Mississippi State
15-14, 5-2
Arkansas
9-20, 0-8
Raines' Walk-Off Hit Rallies Dawgs to 6-5 Win, Series Sweep of Arkansas
March 20, 2011 | Softball
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Senior Chelsea Raines' walk-off hit in the bottom of the seventh inning rallied the Mississippi State softball team to a 6-5 win and a Southeastern Conference series sweep of Arkansas Sunday afternoon at the MSU Softball Field.
The Bulldogs improved to 15-14 overall and 5-2 in SEC play as they swept Arkansas (9-20, 0-8 SEC) for the first time since 2005.
"It was a great effort from the whole ballclub. From the leadoff batter to the middle and bottom parts of the order, our team did a nice job of getting on base today," Mississippi State head coach Jay Miller said. "Ali Bainbridge had a big swing in the sixth. Chelsea Raines had been struggling here lately, but she came through with a big hit in the bottom of the seventh to win the game. It was a great team win for us today."
In front of a lively crowd and a regional television audience on Fox Sports Net, junior Ka'ili Smith opened the decisive seventh with a base hit up the middle. Senior Courtney Nesbit moved her to second with a ground ball to short, and Lenahan connected on her third hit of the day to put runners at the corners.
Lenahan took second on a wild pitch, and sophomore Shelby Fisher brought Raines to the plate as she drew a hard-earned base on balls to load the bases. The Ackerman, Miss., native hit a hard shot that deflected off Arkansas reliever Chelsea Cohen's glove and eventually settled between third and short, allowing Smith to touch home with the winning run.
"I came up to bat and was thinking about hitting something up the middle. I had been hitting under the ball lately. Coach Miller was telling me to stay on top, so that's what I did. I was just focusing on trying to get the job done," Raines said.
Raines' walk-off hit came after the Dawgs tied the game in the bottom of the sixth on a two-out, three-run home run by senior Ali Bainbridge.
Bainbridge, a Vestavia Hills, Ala., native, finished the afternoon 3-for-4 at the plate with three RBI and two runs scored. Freshman Sam Lenahan also went 3-for-4 as part of Mississippi State's 11-hit attack. The Lawrenceville, Ga., native notched her ninth double of the year and drove in a run.
"We did a great job hitting the ball hard. I was seeing the ball well, but I just had to sit back and see a strike and hit it hard somewhere," Bainbridge said. "I knew we were fighters and were going to come through. It just took being patient."
Fisher started the rally with a base hit to center, and she took second as Becca Carden mishandled the ball in the outfield.
Briana Bell walked two batters later, and after Chrissie Rovtar hit a fly ball to right for the second out, Bainbridge blasted a 1-1 offering, her third of the season, out left-center field to tie the game 5-5.
The Mississippi State rally dropped Cohen to 1-1 overall. She allowed two runs and four hits in an inning's relief of Arkansas starter Kim Jones. Jones was touched for four runs and seven hits over the opening 5.1 frames.
State's rally came after it found itself down 5-2 following the fourth inning. Arkansas took advantage of a Carden leadoff double in the first to take an early 1-0 lead.
The Bulldogs fought back, taking a 2-1 advantage in the third. With one out, Bainbridge singled. Freshman Heidi Shape followed with a ground ball back to the circle, but Bainbridge beat Jones' throw.
Smith drew a walk to load the bases, and Nesbit tied the game with a sacrifice fly to left that brought home Bainbridge. Lenahan gave State a 2-1 lead as she dropped a single down the line in right field that scored Shape.
The Razorbacks scored their final runs in the top of the fourth. Jayme Gee singled and Chloe Oprzedek reached on a Vry throwing error before Carden was intentionally walked with two outs to load the bases.
Pinch-hitter Amanda Caldwell gave the Razorbacks the lead as she lined a 3-1 offering from Vry over the wall in left-center.
Vry, who allowed five runs (one earned) and five hits over four innings, got a strikeout to avoid any further damage before giving way to junior Misty Flesher.
Flesher tossed three scoreless innings to claim her second win of the weekend and improve to 6-3 on the season. The Lone Grove, Okla., native held the Razorbacks scoreless for 7.2 innings over the final two games of the series.
The Dawgs enjoy four days off before opening a three-game league series at No. 21 Kentucky next weekend. The series gets underway at 5 p.m. CT on Friday, while the Saturday and Sunday meetings are both scheduled to being at 12 p.m. CT.
Audio streams for all three games will be available at www.mstateathletics.com/m2mlive.
Mississippi State 6, Arkansas
5 (Mar 20, 2011 at Starkville,
Miss.)
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Arkansas............ 100 400 0 - 5 8 1 (9-20, 0-8 SEC)
Mississippi State... 002 003 1 - 6 11 1 (15-14, 5-2 SEC)
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Pitchers: Arkansas - Kim Jones; Chelsea Cohen(6) and Jayme Gee. Mississippi State - Kylie Vry;
Misty Flesher(5) and Sam Lenahan.
Win-Misty Flesher(6-3) Loss-Chelsea Cohen(1-1) T-2:19 A-278
HR AR - Amanda Caldwell (1).
HR MS - Ali Bainbridge (3).
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Flesher, Misty (6-3)
L: Chelsea Cohen (1-1)
Batting:
2B: Becca Carden 1
HR: Amanda Caldwell 1
RBI: Amanda Caldwell 4 ; Jennifer Rambo 1
SH: Linnea Ketcher 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Becca Carden 2 ; Amanda Caldwell 1 ; Hope McLemore 1 ; Chloe Oprzedek 1
CS: Brittany Griffiths 1
Batting:
2B: Lenahan, Sam 1
HR: Bainbridge, Ali 1
RBI: Bainbridge, Ali 3 ; Nesbit, Courtney 1 ; Lenahan, Sam 1 ; Raines, Chelsea 1
SF: Nesbit, Courtney 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Bainbridge, Ali 2 ; Shape, Heidi 1 ; Smith, Ka'ili 1 ; Offutt, Jessica 1 ; Bell, Briana 1
