Georgia Finishes Off Weekend Sweep Of Mississippi State, 8-2
May 25, 2016 | Softball
* Official Statistics
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ATHENS, Ga. - Katie Cooley's two-run blast with one out in the top of the fourth inning helped visiting and 25th-ranked Mississippi State come back from an early 2-0 deficit, but 10th-ranked Georgia responded with runs in each of the next three innings to finish off a weekend sweep of the visiting Maroon and White on an 8-2 victory in the series finale Sunday afternoon at the Georgia Softball Stadium.
Junior Katie Johnson singled twice in three trips to the plate, with Cooley highlighting a 1-for-3 day with her fourth homer of the season for Mississippi State (30-15, 4-8 SEC) who recorded their seventh-straight loss with the setback. Megan McAllister, who inflicted most of the damage in a doubleheader sweep of MState on Saturday, drove in four runs on a 3-for-4 outing for Georgia (38-9, 18-3) who ran their series winning streak out to nine with the victory.
MSU starter Stephanie Comeaux (14-6) tumbled to her third consecutive loss after allowing six earned runs on seven hits and a trio of walks in five innings of work from the circle. Katie Griffith (9-1) offset eight strikeouts by allowing seven MSU base knocks, but still recorded the win after allowing just a pair of earned runs.
This was probably the worst pitching weekend we have had all year, said Mississippi State head coach Jay Miller. We didn't hit the ball very well either, but I thought we did a lot better job at the plate today than we did yesterday. We still need to get a little bit more production though. Defensively, we played well in two of the games, but just fell apart in the second game (Saturday). We have got some work to do in terms of getting back in the race a little bit and give ourselves an opportunity come tournament time.
Georgia wasted little time in lighting up the leftfield scoreboard when leadoff hitter Kellie Middleton smacked Comeaux's first offering of the day down the leftfield line and over the seven-foot outfield fence for the early 1-0 advantage. Three batters later, the Red and Black would push their advantage out to a pair when McAllister singled in Courtney Knight all the way from second base.
After the Maroon and White left a runner stranded in position in the third, Courtney Bures' gave the ?€˜Dogs new life with a one-out double in the fourth moments before Cooley worked her magic with a no-doubter over the wall in left centerfield that tied the score at two apiece.
Georgia retook the lead on an RBI single by Allison Horne in the fourth and added a pair of insurance runs in the fifth on RBI knocks by Knight and McAllister. The hosts would ice the game in the following inning, using another RBI single by Knight and a two-run, bases loaded single by McAllister to provide the final.
Mississippi State will return to action on Tuesday evening when the Bulldogs head to Oxford to resume its disjoined three-game set with Ole Miss (14-28, 2-14 SEC). First pitch has been set for 6 p.m. at the Ole Miss Softball Complex and the game has been slated to be broadcast live on WMSV 91.1 FM with Stephen Cole handling all the balls and strikes and Todd Anderson providing color commentary.
