Bulldog Softball Heads to Tuscaloosa for SEC/ACC Challenge
March 10, 2011 | Softball
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Mississippi State has won the Bulldog Classic championship and swept an SEC-opening series against South Carolina in the past week, and the Bulldog softball team looks to continue the success this weekend as it heads to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to meet Florida State and North Carolina in the Easton SEC/ACC Challenge.
State opens play in the University of Alabama-hosted event against FSU Friday at 3:30 p.m. The Dawgs face the Tar Heels and Seminoles at 11 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., respectively, on Saturday before wrapping the weekend against UNC at 11 a.m. on Sunday.
Head coach Jay Miller's squad enters the weekend 10-10 overall following the midweek sweep of the Gamecocks.
Mississippi State is 19-12 all-time against the ACC, including a 7-7 tally against the Seminoles and Tar Heels.
FSU holds a 6-5 series lead against MSU, but the Dawgs have won five of the last seven meetings. State leads North Carolina 2-1 as the two teams renew their series for the first time since 2007.
Senior Ali Bainbridge has sparked the Mississippi State offense. The Vestavia Hills, Ala., native leads the team with a .367 batting average, and her eight doubles this year rank one shy of the top spot among the SEC leaders.
Since moving to the leadoff spot on Feb. 23, Bainbridge has hit .371 and scored 10 of her team-best 19 runs.
Junior Ka'ili Smith continued her hot hitting on Wednesday, driving in the winning run in the opening game of the twinbill. Smith touts a .338 average this season, and she has added a double and two home runs to go along with 11 RBI and 13 runs scored.
Senior Courtney Nesbit paces State with a personal-best five home runs. The Acworth, Ga., native's 17 RBI stands one shy of the team lead held by fellow infielder and Georgia native Heidi Shape.
Sophomore Kylie Vry and junior Misty Flesher continued their recent success on Wednesday, picking up their second-straight wins in the circle. Vry, a Des Moines, Iowa, native, backed up a 12-strikeout performance against Texas A&M last Sunday with three K's in a one-run, three-hit effort against USC.
Wednesday's victory improved Vry's record to 4-7 on the season. She leads State with a 2.49 ERA and 49 strikeouts over 64.2 innings.
Flesher improved her record to 3-1 as she picked up the victory in game two. The Lone Grove, Okla., native tallied her team-best second save last Sunday against the 22nd-ranked Aggies, and she now has 30 strikeouts and a 4.46 ERA over 42.1 innings of work.
