburn.

There is one sport that hasn’t been discussed at all yet and it might be the one to make the most impact, softball. I played softball all through high school and I am very familiar with the landscape of college softball. Personally, I think Missouri’s move to the SEC could be the biggest thing to ever happen to SEC softball. Last season there were 3 SEC teams that finished the season in the top 10. There were 4 from the Big 12. The highest ranked of those 4 was Mizzou ranked at number 4. The remaining teams were members of the Pac-10 conference. The softball world has historically been dominated by the Pac-10 with the likes of Arizona and UCLA. Those two teams have 20 softball national championships between them. They have also produced dozens of olympic gold medalists. The only time a Big 12 team has ever won a national title in softball was in 2000 when Oklahoma beat UCLA. The SEC has never won. 3 of the last 5 seasons an SEC team has made it to the national title game but they have never been able to knock off the Pac-10 dynasty. I am going to make a bold prediction and say that Mizzou is going to be the one to change that.

Mizzou has a fairly young team going into this season but there is still plenty of experience to anchor the team. There are 10 freshman on the roster this year, 3 sophomores, 6 juniors, and only 2 seniors. Most importantly, star pitcher Chelsea Thomas is entering her junior season after one of the most impressive season that a Mizzou softball pitcher has ever had. She was one of three finalists for USA Softball’s Nation Player of the Year Award, a first team All-American, and she lead the country with a .95 ERA. With Thomas in the circle the team has a solid anchor on defense that many of their future SEC rivals don’t. According to coach Ehren Earleywine, Mizzou has already stolen a high level recruit from potential rivals Tennessee and Alabama because of our move to the SEC. “There was one girl from Georgia, and it was between us, Tennessee, and Alabama. She said if you go to the SEC for sure we’re going to do this. The deal is done. If we stayed in the Big 12, I’m not so sure that would happen.”

Our move to the SEC gives the game of softball another powerhouse conference. The amount of competition that is going to go on within the conference during the regular season is going to prepare every team for the college softball world series. Because the competition is going to be so intense during the regular season I think Mizzou could finally give the SEC the boost they need to get their first conference national championship.