Missouri softball players drop protest, try to refocus on winning NCAA regional

Missouri’s softball team heeded coach Ehren Earleywine’s public plea and dropped its protest of an athletic department investigation into alleged verbal abuse by Earleywine.

The investigation — which centers on complaints inside and outside the program — remains ongoing, but senior outfielder Emily Crane confirmed the end of the players’ protest Wednesday on the eve of the opening day of NCAA regional play at University Field.

“We’re solely worried about playing,” Crane said. “... I can’t reiterate enough that we’re so worried about playing right now, and anything we can do to keep us together and keep us and coach on the same side, that’s what our plan is. We’re not going to deal with anything protestwise. We’re just going to play softball, and that’s what we’re here to do.”

Kicking off the regional, Nebraska, 33-19, plays Louisville, 35-15, at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, followed by No. 15 seed Missouri, 39-14, hosting BYU, 35-19, at 7 p.m.

Both games will be televised on ESPN2.

While the Tigers are trying to move past the recent turmoil, concerns about Earleywine’s job security linger. If Missouri doesn’t advance from the regional, it could make the end of Earleywine’s 10-year tenure.

“I sure hope not,” he said. “This is where I love to be, and I can’t see myself doing anything else. … With the investigation ongoing, you don’t know, but I’ve tried to keep it out of my head as much as possible and coach my team.”

Earleywine said his motivation for asking the players to drop the protest was an effort to refocus the team for the postseason and allow athletic director Mack Rhoades and his staff to finish the investigation uninterrupted.

Despite a 450-152 record that includes 10 straight NCAA regional appearances and seven super regional appearances in the last eight seasons, Earleywine isn’t sure if he’ll be retained.

“I don’t know,” Earleywine said. “I guess it’s a coin flip, really.”

Earleywine answered “little to none” when asked how much communication he’s had with Rhoades in the last few weeks.

The softball team’s unity council announced a protest of a university investigation into Earleywine on May 7, and the school confirmed the investigation later that afternoon.

Missouri was upset May 11 in the opening round of the Southeastern Conference tournament, and the unity council — which Earleywine confirmed Wednesday included a fifth member, freshman Rylee Pierce, as an alternate — reaffirmed the protest a day later with a second statement.

Earleywine called for an end to the protest Friday in a text message to several media outlets.

“I just felt like it was best for everybody if we just ended the protest and got on with our business,” he said.

Earleywine didn’t know until Wednesday the protest had been called off but said he was “very glad” to hear it.

The early-round SEC tourney exit, while not ideal, provided a welcome physical, mental and emotional break for the Tigers.

“The positive from that loss is that we got a chance to rest and we got to decompress from everything and be ready for” Thursday, Crane said.

Refreshed and refocused, Missouri seems eager to return to the diamond in search of an eighth regional title under Earleywine.

“In the dugout is where I’m in my element,” Earleywine said. “For those two or three hours, hopefully we can all escape what we’ve been going through. … If we play together, if they play like they like each other and we’re united, I think we’ll be fine.”

Earleywine doesn’t believe there’s absolute teamwide unity about the protest, “but I think the majority of the players agreed with the protest, and the majority of players want me to be their coach,” he said.

Earleywine also indicated that he’s re-evaluating his coaching style in the wake of the investigation, but “I don’t think that’s important as a coach,” he said. “I think that’s important as a human being, and I’ll do that until the day I die.”

As for the regional, Earleywine said the teams are closely bunched, so any team could advance.

The Tigers are expected to start sophomore lefthander Paige Lowary (22-6, 3.40 ERA), but Earleywine believes Cougars ace McKenna Bull, who is 26-11 with a 2.36 ERA and 276 strikeouts in 252  1/3 innings, is the best pitcher in the regional.

Neither Bull nor Lowary pitched in Mizzou’s 16-6 win Feb. 27 against BYU in the Mary Nutter Classic in California.

This story was originally published May 18, 2016 at 8:47 PM with the headline "Missouri softball players drop protest, try to refocus on winning NCAA regional."