No. 15 MSU Softball Returns To Road For Mercer Wingate Inn Classic
February 21, 2008 | Softball
STARKVILLE, Miss. - The 15th-ranked Mississippi State softball team hits the road again this weekend, traveling to Macon, Ga., for the 2008 Mercer Wingate Inn Classic.
State, who is off to a school second-best 11-0 start to the season, is scheduled to open the five-game slate at 9 a.m. CST Friday against a Western Kentucky squad that is receiving votes in the ESPN.com/USA Softball and USA Today/NFCA top 25 polls after a 4-2 start to the season. State has met the Hilltoppers just one other time previously, claiming a win in Tampa, Fla., during the 2006 season. The Bulldogs close out Friday's opening day of action with a 3 p.m. meeting with Austin Peay, a team that State holds a 4-0 series advantage over.
The Bulldogs will face Nicholls State Saturday at 11 a.m. CST and host Mercer at 3 p.m. MState is meeting Nicholls State for the 10th time. NSU holds a 7-2 advantage in the series, but State claimed the win in the last meeting, an 8-0 win in Plant City, Fla., during the 2002 season.
State will be meeting Mercer for the second time ever, as MSU won the first meeting, which came at the Long Beach State Invitational in 2006.
Live stats for all of MSU's games will be available through www.mstateathletics.com. A video stream of Saturday's game with Mercer will be available on the internet on an on-demand basis ($5.99) by A-Sun TV, the broadband network of the Atlantic Sun Conference (www.asun.tv).
Sophomore Chelsea Bramlett looks to continue her hot start at the plate this weekend. The Cordova, Tenn., native leads the team in batting average (.605), hits (23), triples (2), RBI (10), runs (12) and stolen bases (10-for-10). Senior Nakita Boyce has enjoyed a stellar start to her final season, hitting .387 with a team second-best eight stolen bases. Boyce drove in a pair of runs last weekend, and she upped her run total to nine on the year.
The MSU pitching staff ranks among the conference's best so far this season. Kelsey Nurnberg is off to a 6-0 start, while freshman Misty Flesher earned SEC Freshman of the Week accolades after moving to 4-0 on the year with a pair of wins last weekend. Fellow rookie Elizabeth Woolven earned her first collegiate win and save in helping State to the Bulldog Round-Robin championship.
The pitching staff has been supported by a stellar defense. The Bulldogs currently hold the league's second-best fielding percentage (.975) and lead the conference with seven double plays.
