No. 22 State Trudges Past South Carolina In Extra Frames, 4-3
May 25, 2016 | Softball
* Official Statistics (PDF)
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Visiting South Carolina took its first lead of the game with an RBI triple in the top of the 10th inning, but 22nd-ranked Mississippi State utilized a costly error and a Callye Williams' RBI single in the bottom of the inning to squeak past the Gamecocks, 4-3, in the series opener Saturday afternoon at the MSU Softball Field.
Williams' run-scoring single keyed a 2-for-5 day at the plate, but she was joined on the highlight reel by Nakita Boyce and Courtney Bures (2-for-4) who both crossed the plate twice for the Bulldogs (26-7, 3-1 SEC). McKenna Hughes drove in a pair of runs, including the go-ahead score in the 10th, on a 3-for-5 day to pace the Gamecocks (21-11, 1-6) who dropped their third-straight in their series with the Maroon and White.
MSU reliever Ragan Blake (13-3) blew a save opportunity by surrendering a two-out RBI double in the seventh, but still picked up the win for the Bulldogs, striking out five and allowing just two hits. Starter Stephanie Comeaux scattered four hits and surrendered one earned run in six innings of work, but got the no decision. Melanie Henkes (5-1) saddled the loss for USC after allowing four runs on six hits and five walks.
Defensively, it was really sloppy, said Mississippi State head coach Jay Miller. We had a couple of fly balls go off the end of gloves and we didn't make the plays that we needed to be making. But, we were able to scratch across some runs when we needed them and got a big RBI from Callye in the 10th inning to win the ball game.
MSU drew a pair of one-out walks and successfully executed a double steal to get a pair of runners in position in the bottom of the first, then plated both runs a short time later when Katie Cooley's deep fly ball was misplayed by USC rightfielder Whitney Wierzbicki. USC, however, would utilize a clutch MSU fielding error, as well as a run-scoring double by Darcy Norem, to cut the deficit in half with a run of their own in the fifth.
Kristie Hutchins drew a full count walk to lead off the seventh and chase Comeaux from the circle but, despite having their next two hitters retired on Blake strikeouts, USC tied the score on Hughes' double to right centerfield that was nearly corralled by a diving Cooley at the warning track.
With the international tiebreaker enacted in the tenth, Carolina got a one-out triple from Hughes to take its first lead of the game, but the cushion was short-lived. MState used a dropped throw by USC first baseman Jacqueline Wetherbee to tie the game with its first at-bat in the bottom of the frame and used Williams' single up the middle to ice the victory.
