Less than a year after one Missouri softball pitcher was hit in the face by a line drive, the same thing happened to another. Amazingly, the fierce comebacker did not knock Paige Lowary out of the game.
Lowary was pitching for the No. 12-ranked Missouri Tigers at the Mary Nutter Classic against No. 7 Oregon Saturday night and was cruising through three innings with her team up 7-0 on the high-powered Ducks. Unfortunately, the sophomore southpaw was nailed in the face by a line drive from Oregon’s Nikki Udria to start the bottom of the fourth:
Every pitcher's worst nightmare happened at #marynutter Should face masks be mandatory? https://t.co/9DQgp34UfQ pic.twitter.com/xucQnnKjmZ
— FloSoftball (@FloSoftball) February 28, 2016
Lowary took a few minutes but actually stayed in the game and continued to pitch. The effects of being hit likely had a serious impact on Lowary, who gave up six runs the rest of the frame and yielded way to Danielle Baumgartner in the fifth. Oregon won 8-7 in extras.
Luckily Lowary seems to be doing well based on this tweet she sent Sunday, which shows she has a sense of humor about matters:
Hit by a line drive pitching or won a fight in the ring vs Ronda Rousey? You tell me. pic.twitter.com/0L5yKkLxuR
— Paige Lowary (@PAIGELOWARY) February 28, 2016
Hopefully Lowary will be 100 percent for the Tigers when they begin play at the Judi Garman Tournament on Thursday.
Last year her teammate Tori Finucane was hit in the head by a line drive in this very similar play in the NCAA super regionals against UCLA. The Tigers may give serious thought to a staff-wide policy of having pitchers where masks.
