'Dogs Off To Record Start With 6-0 Win Over East Tennessee State
May 25, 2016 | Softball
* Official Statistics (PDF)
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Mississippi State sent its entire batting order to the plate in a five-run third inning to give sophomore righthander Ragan Blake more than enough run support and the Bulldogs completed a school-record start to the 2006 campaign with a 6-0 win over East Tennessee State that also helped the Maroon and White clinch its third-straight Bulldog Classic title.
Callye Williams drove in a trio of runs on a 2-for-3 outing at the plate, with rookie Sammie Jo Bailey scoring a run on a 2-for-3 performance for the Bulldogs (8-0) who established a program-best start to the season with the triumph. Katie Cooley walked and scored twice, while teammates Nakita Boyce and Courtney Bures both tallied RBI on 1-for-3 hitting lines. Briana Knight and Mary Catherine Verco each singled to pace the Bucs (1-5).
Blake (5-0), who turned in a career-best nine strikeouts in a win over previously undefeated Southern Illinois on Friday, outdid herself for the third consecutive appearance, this time recording 12 strikeouts over her fifth complete game outing of the campaign. On the heels of her fourth shutout, Blake stretched her scoreless streak out to 19 innings, scattering a pair of hits and walking just one. Courtney Jenkins took the loss for the Bucs after allowing six runs on seven hits and a pair of walks.
I thought Ragan went out and did what she has been doing for us all year, said Mississippi State head coach Jay Miller. She has, consistently, been giving us a chance to win games, but has shown dominance at the same time. We started off a bit slow, but our bats heated up in the third inning and that's really all we needed.
After a pair of scoreless frames, State used three consecutive two-out hits to plate a pair of runs in the third, then used a costly ETSU error to continue the scoring barrage with three more runs, including Williams' two-run single that capped off the spurt. Already possessing a comfortable lead, Cooley drew a one-out walk in the fifth and crossed the plate with an insurance run two batters later on Williams' run-scoring double.
Knight's seeing-eye single up the middle with one out in the fourth inning broke up Blake's bid for perfection and, two batters later, Verco moved the runner into scoring position with a dribbler of her own. Blake scoffed at the challenge, however, striking out the next batter, then retired nine of the next 10 Bucs to ice the victory.
