Bulldog Softball Tops #23 Nebraska to Spilt Friday’s Mary Nutter Doubleheader

Thursday, February 22

Palm Springs, Calif.

3:00 PM

Mississippi State

9-2

#17 Arizona State

10-1

Arizona State

Mississippi State

Reggie Harrison's five-RBI night led Mississippi State to a run-rule victory over #23 Nebraska.

Bulldog Softball Tops #23 Nebraska to Spilt Friday’s Mary Nutter Doubleheader

February 23, 2018 | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 MSU vs. ASU Box Score MSU vs. ASU Box Score (PDF)MSU vs. Nebraska Box Score MSU vs. Nebraska Nox Score (PDF)

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. – After falling to No. 15 Arizona State, 3-1, to open Thursday action at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic, Mississippi State softball (10-2) bounced back with a 9-0 victory over No. 23 Nebraska in five innings.

Two unearned runs were the difference in MSU's opening game versus the Sun Devils (10-1) as senior right-hander Holly Ward went toe-to-toe with ASU's Giselle Juarez. State battled back against the Cornhuskers with help of senior Reggie Harrison's five RBIs

Arizona State led off the first game of the day with a fielding error and single up the middle to get two Sun Devils on board. Ward answered back with her first strikeout and fielding a ground out for the second. The Bulldogs looked like they would escape the inning unscathed but a double to center field scored two runs to put ASU on top 2-0.

Juarez gave the Bulldogs trouble at the plate early on, striking out nine of the first 10 batters she saw. Freshman Mia Davidson was the lone Bulldogs to reach base over that span, getting on board in the bottom of the first with help of an ASU fielding error.

Davidson's second at-bat of the game came in the top of the fourth as she knocked the Bulldogs first hit of the game, slugging her third homer of the season to left field to cut ASU's lead to 2-1.

Ward settled down in late innings, including a three-pitch sixth inning to retire the side, to take a one-run game into the seventh inning. Arizona State added an insurance run in the seventh with a walk and double to push its lead back to two runs.

Harrison led off the seventh with a walk to bring the tying run to the plate, but MSU was unable to bring across a run and fell to the 15^th-ranked Sun Devils, 3-1.

Tossing the complete game, Ward was tagged with the loss to fall to 4-2 on the season. She struck out six and allowed just one earned run off of two walks and five hits.

State and Nebraska traded two scoreless innings before MSU broke through in the top of the third. Senior Calyn Adams led off the inning with her first home run of the season to put the Dogs up 1-0. After singles from redshirt junior Bevia Robinson and Davidson, Harrison also launched her first homer of the season to give MSU a 4-0 lead.

The offense continued to roll in the top of the fourth as Adams picked up her second extra-base hit of the night with a one-out double. Robinson followed with a single to the pitcher to move Adams to third. Adams would come around and score on a passed ball to push the MSU lead to 5-0. After a Kat Moore double, Nebraska was able to make at out between third and home on Robinson to keep MSU from adding to its lead, but Harrison slugged a double to left to clear the bases an give State a 7-0 advantage.
The Bulldogs added two runs in the fifth off of back-to-back RBI singles from Moore and Davidson to give senior Cassady Knudsen a 9-0 advantage. Knudsen notched her third shutout of the season to improve to 4-0 with a shutdown seventh inning. She allowed just four hits and one walk while striking out seven.

ON DECK
MSU continues the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic Friday, Feb. 23 with its third contest versus a ranked opponent. The Bulldogs will take on No. 16 Oklahoma State at 3 p.m. CT.

2018 Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic Results

Thursday, Feb. 22
Game 1 – Arizona State def. Mississippi State, 3-1
Game 2 – Mississippi State def. No. 23 Nebraska, 9-0 (5 inn.)

Friday, Feb. 23
Game 3 – Mississippi State vs. No. 16 Oklahoma State – 3 p.m. CT

Saturday, Feb. 24
Game 4 – Mississippi State vs. San Jose State – 7 p.m. CT
Game 5 – Mississippi State vs. Cal State Fullerton – 9:30 p.m. CT

RBI REGGIE
Going 2-for4 with a home run and a double, Reggie Harrison drove home a career-high five RBI versus #23 Nebraska. She is the first Bulldog to plate five runs since Caroline Seitz did so on the road at Georgia on April 15, 2017.

STAYING ALIVE
After Thursday's doubleheader action versus ranked opponents, Mia Davidson has now recorded a hit in all 12 of MSU's contests to open the 2018 season. She leads the Bulldogs with 18 hits and a .474 average at the plate. After only recording one hit over opening weekend, Reggie Harrison has now extended her hit streak to nine consecutive games, raising her average to .324. Harrison has reached base in 20 consecutive games. Her streak dates back to April 29, 2017 at Auburn.

SHUTDOWN SENIOR
Cassady Knudsen has not allowed a run to score this season and has now tossed 23.2 consecutive scoreless innings. The steak ranks as the sixth longest in MSU history.

MISSISSIPPI QUEEN
Head coach Vann Stuedeman recorded her 213^th victory at the helm of Mississippi State softball. She is now just six wins shy from tying Kathy Arendsen (1997-2002) for the second-most wins in program history. Jay Miller (2003-2011) holds the program record with 295 victories.

WATCH LIVE
All five contests will be streamed via FloSoftball, which requires a paid subscription to stream.

LIVE STATS
Live stats can be found HERE or by visiting msu.statbroadcast.com. Links will be updated throughout the weekend.

FOLLOW THE DAWGS
For more on Mississippi State softball, follow the Bulldogs on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching for "HailStateSB." You can also find all-access coverage of the program on SnapChat by searching for "HailStateSnap".