State Plagued By Unearned Runs As No. 4 Lady Vols Complete Sweep
May 25, 2016 | Softball
* Official Statistics
* Official Statistics (PDF)
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Tennessee used a pair of untimely fielding errors by Mississippi State to plate eight unearned runs and break an otherwise close game wide open to post an abbreviated 10-0 victory over the Bulldogs Sunday afternoon and complete a weekend sweep in Starkville.
Freshman Sammie Jo Bailey singled and walked to turn in a perfect 1-for-1 plate tally, while Blair Geddings doubled to highlight a 1-for-2 day for the Bulldogs (30-25, 4-19 SEC) who posted their 17th-straight loss with the result. Callye Williams singled once in two trips to the plate to provide the only other hit for the Maroon and White.
Tennessee (47-6, 18-6) got a 6-for-6 day from the first two hitters in its lineup, including leadoff hitter Sarah Fekete who raised her season average to .519 on a 4-for-4 day for the Lady Vols. India Chiles also tallied a perfect hitting line, scoring once on a 2-for-2 offensive showing.
MSU starter Stephanie Comeaux (14-9), who has been plagued by soreness in her throwing arm since hurling her last complete game on April 8, turned in her shortest start of the season and took the loss despite allowing just one earned run in one and one-thirds innings of action from the circle. Tennessee all-American southpaw Monica Abbott (34-5) matched a season-low with just three strikeouts in her 29th complete game of the campaign, but still posted her 20th shutout of the season after surrendering just three hits.
We are a little snakebitten right now, said Mississippi State head coach Jay Miller. Hayle (Guess) was right there underneath the ball and dropped it. That's just the way the last month has gone for us. The key now is, obviously, can we put this behind us and come out and play well against Ole Miss (on Wednesday)?
Tennessee used successive one-out hits to get a pair into scoring position in the second, then got a sacrifice fly from Shannon Doepking on the next at-bat to plate a run as well as put the second out on the leftfield scoreboard. UT loaded the bases with a walk and a single in its next two at-bats and, despite inheriting a 2-and-0 count, reliever Ragan Blake appeared to have gotten the ?€˜Dogs out of the inning.
Blake got pinch hitter Natalie Brock to float a ball to centerfield, but the ball hopped in and out of the glove of Guess at the warning track, allowing the bases to clear and the Orange to push their lead out to five. A two-run blast by Callahan on a 1-and-2 count moments later let the visitors take a 7-0 lead into the third.
Tennessee added a pair of insurance runs on an error and a pair of RBI singles in the third and scored their 10th run of the contest on a RBI single by Callahan in the fifth that provided the final.
Mississippi State will return to action on Wednesday when the Maroon and White close out its season series with cross-state nemesis Ole Miss (17-33, 4-19) in a 6 p.m. game at the MSU Softball Field. Admission to all 2006 MSU Softball home games is free.
