Softball Falls to Baylor to Open Lafayette Regional

Friday, May 15

Lafayette, La.

5:30 PM

Mississippi State

35-20

#18 Baylor

39-15

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Mississippi State	1	1	0	2	0	0	0	4	7	0
Baylor	3	0	3	2	0	0	X	8	10	2

Softball Falls to Baylor to Open Lafayette Regional

May 16, 2015 | Softball

Box Score

By: hailstate.com

STARKVILLE, Miss. – Despite a balanced offensive attack, Mississippi State was unable to open the Lafayette Regional of the 2015 NCAA Softball Tournament with a win over No. 18 Baylor.

The Bulldogs fell, 8-4, to the Bears in the opening game of the double-elimination regional round on Friday at Lamson Park.

With the loss, MSU dropped to 35-20 overall, while the win helped Baylor improve to 39-14 on the season. State is now 0-4 all-time against BU, having dropped a neutral site contest to the Bears in each of the past two seasons.

Making its fourth-straight NCAA Tournament appearance and its 12th in program history, all since 2000, MSU has now dropped its last six regional openers.

In the top of the first, State used a hit by pitch from senior Julia Echols, a double from sophomore Caroline Seitz and a walk from sophomore Mackenzie Toler to load the bases. With one out, sophomore Alexis Silkwood flied out to left field for a sacrifice fly to score Echols and put the Bulldogs ahead 1-0.

Baylor answered the MSU run with one of their own and then some to take a 3-1 lead after one off of four hits.

Just before the Bulldogs were to bat in the second, a heavy rainfall moved into the area, causing a two-hour and fifteen minute rain delay.

State came out of the delay swinging and once again loaded the bases, this time on a trio of base hits. With one out, sophomore Katie Anne Bailey hit a sharp grounder to third that scored junior Kayla Winkfield from third and brought the score to 3-2.

After having loaded the bases with no outs in the third, the Bears used a two-run single and a one-run single to extend their lead to four.

With Echols on first and two outs in the fourth, Seitz drove a pitch deep into the Lafayette night for a two-run homer to make it a 6-4 game.

Baylor answered with a two-out, two-run home run of their own in the home half of the inning to push their lead back to four, this time 8-4.

MSU put runners on base in the later innings, but was unable to cut into the lead any further before the game went final.

Silkwood (25-14) made her 33rd start of the season and suffered the loss as she surrendered eight runs on 10 hits and struck out four in 5.0 innings of work. For Baylor, Heather Stearns (19-11) lasted 5.0 innings and gave up four runs on six hits in the winning effort.

The Bulldogs will retake the field on Saturday for a 6 p.m. CT first pitch against the loser of the Louisiana-Lafayette/Weber State game that began after MSU's game on Friday. The loser of State's game on Saturday will be eliminated from the Lafayette Regional and the NCAA Tournament.

The game will air on ESPN, which can be seen exclusively through WatchESPN.com and the Watch ESPN app. Pam Ward and Cheri Kempf will call the entire regional, while the voice of Bulldog Softball, Anthony Craven also have the call on HailStatePLUS.

For more information on the MSU softball program, follow “HailStateSB” on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. You can also find all-access coverage of the Bulldogs on SnapChat by searching for “HailStateSnap.”

LAFAYETTE REGIONAL SCHEDULE (ALL TIMES CENTRAL)
Saturday, May 16
G3: 3:30 p.m. – Baylor vs. Winner Louisiana-Lafayette/Weber State (ESPN3)
G4: 6 p.m. – Mississippi State vs. Loser Louisiana-Lafayette/Weber State (ESPN)
G5: 8:30 p.m. – Winner Game 4 vs. Loser Game 3 (ESPN)

Sunday, May 17
G6: 6 p.m. – Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5 (ESPN2)
G7: 8:30 p.m. – (if necessary) Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6 (ESPNU)