Mississippi State
22-24
Mississippi Valley State
22-20
Lenahan, Flesher Power Dawgs To 9-1 Win Against Devilettes
April 19, 2011 | Softball
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Freshman Sam Lenahan had two hits and three RBI, and junior Misty Flesher tossed three innings of two-hit relief as the Mississippi State softball team powered its way to a 9-1 win in six innings against Mississippi Valley State Tuesday afternoon at the MSU Softball Field.
Lenahan hit her 12th double of the season as part of State's 13-hit attack. Senior Ali Bainbridge went 2-for-2 and matched Lenahan with her 12th two-bagger of the season.
Senior Courtney Nesbit and freshman Heidi Shape had two hits apiece, and Nesbit and senior Chelsea Raines each drove in two runs.
Freshman Briana Bell hit her second home run of the season in the fourth inning.
Flesher picked up her seventh win of the season as she scattered two hits over three innings in relief of Bulldog starter Kylie Vry. Vry allowed a run and five hits during the opening three frames.
"We did a good job of making adjustments at the plate, and we ended up putting some hits together in the fifth and sixth innings," MSU head coach Jay Miller said. "Misty threw a great game in relief. Kylie struggled a little early, and Misty came in and did a great job shutting them down the rest of the way."
Mississippi State (22-24) jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Bainbridge walked and took second on a Jessica Cooley single to right field. Ka'ili Smith moved the pair with a sacrifice bunt, and Bainbridge came home on Nesbit's single to left.
MVSU (22-20) scored the tying run in the top of the third, but the Bulldogs answered right back with the winning run in the home half of the frame.
Bainbridge was once again the catalyst, opening the inning with a single. Cooley sacrificed her to second, and Smith and Nesbit reached on a walk and error, respectively, to load the bases. Lenahan gave the Dawgs the lead back with a ground ball to second that plated Bainbridge.
Bell put the Bulldogs up 3-1 as she took the first pitch from MVSU starter Kim Spivey over the left-field wall for a two-out, solo home run.
Spivey fell to 14-12 as she was touched for the nine MSU runs and 13 hits in the complete-game effort. She struck out six and walked three.
With Flesher cruising in the circle, her offense gave her some additional support with three runs in the bottom of the fifth.
Smith singled and stole second to open the inning. She took third on a Nesbit base hit. Lenahan then cleared the bases with a double to the wall in center field. After Shape reached on a bunt single, Raines gave the Bulldogs a 6-1 advantage with a groundout to second base.
Another three-run burst by Mississippi State in the bottom of the sixth wrapped the victory. Bainbridge was hit by a pitch to reach with the leadoff run for the third time in the game. Chrissie Rovtar ran for her and took second on pinch-hitter Rachael Zdeb's first career hit, a single to right field.
Nesbit scored Rovtar with a sacrifice fly to deep left field. After Lenahan singled up the middle, Shape followed with an RBI base hit of her own that put the Dawgs up 8-1. Raines ended the game as her bouncer found its way into center field, allowing Lenahan cross home with State's final run.
The Bulldogs, who improved to 17-4 at home this season, head to Knoxville this weekend for a three-game Southeastern Conference series against No. 4 Tennessee. The two teams open play Thursday at 6 p.m. CT. Friday's game is set for a 5 p.m. first pitch, while Saturday's series finale is set for an 11 a.m. first pitch.
The first two games of the series will be televised live on SportSouth. A free, live audio stream for all three games will be available at www.mstateathletics.com/m2mlive.
Mississippi State 9, Miss. Valley
State 1 (Apr 19, 2011 at Starkville, Miss.)
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Miss. Valley State.. 001 000 - 1 7 2 (22-20)
Mississippi State... 101 133 - 9 13 1 (22-24)
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Pitchers: Miss. Valley State - SPIVEY,Kimberly and BURR,Nicole. Mississippi State - Kylie Vry;
Misty Flesher(4) and Sam Lenahan.
Win-Misty Flesher(7-5) Loss-SPIVEY,Kimberly(14-12) T-1:53 A-153
HR MS - Briana Bell.
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, 68, Wind gusty
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Flesher, Misty (7-5)
L: SPIVEY,Kim (14-12)
Batting:
RBI: ROBERTSON,A. 1
Base Running:
RUNS: HARRIS,R. 1
Batting:
2B: Bainbridge, Ali 1 ; Lenahan, Sam 1
HR: Bell, Briana 1
RBI: Nesbit, Courtney 2 ; Lenahan, Sam 3 ; Shape, Heidi 1 ; Raines, Chelsea 2 ; Bell, Briana 1
SH: Cooley, Jessica 1 ; Smith, Ka'ili 1
SF: Nesbit, Courtney 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Bainbridge, Ali 2 ; Rovtar, Chrissie 1 ; Smith, Ka'ili 1 ; Zdeb, Rachael 1 ; Nesbit, Courtney 1 ; Lenahan, Sam 2 ; Bell, Briana 1
SB: Bainbridge, Ali 1 ; Smith, Ka'ili 1
HBP: Bainbridge, Ali 1
