Mississippi State
6-10
UAB
10-6
Bulldog Softball Wraps Road Swing with 8-0 Setback at UAB
March 01, 2011 | Softball
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Senior Chelsea Raines and freshman Heidi Shape each doubled as Mississippi State fell 8-0 in six innings to UAB Tuesday night in Birmingham.
Four miscues in the field hampered the Dawgs as they fell to 6-10 on the season heading home for this weekend's Bulldog Classic at the MSU Softball Field.
Senior Courtney Nesbit had Mississippi State's other hit off UAB starter Leigh Streetman, who improved to 3-2 as she struck out eight while hurling the complete-game shutout.
"We have to do a much better job offensively and defensively. The good thing is we finally get a chance to get back and do some practicing to tighten things up for this weekend," MSU head coach Jay Miller said. "We have to keep our heads up and keep fighting. Everyone has to pull together and keeps working. We've been hurt with some injuries, but we still have to go out and play and make things happen. That's the challenge ahead of us right now."
UAB struck with a two-out home run in the first inning off starter Kylie Vry, and the Bulldogs were never able to recover despite fighting valiantly.
Vry fell to 2-7 as she was struck for three runs (two earned) on four hits. She struck out three in four innings of work. Misty Flesher tossed the final 1.2 innings, allowing three earned runs (five total) on five hits while striking out two.
Trailing 1-0 in the second, Nesbit singled to reach base with the tying run, but was called out for leaving first base early. A strike out and ground out ended the inning.
The Blazers took advantage of a Mississippi State miscue to plate another run in the third and push the lead to 2-0.
Sallie Van Kirk opened the frame with a ground ball that was mishandled by Vry. Three batters later, Orr drove in her second run of the game with a base hit to right.
UAB added another run in the fourth as Kate Armstrong walked, took second on a sacrifice and scored on a Lauren Webster double. The Blazers went on to load the bases with a walk and base hit, but Vry avoided any further damage as she came up with a big strike out to end the inning.
The Bulldogs started to fight back in the top of the fifth. Heidi Shape doubled to left, and Chelsea Raines moved to her to third with a towering two-bagger of her own that landed just beyond the out-stretched glove of left fielder Catherine Douglass.
State was unable to get either runner across, however, as Streetman got a pair of outs to end the frame.
Errors again hurt the Bulldogs in the bottom of the fifth. With one out, Orr walked and Armstrong followed with a base hit that was misplayed by Shelby Fisher in right to allow the runners to advance into scoring position.
Mandy Lowman dropped a bunt down, and fielding error combined with a throwing mistake cleared the bases to put UAB in front 5-0.
The Blazers clinched the win with three more runs in the sixth
State returns home this weekend to wrap the pre-SEC slate by hosting Memphis, Mississippi Valley State and Texas A&M in the 11th Bulldog Classic. The Dawgs open play at 3 p.m. Friday against Memphis. Mississippi State challenges MVSU and the Aggies at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., respectively, on Saturday before wrapping the weekend with a rematch against the Tigers at 1 p.m. Sunday.
The Bulldogs open SEC action on Wednesday, March 9, taking on South Carolina in a doubleheader that gets underway at 4 p.m. A live audio stream for the twinbill, as well as all of MSU's SEC games, will be available on www.mstateathletics/m2mlive.
UAB 8, Mississippi State 0 (Mar 01, 2011 at Birmingham, Ala.)
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Mississippi State... 000 000 - 0 3 4 (6-10)
UAB................. 101 123 - 8 9 0 (10-6)
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Pitchers: Mississippi State - Kylie Vry; Misty Flesher(5) and Sam Lenahan. UAB -
STREETMAN, Leigh and LOWMAN, Mandy.
Win-STREETMAN, Leigh(3-2) Loss-Kylie Vry(2-7) T-1:46 A-461
HR UAB - ORR, Kayla (2).
Weather: 60 degrees and sunny
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: STREETMAN, Leigh (3-2)
L: Vry, Kylie (2-7)
Batting:
2B: Shape, Heidi 1 ; Raines, Chelsea 1
Batting:
2B: WEBSTER, Lauren 1
HR: ORR, Kayla 1
RBI: ORR, Kayla 2 ; ARMSTRONG, Kate 1 ; LOWMAN, Mandy 1 ; WEBSTER, Lauren 1
SH: LOWMAN, Mandy 1
Base Running:
RUNS: WALDEN, Caley 1 ; ORR, Kayla 3 ; ARMSTRONG, Kate 1 ; SMITH, Tiffany 1 ; VAN KIRK, Sallie 2
PO: ORR, Kayla 1
