No. 18 MSU Softball Team Stays Home This Weekend To Host Bulldog Classic
March 06, 2008 | Softball
STARKVILLE, Miss. - The 18th-ranked Mississippi State softball team will play host to Austin Peay, Charleston Southern and Louisiana Tech this weekend as part of the 2008 Bulldog Classic which begins Friday and runs through Sunday at the MSU Softball Field.
Games begin at 10 a.m. each day, while Mississippi State, who enters the weekend 17-4 overall, takes to the field at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. all three days. MSU closes out the opening day of action with Charleston Southern at 2 p.m. and Louisiana Tech at 4 p.m. Admission to all MSU home games is free of charge.
The Bulldogs face Austin Peay and Charleston Southern on Saturday before closing out the tournament with Louisiana Tech and Austin Peay on Sunday.
State is hosting the tournament for the ninth time in program history, with Mississippi State having won its last six games in the tournament. The Bulldogs come in as the defending tournament champion after capturing the title in 2006.
Austin Peay will be playing in the Bulldog Classic for the third time, the first since 2004. State holds a 5-0 series lead over the Lady Govs, with MSU claiming a 12-4 win just two weekends ago at the Mercer Wingate Inn Classic in Macon, Ga.
MState will be facing Charleston Southern for the first time, but it will take on a familiar foe in Louisiana Tech. The two Bulldogs have met 14 times previously, with Tech holding a 9-5 edge in the series. State, however, has won the last five meetings, including the two most recent showdowns which came in Starkville during the 2005 campaign.
MSU continues to be paced at the plate by sophomore Chelsea Bramlett. The Cordova, Tenn., native enters the weekend hitting a Southeastern Conference third-best .452. She sits in a tie for second with a pair of triples, and her perfect 15-for-15 stolen base mark ranks No. 3 in the league.
Senior Courtney Bures continued to swing at hot bat for MSU last weekend at the NFCA Leadoff Classic and during the mid-week against UAB. The Haymarket, Va., native bumped her average to .333 as she collected a pair of hits against the Blazers to extend her season-long hit streak to eight games. Bures leads the team with four doubles, while her two home runs rank second on the squad behind fellow senior Hayle Guess.
Junior Kelsey Nurnberg picked up her season and team-best ninth win of the year against the Blazers, two days removed from notching her second save of the year against UMass at the Leadoff Classic. The Ankeny, Iowa, native has compiled a 1.73 ERA with 39 strikeouts over 72 and two-thirds innings.
Freshman Elizabeth Woolven of Nettleton, Miss., picked up the win over the Minutewomen last Sunday to run her record to 3-0, the second-best start for a freshman in school history. Woolven, who has a team-low 0.55 ERA, has 19 strikeouts compared to just five walks over 25 and a third innings. Fellow rookie Misty Flesher has compiled a 5-2 mark on the season, giving up just 10 runs and striking out 35 while walking six.
