Bulldog Bats Come Alive In Run-Rule Victory

Friday, February 12

Starkville

5:30 PM

Mississippi State

2-0

Houston

1-1

Houston

Mississippi State

Bulldog Bats Come Alive In Run-Rule Victory

February 12, 2016 | Softball

Box Score

By: hailstate.com

STARKVILLE, Miss. – For the second consecutive night, the Mississippi State Softball team (2-0) used strong pitching and a balanced offense to claim victory, this time with a 9-1 win in six innings over Houston (1-1).

“It was a solid performance, the bottom of our lineup is performing really well,” head coach Vann Stuedeman said. “We were solid last night and were able to continue that tonight.

Sophomore Cassady Knudsen had a strong start to her fifth career start by striking out her first batter.

In the bottom of the second, freshman Sarai Niu struck a two-run homer to left for her first-career long ball, putting MSU up 2-0. Back-to-back singles from junior Katie Anne Bailey and freshman Emily Heimberger added more base runners for State. Senior Kayla Winkfield and sophomore Calyn Adams were able to score Bailey and Heimberger to extend the Bulldog lead to 4-0.

Stuedeman had more to be proud of as the Bulldog defense had a strong presence throughout the game, which was evident on an impressive stop from Heimberger to end the Houston campaign in the third.

The State batting order made another impact in the third as sophomore Morgan Bell hit a double to left field to plate a run. Bailey would follow with Bailey a two-run single that pushed her side's lead to 7-0.

Freshman Regan Green entered in the sixth and impressed in her collegiate debut as she collected two strikeouts in one inning of work.

With an 8-1 advantage in the sixth, junior Amanda Ivy singled to score Heimberger and push the margin to eight runs, which was all State needed to capture a 9-1 run-rule victory.

Knudsen (1-0) recorded the complete game victory and allowed just one unearned run on four hits with four strikeouts. Presley Bell (0-1) suffered the loss for the Cougars by allowing seven runs, four earned, on five hits in 2.1 innings of work.

The Bulldogs return to the field Saturday, Feb. 13 for a twin-billing against Tennessee Tech and Alabama A&M for the third day of the Bulldog Kickoff Classic. The action will commence at 2 p.m. CT from Nusz Park and admission is free for all regular season MSU home games. Both games can be seen on SEC Network+, exclusively through WatchESPN.com and the Watch ESPN app.

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.”