Mizzou softball expected to make NCAA tournament despite early conference tourney exit

Missouri doesn’t anticipate a nervous wait until the 2017 NCAA Division I Softball Tournament field is announced at 9 p.m. Sunday on ESPN2.

The Tigers, 29-26, haven’t played to the standard set by the program during the last decade.

Those 29 wins are the fewest in the regular season during the decade-long Ehren Earleywine era, but with an RPI of 32 entering the week and nine top-25 wins on the résumé they expect to be in the 64-team field.

Mizzou’s run of eight straight seasons as a regional host will end this season, but it’s still reasonable to expect a No. 3 seed at worst for the tourney despite a first-round exit Wednesday night in the Southeastern Conference Softball Tournament.

Senior Natalie Fleming’s two-run single in the fourth inning helped the No. 11 seed Tigers erase an early 2-0 deficit against LSU, which broke the game open in the bottom of the inning with a grand slam.

Freshman Cayla Kessinger, freshman Braxton Burnside and senior Kirsten Mack each delivered seventh-inning RBIs, but Mizzou’s desperation rally fell short in a 6-5 loss.

Now, the waiting begins.

This story was originally published May 11, 2017 at 5:28 PM with the headline "Mizzou softball expected to make NCAA tournament despite early conference tourney exit."