Feb. 20, 2011

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – After a 40-hour postponement, the No. 8 Missouri Tigers and the No. 15 Cal Bears were finally able to conclude their contest on Sunday morning, with the Golden Bears coming out victorious by a 1-0 score.

The game originally began at 4 p.m. CT on Friday afternoon, with the two teams battling through heavy winds and rain before the game was finally called in the sixth inning.  The score sat at 0-0 after five full innings of play, with the Golden Bears having a runner on second and no one out in the top of the sixth when the game was postponed.

Upon continuation, redshirt sophomore Chelsea Thomas started with a 1-2 count on the Cal batter.  The batter appeared to foul tip the pitch, but it was ruled that she did not make contact and ran out the play at first, giving Cal runners on first and third with no one out.  After a stolen base, a ground out to second put the first run on the board with the Bears taking a 1-0 lead.  Thomas struck out the next two batters to strand the runner at third.

Mizzou had a chance to even things up in the bottom half but stranded runners on the corners.  Abby Vock led off the frame with a single up the middle and advanced to second on a sac bunt by Rhea Taylor.  Vock moved to third after a ground out, with Ashley Fleming following with a walk.  Sophomore Nicole Hudson lifted one deep to left field, but the ball was caught at the track for the final out of the inning.

The Tigers went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the seventh to fall to 1-2 on the season.

Thomas went all seven innings in the loss, allowing the one unearned run while striking out 11 and giving up only three hits.

Missouri returns to action next weekend at the USF Tournament in Tampa, Fla.  The Tigers will take on Temple and Illinois State on Friday, Feb. 25, starting with Temple at 9:30 a.m. CT.