No. 21 MSU Improves To 10-0 With Sweep At Bulldog Round-Robin

Saturday, February 16

Starkville

4:00 p.m.

Mississippi State

9-0

Fordham

1-3

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Fordham	3	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	5	9	1
Mississippi State	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	6	12	2

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Wright State	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	7	2
Mississippi State	2	0	1	1	0	1	X	5	10	1

Softball Welcomes Kentucky For Thursday Doubleheader

No. 21 MSU Improves To 10-0 With Sweep At Bulldog Round-Robin

February 16, 2008 | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: hailstate.com

? Official Statistics (vs. Fordham)
? Official Statistics (vs. Fordham) (PDF)
? Official Statistics (vs. Wright State)
? Official Statistics (vs. Wright State) (PDF)

STARKVILLE, Miss. ? Courtney Bures went 3-for-5 with a home run, three RBI and three runs scored to help lead the 21st-ranked Mississippi State softball team to a 6-5, nine-inning win over Fordham and a 5-2 victory over Wright State Saturday evening at the Bulldog Round-Robin on the MSU campus.

Jessie Bailey finished the day 3-for-7 with two RBI and a run as she helped move State to 10-0 on the year, the second-best start in school history. A pair of freshmen earned the two wins for MSU in the two games. Elizabeth Woolven earned her first career victory in Saturday's nightcap, allowing a pair of unearned runs on seven hits with three strikeouts.

Misty Flesher picked up the victory over Fordham, hurling six innings and allowing two runs on four hits with four strikeouts to improve to 4-0 in her rookie campaign.

"I thought our team did a good job of answering in both games after they other teams scored in the first inning," MSU head coach Jay Miller said. "We had great pitching again tonight. Misty Flesher did a great job in relief for us in the opening game, and Elizabeth (Woolven) pitched well in picking up her first win. She did a nice job of settling down after that first inning. We made some nice plays behind her defensively tonight, and we were able to put some runs on the board. I thought we played well offensively tonight, and we can produce runs when we are patient at the plate."

Wright State jumped on top early with a pair of runs in the first inning, but just as in the day's opening game, State answered in the home half of the opening frame. With two outs, Bures was hit by a pitch and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Sammie Jo Bailey brought her home with her towering fly ball that was misjudged by the WSU left fielder for a double. Bailey advanced to second on a Hayle Guess single, and she scored as Guess stole second and the throw skipped into center field.

The runs would be all Woolven would need as she limited the Raiders to just five hits the remaining six innings. The offense gave the Nettleton, Miss., native some insurance, however, as the Bulldogs produced a run in the third and another in the fourth.

Bures delivered the MSU run in the fourth as her single scored Nakita Boyce, who led off the inning with a single and a stolen base. Freshman Jessie Spain reached on a single, and with two outs, she scored on Lindsay Hunley's base hit up the middle.

Jessie Bailey kept MSU's undefeated record intact with her ninth-inning, one-out base hit to lead the Bulldogs over Fordham. After stifling the lead run at third in the top of the eighth, Bainbridge moved Guess, who was at second due to the international tie-breaker, to second with a sacrifice bunt. Bailey lined the first pitch she saw into center field to plate Guess with the game-winning run.

Fordham jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first, but State responded with four runs in the home half of the frame. Chelsea Bramlett, who went 3-for-4 in the opening game and 3-for-7 overall, led off with a single, and after stealing second, she moved to third on Nakita Boyce's ground-out.

Courtney Bures then hit her second home run in as many days, a two-run shot down the line in left, to put MSU up 2-0. Sammie Jo Bailey followed with single, and after advancing on a wild pitch, Hayle Guess reached on an error by the third baseman. Ali Bainbridge and Jessie Bailey capped the MState four-run burst with back-to-back RBI singles.

State added another run in the third. After Bures led off with a double, Sammie Jo Bailey advanced her with a sacrifice bunt. Guess then delivered a base hit that plated Bures for a 5-3 edge. Fordham erased that deficit with two outs in the top of the seventh. With one out in the frame, Allison Twarowski doubled, and two hitters later Jocelyn Dearborn tied the game with a two-run shot off the scoreboard in left field.

The Bulldogs close out their six-game homestand Sunday against Southern Illinois in a game scheduled for a noon first pitch. Admission to all MSU home games is free of charge.