A thrilling ride to the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship game came to a bitter end for Missouri softball Saturday in Auburn, Alabama.
In search of their first-ever Southeastern Conference Tournament title, the fifth-seeded Tigers instead suffered their third straight SEC championship game defeat in a sloppy 6-1 loss to second-seeded Florida.
A Missouri pitching staff that entered Saturday’s title matchup with a 0.95 earned run average across their first three SEC Tournament games could not make up for the disorganized play behind them against a red-hot Florida offense.
The Tigers, who did not commit an error in their first three games of the tournament, committed three on Saturday, including two within the first three innings against the Gators that led to four early runs.