No. 18 MSU Returns To Georgia For NFCA Leadoff Classic
February 28, 2008 | Softball
STARKVILLE, Miss. ? The 18th-ranked Mississippi State softball team heads back to Georgia for the second straight weekend, taking part in the prestigious NFCA Leadoff Classic at the South Commons Complex in Columbus, GA.
MSU opens play Friday with N.C. State at 10 a.m. CST and No. 11 Michigan at 12:30 p.m. CST. On Saturday the Bulldogs will face Syracuse at 12:30 p.m. CST and UC Santa Barbara at 3 p.m. CST. Head coach Jay Miller's squad meets UMass Sunday at 11:30 a.m. CST to close out the tournament.
State will be playing in the Leadoff Classic for the second straight season and fourth time overall. MSU has posted a 7-8 mark in the tournament. The Bulldogs made a mark on the tournament record book a year ago, setting the top mark for single-game runs and combined runs in a game with their 23-0 rout of Seton Hall.
MState will be meeting N.C. State for the third time in school history. The two teams split their previous two meetings, which came in the Bulldog Round-Robin during the 2005 campaign. MSU and Syracuse will be meeting for the fourth time, while the Bulldogs will look to even the overall series with UC Santa Barbara in the fourth meeting between the two programs.
State will be facing its second ranked opponent of the season, and highest rated, when it faces the Wolverines on Friday. Michigan holds a 4-1 advantage in the series, with State's lone win coming at the 2002 Leadoff Classic.
The Bulldogs will also be meeting UMass for the second time at the Leadoff Classic. MSU holds a 2-0 series edge over the Minutewomen, with both previous meetings coming in 2000 at South Commons and seven days later in Tampa, Fla.
State enters this weekend's action following a 2-2 weekend at the Mercer Wingate Inn Classic. The Bulldogs put senior Hayle Guess, freshman Ali Bainbridge and junior Sammie Jo Bailey on the all-tournament team.
Guess has hit a home run in her three previous games, becoming the first Bulldog to do so since teammate Courtney Bures in 2005. Bainbridge added her first career home run as she went back-to-back with Guess, who has four on the season, against Mercer, the first time State has accomplished the feat in nearly three seasons.
Sophomore Chelsea Bramlett continues to pace MState at the plate. The Cordova, Tenn., is hitting an SEC second-best .510 and she ranks in the top 10 in the league in on-base percentage (.527), hits (26), total bases (33) and stolen bases (12-for-12).
Junior Kelsey Nurnberg and freshman Misty Flesher continue to anchor the Bulldogs in the circle. Nurnberg moved to 7-1 on the year last weekend and has compiled a 1.63 ERA and struck out 26 over 51 and two-thirds innings. Flesher jumped out to a school freshman-best 4-0 start to the season before dropping her first collegiate decision. The Lone Grove, Okla., native picked up her fifth win last Sunday against Mercer, moving her earned-run average to 1.17 with 29 strikeouts and just four walks over 36 innings.
