Mississippi State
4-5
Southern Illinois
5-3
Smith Drives in Four as MSU Falls to SIU
February 20, 2011 | Softball
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Junior Ka'ili Smith hit her first home run of the season and drove in all four of Mississippi State's runs as the Bulldogs fell 9-4 to Southern Illinois in Sunday's championship game of the Bulldog Round-Robin.
In addition to her home run, the Kapolei, Hawaii, native also had a two-run base hit in the fifth en route to earning all-tournament accolades along with Kylie Vry, Sam Lenahan and Courtney Nesbit.
Smith broke a scoreless tie in the fourth as she blasted a 1-2 pitch from SIU starter Brittney Lang over the wall in right field to score Heidi Shape, who doubled to open the frame for Mississippi State (4-5).
The lead was short-lived, however, as the Salukis (5-3) tied the game the next half inning on a Morgan Barchan RBI double, one of her two hits in the game, and a Bulldog fielding error.
Smith came through with another clutch hit in the bottom of the fifth to put State back ahead 4-2. Shelby Fisher sparked the frame with a double to the gap in left-center. Senior Ali Bainbridge followed with a base hit, and two batters later, Smith lined a shot to left field that plated pinch-runner Briana Bell and Bainbridge.
The Bulldogs were once again unable to hold the lead as Southern Illinois took advantage of three Mississippi State errors and a seven-run sixth inning to clinch the tournament title.
"We didn't help ourselves defensively. With Sam Lenahan sick and Brittany Bell getting hurt early in the game, we had to patch people in, and it ended up hurting us defensively," MSU head coach Jay Miller said. "You can't keep giving your opponent extra outs, and I thought we did that a lot today, especially in that sixth inning.
"We did a good job early of putting some runs on the board. Ka'ili had a pair of big hits, and it's nice to see her start swinging the bat again because we are going to need that," Miller added. "Ultimately, though, we let them have that big inning and it ended up hurting us."
A leadoff home run by tournament MVP Michelle Bradley in the decisive sixth brought Stephanie Becker into the game in relief of Vry, who surrendered three runs (two earned) and struck out four over five innings.
SIU touched Becker more runs in the frame to drop her record to 2-1 on the season.
Alex Peters held State to one hit over the final 2.1 innings to improve her record to 2-1. Brittney Lang drew the start, going 4.2 innings and allowing four runs on six hits.
The Bulldogs wrap a five-game homestand Wednesday, hosting in-state foe Southern Mississippi at 4 p.m. Admission to all Mississippi State home softball games is free.
Southern Illinois 9,
Mississippi State
4 (Feb 20, 2011 at Starkville,
Miss.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Southern Illinois... 000 027 0 - 9 10 1 (5-3)
Mississippi State... 000 220 0 - 4 7 3 (4-5)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pitchers: Southern Illinois - Brittney Lang; Alex Peters(5) and Cristina Trapani.
Mississippi State - Kylie Vry; Stephanie Becker(6); Shana Sherrod(7) and Kaili Smith.
Win-Alex Peters(2-1) Loss-Stephanie Becker(2-1) T-2:02 A-272
HR SIU - Taylor Orsburn; Michelle Bradley.
HR MS - Kaili Smith.
K. Vry faced 1 batter in the 6th.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Alex Peters (2-1)
L: Becker, Stephanie (2-1)
Batting:
2B: Morgan Barchan 1 ; Cristina Trapani 1 ; Allie Vadeboncouer 1
HR: Taylor Orsburn 1 ; Michelle Bradley 1
RBI: Morgan Barchan 1 ; Haley Gorman 1 ; Jayna Spivey 1 ; Taylor Orsburn 3 ; Michelle Bradley 1 ; Allie Vadeboncouer 1
SH: Natalee Weissinger 1 ; Kelsea Ashton 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Mallory Duran 1 ; Morgan Barchan 2 ; Haley Gorman 1 ; Jayna Spivey 1 ; Taylor Orsburn 1 ; Michelle Bradley 1 ; Sydney Shelton 1 ; Chelsea Held 1
HBP: Natalee Weissinger 1
Batting:
2B: Fisher, Shelby 1 ; Shape, Heidi 1
HR: Smith, Ka'ili 1
RBI: Smith, Ka'ili 4
Base Running:
RUNS: Bell, Briana 1 ; Bainbridge, Ali 1 ; Shape, Heidi 1 ; Smith, Ka'ili 1
HBP: Shape, Heidi 1
