Razorbacks Beat Missouri in SEC Home Opener

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Razorbacks scored all three of their runs in the second and freshman Mary Haff registered her ninth complete-game performance of the season in Friday’s 3-1 win over Missouri. Senior Autumn Buczek delivered the big blow with a two-out, two-run triple. With the win, Arkansas picked up its first conference win of the season and improves to 24-5 overall.

The team’s SEC home opener was played in front of 1,248 fans at Bogle Park, marking the sixth-largest home attendance in program history. The Razorbacks are now 15-0 on their home field this season.

Up Next
Game two of this weekend’s series against Missouri is scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m. (CT). Arkansas is in the midst of a 13-game home stand that will conclude next weekend when the team hosts Mississippi State at Bogle Park.

Final: Arkansas 3, Missouri 1 | Box Score

Missouri (18-16, 1-6 SEC) stranded three runners on base in its first two trips to the plate but were kept off the scoreboard. The Razorbacks took advantage of a lead-off walk to Aly Manzo to start the bottom of the second inning and had runners on first and second after a base hit by Loren Krzysko.

Haydi Bugarin opened the scoring with an RBI single through the left side that allowed pinch runner Keely Edwards to score from second base. A Missouri error extended the inning and Buczek came through with her eighth-career triple that plated a pair of unearned runs for the Razorbacks. With the three-base hit, Buczek moves into a tie for fifth with Chloe Oprzedek (2011-14) on the program’s all-time list.

The visitors got one of those runs back in the top of the third with a two-out RBI single to left just over the glove of Buczek at shortstop. From that point, however, Haff retired 12 of the last 13 hitters she faced. The lone Missouri base runner in that stretch was a walk to lead off the sixth but was erased on a ‘strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out’ double play. From her catcher’s position, freshman Kayla Green has now thrown out an SEC-leading 10 base runners attempting to steal.

Still working with the two-run lead, Haff worked a perfect seventh inning to secure her 14th win of the season and give the Razorbacks their third-consecutive win over Missouri. Friday’s game marked Haff’s 10th outing with at least seven strikeouts.

For more information about Arkansas Softball, follow @RazorbackSB on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.