Comeaux Turns In No-No As 'Dogs Blow Past Jacksonville, 8-0
May 25, 2016 | Softball
* Official Statistics
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TAMPA, Fla. ?€" Stephanie Comeaux turned in Mississippi State's eighth no-hitter all-time and the Bulldogs sent nine batters to the plate in a five-run third inning to break open an otherwise close game and punch their ticket to the championship final of the Best Western Invitational with a 8-0 mercy-rule killing of Jacksonville in the semifinals on Saturday evening at the USF Softball Field.
Less than 24 hours after launching a pair of home runs against the Dolphins (0-5) in round-robin pool play, Hayle Guess continued her devastation of Jacksonville, tallying a 3-for-3 hitting line with a pair of RBI to pace six Bulldogs (4-0) with base hits. Callye Williams and Michelle Kinney scored two runs apiece on 1-for-2 nights at the plate, with Courtney Bures (1-for-1, BB) and Nakita Boyce (1-for-2) both driving in a pair of runs.
MSU starter Stephanie Comeaux (2-0) pitched hitless ball for the first time in her career and highlighted her second consecutive shutout with four strikeouts. Katie Dobson (0-3) allowed five earned runs on four hits and a quintet of walks to saddle the loss for Jacksonville.
"It took us a little bit to get going, but I thought that we did a great job at the plate tonight," said Mississippi State head coach Jay Miller. "We got the hits when we needed them and then we finished them off. That is a good sign for us, especially heading into tomorrow's championship game."
Mississippi State threatened to score early by loading the bases with its first four at-bats in the bottom of the first, but Dobson nixed the threat by inducing Sammie Jo Bailey to ground out to third and slammed the door when she got Williams on a fly out to centerfield. Guess doubled to lead off the fourth, and was sacrificed to third by Boyce to set the table for Bures' sac fly to centerfield that gave the Maroon and White a 1-0 lead. Katie Johnson's sac fly with the third at-bat in the fourth plated the second run of the game for MSU to cushion the advantage, but the Bulldogs continued its hot hitting and plated four more runs with two outs showing on the rightfield scoreboard.
After Williams doubled to lead off the fifth, State got its next two batters aboard safely and, following a strikeout by Gina McCloud, Guess finished off the damage by lacing a seeing-eye single up the middle to invoke the mercy rule.
Mississippi State will complete its portion of play in the Best Western Invitational in Sunday's championship game at 12:30 p.m. EDT with an opponent still yet to be determined. Second-seeded Western Kentucky and third-seeded USF will engage in the second semifinal game on Sunday morning at 10:30 a.m. after the regularly scheduled game on Saturday evening was rained out.
