No. 22 Mississippi State Opens League Play At Arkansas
May 25, 2016 | Softball
The Bulldogs (21-6, 0-0 SEC) and Lady ?€˜Backs (12-11, 1-2) will meet one another for the 35th time in a Saturday afternoon series-opening doubleheader at 1 p.m. before closing out the set on Sunday with a single game that has also been slated for a 1 p.m. first pitch. MState has taken 21 of the previous 34 meetings with Arkansas, including a three-game series sweep of the Lady ?€˜Backs last season in Starkville. The Maroon and White own an 8-6 edge in Fayetteville, but UA has taken four of the last six at Lady ?€˜Back Yard.
The Maroon and White will make its season debut on the airwaves with WMSV 91.1 FM broadcasting all three games from the facility, with live in-game statistics provided via a link at the official Internet home for the Mississippi State athletic department, www.MStateAthletics.com.
We're in good shape going into SEC play, said Mississippi State head coach Jay Miller. We have played some quality competition and we've had some success. I think the kids are ready to go and ready to start conference play. I think we're confident and we are playing good ball right now. Hopefully that will carry over into the weekend.
Arkansas opened SEC play last weekend with relative success, dropping each half of its Saturday doubleheader at 12th-ranked Georgia, before salvaging its series with the Red and Black on the shoulders of a 1-0 upset win on Sunday. Riding the emotions of the victory however, Arkansas had its nine-game home winning streak snapped with a 7-6 setback to Oklahoma City on Thursday evening.
Sporting a .206 team batting clip, Arkansas is led at the plate by a pair of sub-.300 hitters in sophomore infielder Dayna Huckabee and senior catcher Shana Easley. The duo has combined for a .291 batting clip by themselves while accounting for nearly half of UA's RBI total. Huckabee currently boasts a team-best 13 RBI, while Easley paces the squad with three home runs.
From the circle, Arkansas boasts a staff of pitchers as good as anyone in the league. Senior Blaire Perry, who has maintained a team-high .304 batting average, also gets a bulk of the work from the circle where she has tallied a 4-4 clip and a staff-best 1.46 ERA. Sophomore Katy Henry is the workhorse for the squad from the circle, however, posting a 6-4 record and a 2.77 ERA while striking out 82 and walking just 12 in 60.2 innings of action.
