Talk about pouring salt on an open wound.
Kansas University’s softball team, already in an offensive funk, now is injury-riddled on the mound.
Neither phase of the game showed up Monday, resulting in 8-4 and 13-1 losses to Missouri at Jayhawk Field.
The losses dropped Kansas to 23-20 overall, 2-13 in the Big 12 Conference. Missouri improved to 30-15 and 11-4.
Prior to Monday’s twinbill, KU senior pitcher Kara Pierce couldn’t lift her arm above her head. She heard a pop in her shoulder over the weekend at Texas. An MRI revealed no rotator-cuff damage, but pitching, for now, is out of the question for Pierce.
KU lost sophomore pitcher Serena Settlemier in the preseason to wrist surgery.
“There are some things you just can’t control,” KU coach Tracy Bunge said. “Injuries just sometimes happen.”
KU’s only remaining true pitcher, senior Kirsten Milhoan, struggled Monday, giving up five runs in the first innings of both games.
By the second inning of the second game, Bunge went looking for pitchers in other positions and found junior Mel Wallach a legitimate option.
Wallach, who hadn’t pitched since high school, allowed three runs over five innings.
“I pitched for a long time before I came here,” Wallach said.
“It was like a flashback.”
Unfortunately, the Kansas bats, had little chance to erase the 5-0 deficit in the second game.
Freshman Nettie Fierros had the only Kansas hit in the nightcap, a solo home run to center field in the third inning.
KU mustered six hits in the first game, including a 2-for-3, three-RBI performance from Wallach, but the Tigers already had scored eight runs after two innings.
After racing to an 16-4 nonconference start, the Jayhawks hit a Big 12 wall and have lost nine of their last 10.
In the 15 conference games, the Jayhawks, as a team, are hitting just .146 (51-for-350). Opponents, meanwhile, are hitting .298.
“We’ve got a lot more offensive talent than what we’re showing,” Bunge said. “Right now, they’re just not getting the job done for us.”
Kansas will play host to Missouri-Kansas City Wednesday. First pitch is 3 p.m. at Jayhawk Field.
Missouri 8-13, Kansas 4-1
Game One
Kansas 202 000 0 — 4 6 2
Missouri 530 000 x — 8 6 0
W- Erin Kalka (17-9). L- Kirsten Milhoan (8-7).
HR- MU: Daisy Mettlach.
KU highlights: Mel Wallach 2-for-3, 3 RBI; Jessica Moppin 1-for-3, RBI, run; Lindsey Weinstein 1-for-3, 2B, run.
Game Two
Missouri 500 012 5 — 13 16 0
Kansas 001 000 0 — 1 1 4
W- Erin Kalka (18-9). L- Kirsten Milhoan (8-8)
HR- KU: Nettie Fierros (5). MU: Heather Kunkel
KU highlights: Fierros 1-for-2, HR; Destiny Frankenstein 2 SB (15); Mel Wallach 5 IP, 3 ER.
