COLUMBIA, MO. • There’s been nothing ordinary about Ehren Earleywine’s 11th season as Missouri’s softball coach. A program accustomed to piling up victories and cruising into postseason play on its home field has lost eight of 10 games heading into this weekend’s NCAA regional. And for the first time in nine years, the Tigers have to pack suitcases for the postseason.
Every year from 2009-16, the Tigers hosted a four-team, double-elimination regional, and seven of those eight years survived to reach the super regional round. To do the same this year, Mizzou must not only capture a regional on the road in Eugene, Ore.