Mississippi State
6-7
Georgia State
6-8
Smith, Nesbit Homer as Dawgs Fall Twice at Phyllis Rafter Memorial
February 26, 2011 | Softball
WOODSTOCK, Ga. - Junior Ka'ili Smith went 5-for-7 at the plate, including a home run, and senior Courtney Nesbit hit her third home run of the weekend as the Mississippi State softball team fell 8-5 and 3-2 to Georgia State and Kennesaw State, respectively, Saturday afternoon at the Phyllis Rafter Memorial in Woodstock, Ga.
Smith homered and drove in two runs as she went 3-for-4 against Georgia State. The Kapolei, Hawaii, native tallied two hits in three at-bats in the nightcap as the Dawgs fell to 6-8 on the season.
"It was a good day for Ka'ili. She was one of the bright spots for us offensively," MSU head coach Jay Miller said. "She hit the bat really well and gave us some opportunities to win a couple of games.
"We're struggling a little bit offensively and not taking advantage of opportunities to score," Miller said. "We're real close, but we just can't get over that hump right now."
Nesbit's home run in Saturday's opener, her fifth of the season, came after she blasted two in a setback to Mercer on Friday. The Acworth, Ga., native drove in two runs and scored three times in the twinbill.
Game 1
GSU jumped out to a 1-0 lead following the top of the first, but State answered as Ali Bainbridge led off with a single and scored on Nesbit's home run.
Georgia State reclaimed the lead behind a three-run second that brought Misty Flesher to the circle in relief of Bulldog starter Stephanie Becker.
Flesher shut the Panthers' bats down in the middle three innings, and the Dawgs slowly chipped away to go ahead.
Flesher fell to 1-1 as she allowed three runs and struck out two in four innings. Becker was touched for four runs and four hits over two innings. Kylie Vry tossed the final inning, allowing a run while striking out one.
Mississippi State started the rally with a run in the third that cut the lead to 4-3. Nesbit drew a two-out walk, and Smith followed with a base hit. Raines brought Nesbit home as she fired a double to centerfield.
The Bulldogs went ahead 5-4 behind Smith's two-out, two-run home run to left. Nesbit scored on the play after reaching on an infield fly that was dropped by GSU third baseman Chelsea Sparks.
The Panthers tied the game in the sixth as Brenna Morrissey doubled, took third on a sacrifice and scored on an Emily Whitaker bunt.
Georgia State capped the victory in the seventh as Whitney Phillips led off with a walk and moved to third on a Lauren Jones double. Paige Nowacki scored the pair with a base hit before scoring herself on a ground ball to second.
The Bulldogs struggled to get clutch runs across, stranding 10 on base in the game.
"We are finding ways to lose games instead of finding ways to win. We had opportunities in both games, but we left 10 runners on in the first game and then gave up three runs in that last inning after tying it up," Miller said.
McCall Langford picked up her first win as she tossed 1.1 hitless innings.
Game 2
Against Kennesaw State, Mississippi State jumped on top early with a run in the second. With one out, Smith continued her hot streak at the plate with a base hit. She took second on a wild pitch and scored as Jessica Cooley punched a base hit down the line in right field.
Vry, who drew the start after finishing up game one, blanked the Owls' bats until the bottom of the third when Sharon Swanson hit a two-run home run to put KSU ahead 2-1.
Vry went the distance for State, falling to 2-5 on the year as she allowed three runs and six hits while striking out five.
"Kylie pitched well against Kennesaw State. They hit a couple of balls out and that was the difference in the game," Miller said. "It was nice to see Briana (Bell) swing the bat well. We'd like to get her healthy and back in the lineup regularly.
The Dawgs had a chance to tie or take the lead in the fourth, but State left the bases loaded. Courtney Nesbit opened the frame with a single. Smith followed with her second base hit of the game. A Raines fielder's choice put Courtney Nesbit out at third, but her sister Erin re-loaded the bases with a walk before a ground-out ended the threat.
Kennesaw State extended the lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the fourth as Brittany Moore hit a two-out, solo home run to left field.
Bell cut the KSU lead to 3-2 as she doubled home Jessica Cooley, who tallied two hits in the game, before being tagged out trying to stretch the extra-base hit into a triple.
Jessica Cross got Bainbridge to ground out to pick up the win. Cross went the full seven innings and improved to 5-1 as she was touched for two runs and six hits while striking out six.
State closes the weekend tournament on Sunday, taking on Purdue at 9:30 a.m. CT.
Georgia
State 8, Mississippi
State 5 (Feb 26, 2011 at Woodstock, Ga.)
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Georgia State....... 130 001 3 - 8 8 1 (6-8)
Mississippi State... 201 020 0 - 5 8 0 (6-7)
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Pitchers: Georgia State - Medlam, Kaitlyn; Collins, Erin(5); Langford, McCall(6) and
Stanton, Maddy. Mississippi State - Stephanie Becker; Misty Flesher(3); Kylie Vry(7) and
Win-Langford, McCall(1-3) Loss-Misty Flesher(1-1) T-1:59 A-184
HR MS - Courtney Nesbit; Kaili Smith.
M. Flesher faced 2
batters in the 7th.
Kennesaw State 3, Mississippi State 2 (Feb 26, 2011 at Woodstock, Ga.)
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Mississippi State... 010 000 1 - 2 6 1 (6-8)
Kennesaw State...... 002 100 X - 3 6 1 (8-4)
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Pitchers: Mississippi State - Kylie Vry and Sam Lenahan. Kennesaw State - CROSS,Jessica and
CHAPMAN, Morgan.
Win-CROSS,Jessica(5-1) Loss-Kylie Vry(2-5) T-1:30 A-195
HR KSU - SWANSON, Sharon; MOORE, Brittany.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Langford, McCall (1-3)
L: Flesher, Misty (1-1)
Batting:
2B: Jones, Lauren 1 ; Mason, Audrey 1 ; Morrissey, Brenna 1
RBI: Clifton, Jessica 1 ; Jones, Lauren 1 ; Nowacki, Paige 2 ; Mason, Audrey 1 ; Bess, Tiffany 1 ; Whitaker, Emily 1
SH: Bess, Tiffany 1 ; Stanton, Maddy 1 ; Whitaker, Emily 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Clifton, Jessica 1 ; Phillips, Whitney 3 ; Jones, Lauren 1 ; Nowacki, Paige 1 ; Morrissey, Brenna 1 ; Whitaker, Emily 1
SB: Phillips, Whitney 1 ; Whitaker, Emily 1
HBP: Phillips, Whitney 1 ; Mason, Audrey 1
Batting:
2B: Raines, Chelsea 1
HR: Nesbit, Courtney 1 ; Smith, Ka'ili 1
RBI: Nesbit, Courtney 2 ; Smith, Ka'ili 2 ; Raines, Chelsea 1
SH: Shape, Heidi 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Bainbridge, Ali 1 ; Nesbit, Courtney 3 ; Smith, Ka'ili 1
SB: Bainbridge, Ali 1 ; Lenahan, Sam 1
