MSU Hosts Bulldog Round-Robin to Open Home Slate
February 17, 2011 | Softball
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Mississippi State opens the 2011 home softball slate this weekend as Butler, Louisiana Tech and Southern Illinois come to campus for the Bulldog Round-Robin. The event gets underway at 1 p.m. Friday and wraps up on Sunday.
State opens play against Louisiana Tech at 3 p.m. Friday. The Dawgs close Saturday's action with a 2 p.m. meeting with Butler and a 4 p.m. showdown against Southern Illinois. Head coach Jay Miller's squad wraps action Sunday at 1 p.m.
Admission to all MSU home softball games is free.
Mississippi State will be hosting the tournament for the eighth time, claiming the championship five times during that stretch with a 30-3 record.
The Bulldogs return home following a tough weekend at the season-opening Sportco Kick-Off Classic in Las Vegas. After suffering four tough setbacks, including three one-run decisions, to open the weekend, Mississippi State finished the weekend with a 5-2 win against Illinois-Chicago.
Senior Courtney Nesbit paced the Dawgs at the plate, hitting .563 with two doubles, a triple, a home run, two RBI and five runs scored. The Acworth, Ga., native drove in the winning run in State's weekend-closing victory.
Nesbit's classmates - Chelsea Raines and Ali Bainbridge - hit .500 and .467, respectively, during the opening weekend. Raines belted a double and her first-career home run en route to driving in four runs and scoring two more.
Bainbridge scored four times, including the winning run on Sunday, while hitting .467 with a double, triple and home run.
Georgia freshmen Heidi Shape and Sam Lenahan enjoyed stellar debuts for the Dawgs. Shape paced Mississippi State with 12 RBI, the most by an MSU freshman in her debut weekend. She batted .400 with a double and two home runs, one being a grand slam against UNLV.
Lenahan also knocked two balls out of the park. The Lawrenceville, Ga., native accounted for 11 runs (six RBI and five runs scored) while tallying a .357 batting average.
Junior Misty Flesher picked up the win on Sunday. The Lone Grove, Okla., native compiled a 2.28 ERA, allowing seven runs (five earned) with eight strikeouts over 15.1 innings.
