Sammie Jo Bailey Picks Up SEC Freshman Of The Week Laurels
May 25, 2016 | Softball
In three starts at third base against UK, the Lithonia, Ga., rookie turned in one of her best weekends of the year, registering a pair of RBI and four runs scored in helping Mississippi State (33-28, 7-22 SEC) snap a 20-game losing streak on a series sweep of the Wildcats. Bailey reached base safely in all three games, including a perfect 2-for-2 hitting line with a walk, a pair of RBI and two runs scored in a 6-4 comeback victory in the opener.
Sam had a huge weekend for us and gave us some big hits, said Mississippi State head coach Jay Miller. She has worked hard for us all year and this award is well-deserved as well as a good sign of things to come down the road for her.
Down 4-0 after two innings of play in Saturday's twinbill opener, Bailey was hit by pitch and later scored in a four-run, game-tying fifth inning, before icing the game with a monstrous two-run homer with one out in the seventh inning that provided the 6-4 final.
In Saturday's nightcap, the freshman went to work again, this time smashing Amy Kendall's first offering over the leftfield fence with one out in the fourth inning to provide the MSU pitching staff with all the offense it would need. State would later add an insurance run for the 2-0 final that clinched the weekend series.
Bailey would, again, provide a huge at-bat in the series finale, reaching base on a seven-pitch walk in the fourth and later scoring the game-tying run on Katie Cooley's double to the gap in rightfield. Her groundout to third in the eighth inning moved Lindsay Hunley to third, with UK righthander Jessica Trueblood's wild pitch moments later plating Hunley with the eventual game-winning run.
Bailey currently totes a team-best eight home runs, while ranking third on the team with 28 RBI. In 54 starts this season, the freshman has 15 extra-base hits and 23 runs scored, while holding down a .442 slugging percentage and a .300 on base percentage. She is also a perfect 2-for-2 on stolen base attempts in 2006.
Having turned in its 11th consecutive winning regular season, the Maroon and White kept alive its chances for a fifth-consecutive NCAA Regional berth. The squad will learn of its postseason fate on Sunday's NCAA Division I Softball Championship Selection Show. The program will air on ESPNews at 2:30 p.m. CDT.
