Bulldog Softball Falls 8-0 To No. 6 Tennessee

Friday, April 22

Knoxville, Tenn.

5:00 PM

Mississippi State

22-26, 8-13

#6 Tennessee

41-6, 17-4

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Mississippi State	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Tennessee	1	0	2	1	3	1	8	11	1

Bulldog Softball Falls 8-0 To No. 6 Tennessee

April 22, 2011 | Softball

Box Score

By: hailstate.com

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Ali Bainbridge reached base three times, but the Bulldogs were unable to figure out Tennessee starter Ivy Renfroe as the sixth-ranked Lady Vols defeated Mississippi State 8-0 Friday night in a Southeastern Conference softball game played at Lee Stadium in Knoxville.

Bainbridge drew a pair of walks and was hit by a pitch as the Bulldogs fell to 22-26 overall and 8-13 in SEC play.

Renfroe improved to 15-3 this season as she struck out five and didn't allow an MSU hit. The Lady Vols ran their record to 41-6 and 17-4 in the conference.

"It was a pretty poor performance overall today. We have to get a little more consistent in the circle. Stephanie threw pretty well, but I don't know if she'll have much left for Saturday," MSU head coach Jay Miller said. "We have to put some runs on the scoreboard. We've gone two-straight games without scoring a run, and we didn't get a hit today. I thought we took a lot of good pitches today and swung as some bad ones. We have to manage our at-bats better. This conference is tough. You're facing top-five teams every week, and if you let up, this is what happens. We have to bear down and come out strong tomorrow."

Despite the struggles at the plate, the Bulldogs had an opportunity to jump out to an early lead. Bainbridge opened the top of the first with a walk. Briana Bell moved her to second with a sacrifice bunt, but she was stranded there as a fly ball and strikeout ended the inning.

Tennessee took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the inning off Stephanie Becker, who was making her second-straight start. Raven Chavanne reached on a bunt single to begin the frame. After stealing second, she took third on a Lauren Gibson single and scored on a double steal.

Becker fell to 6-7 as she was saddled with the loss. The Aurora, Ill., native allowed four runs and six hits in four innings. She struck out two and walked a pair.

The Lady Vols extended the lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the third as Chavanne singled and Kelly Grieve hit a two-run home run to right field.

Becker was touched for another run in the fourth as Chavanne tripled to drive home Chelsea O'Conner, who singled to shortstop.

The Dawgs brought Misty Flesher to the circle for the fifth, and Lauren Gibson greeted her with a double. Shelby Burchell followed with a single, and Jessica Spigner put UT in front 7-0 with a three-run home run to left field.

Bainbridge opened the sixth with a walk, but she was thrown out at second on a Bell ground ball. Ka'ili Smith moved Bell to second on a ground ball that was mishandled by Renfroe, but the Dawgs had the scoring opportunity halted with an inning-ending double play.

Tennessee ended the game in the bottom half of the inning with a Burchell RBI double off MSU freshman Shana Sherrod.

Flesher surrendered three runs and four hits in an inning of work, while Sherrod allowed a run and a hit over the final 0.2 frames.

The Bulldogs and Lady Vols wrap their three-game series at 11 a.m. CT on Saturday. A free, live audio stream of the game will be available at www.mstateathletics.com/m2mlive.

Tennessee 8, Mississippi State 0 (Apr 22, 2011 at Knoxville, Tenn.)
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Mississippi State... 000 000 - 0 0 0 (22-26, 8-13 SEC)
Tennessee........... 102 131 - 8 11 1 (41-6, 17-4 SEC)
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Pitchers: Mississippi State - Stephanie Becker; Misty Flesher(5); Shana Sherrod(6) and
Sam Lenahan. Tennessee - Ivy Renfroe and Ashley Andrews.
Win-Ivy Renfroe(15-3) Loss-Stephanie Becker(6-7) T-2:02 A-1214
HR TN - Kelly Grieve (5); Jessica Spigner (12).