Mizzou’s softball exodus continues with Tori Finucane’s transfer to Minnesota

Pitcher Tori Finucane was slated to be a senior ace for Missouri softball next season.

Instead, she’ll finish her career at Minnesota, which announced Monday that Finucane would transfer there for her final year of eligibility.

Finucane is the second pitcher to transfer from the Tigers this month, joining Oklahoma transfer Paige Lowary on her way out of Columbia.

After a sterling freshman season, Finucane was chosen as the SEC freshman of the year by the conference’s coaches.

Finucane, a native of Germantown, Md., went 21-5 with a 1.70 ERA and a .219 opponents’ batting average in 2014. She struck out 166 with 55 walks in 185 1/3 innings as a freshman.

Her numbers dipped as a sophomore, but she still finished 21-8 with a 3.03 ERA and 140 strikeouts in 155 innings.

Finucane suffered a hairline fracture in her sinus during the season finale against UCLA in NCAA super regional play that season, an injury that lingered into the 2016 season.

As a junior, Finucane appeared in only 21 games, including seven starts, and finished 0-3 with a 5.39 ERA. She only pitched 37 2/3 innings and finished with 34 strikeouts and 25 walks.

Finucane is the seventh player — including Lowary, Erin Gilliland, Sara Harvey, Chase Nelson, Sydney Sprague and Morgan Walters — who have left the Tigers since the start of the 2016 season.

The Tigers went 42-16 last spring, but the postseason was marred by an Athletic Department investigation into coach Ehren Earleywine, which became public May 7 when the team’s Unity Council announced the team was playing under protest.

The investigation triggered a Title IX investigation by Missouri into alleged verbal abuse of players by Earleywine, which has put his future with the program in jeopardy.

The investigation has concluded, a source told The Star, but the Tigers’ athletic department has not yet announced if Earleywine will be retained or not.

With Finucane’s departure, the Tigers currently have three pitchers on the roster for next season — sophomore Danielle Baumgartner, who went 14-4 with a 1.98 ERA last season, senior Cheyenne Baxter (3-1, 3.46 ERA) and incoming freshman Parker Conrad.

This story was originally published August 1, 2016 at 6:57 PM with the headline "Mizzou’s softball exodus continues with Tori Finucane’s transfer to Minnesota."