But Jay Miller’s Tigers opened the Big 12 season against one of top teams in the conference and never recovered. The team finished the year with a 31-27, 5-9 Big 12 record and needed to win a play-in game to qualify for the eight-team double-elimination conference tournament.

Seniors Stephanie Falk and Karen Williams had strong performances, but inconsistent pitching and defense and a lack of offensive production prevented the Tigers from making up ground.

Falk, the team’s No. 1 pitcher during her four years and an All-Big 12 second team selection, finished the year with a team-best 1.29 ERA and 195 strikeouts.

Williams, the team’s leadoff hitter, finished No. 9 in the nation with her school-record .439 batting average and had team-highs of 75 hits and 23 stolen bases.

Missouri did finish the regular season with three consecutive wins and beat Texas 1-0 in a play-in game. But the Tigers were obliterated by No. 1 seed Nebraska 9-1 and ended their season with a 4-0 loss to Texas A&M in the tournament.

"I think we finished on a good note," Williams said. "Everyone wanted to do well in the tournament to advance to the NCAA regionals. We knew we were going to beat Texas, but we had to come right back and play Nebraska right after that.

"We were tired, it was emotionally draining and a little intimidating to face the No. 1 team in the conference. It was too much too soon."

Missouri was shut out 13 times during the season, something of great concern for Miller.

"I think that we matured a lot over the course of the year," Miller said. "I would always like to see more wins and definitely would have liked to hit the ball better. I was disappointed in conference play. But overall I was real pleased with the team. They did the things they needed to do to be successful."

The Tigers also had to deal with numerous changes in the lineup, with all field players except outfielder Sara Vassmer changing their positions during the course of the year. The team committed 75 errors, but improved towards the end of the year going error-less in the final three regular season games.

"We had to make these moves to make us a better ball club," Miller said.

It will be hard to replace Falk, arguably one of the best pitchers in school history, but Miller has brought in a pair of strong recruits to join Ingrid Werner, who will return for her junior year. Veronica Flournoi of Arizona and Erin Kalka of Oklahoma will battle for the No. 1 pitcher spot.

Shortstop Heather Kunkeo, a prep standout from Chicago, will vie for a spot in the starting lineup.

The new recruits will join a team of experienced returning players.

Designated player Melanie Fisher, who transferred from Southwest Missouri last year, was an All-Big 12 second team selection finishing with a .384 batting average, a team-high of 31 RBI, 10 doubles and a lugging percentage of .518. But she will play basketball next season.

Catcher Mary McGrane set a school-record with 23 runners picked off, Lindsey Jacoby played solid at shortstop and batted .297, and Vassmer will most likely return to the leadoff hitter spot after batting .338.

"Our team goals will continue to be to win the Big 12 conference and advance to the College World Series," Miller said. "The Big 12 is solid from top to bottom but hopefully the kids can get some innings playing for their summer clubs and improve and get better."