Ward, No. 20 Bulldogs Blank Missouri, 4-0, to Open SEC Play

Saturday, March 17

Columbia, Mo.

4:00 PM

Mississippi State

24-4, 0

Missouri

17-13, 0

Mississippi State

Mizzou

Holly Ward tossed her fourth shutout of the season as the Bulldogs knocked off Missouri to open SEC play.

Ward, No. 20 Bulldogs Blank Missouri, 4-0, to Open SEC Play

March 16, 2018 | Softball

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COLUMBIA, Mo. – Senior Holly Ward stranded 11 Tigers to record her fourth shutout of the season as No. 20 Mississippi State opened Southeastern Conference play with a 4-0 victory over Missouri Friday night at Mizzou Stadium.

The Tigers got runners on in every inning, but Ward worked out of every jam to record the shutout victory. Over 7.0 innings, the right-hander allowed five hits, four walks and two hit by pitches, while striking out six.

At the plate, six Bulldogs recorded hits, led by junior Emily Heimberger's 2-for-2 night. Heimberher picked up an RBI and saved an extra-base hit with a diving snag in the top of the fourth with the Bulldogs just leading by a run.

After a scoreless first inning that saw both teams leave a runner stranded, Missouri led off the bottom of the second loading the bases with back-to-back singles and a walk. Redshirt junior Bevia Robinson recorded the first out fielding a ground ball for the force at home before Ward tallied the second out with a strikeout before fielding the comebacker to retire the side.

MSU answered in the top of the third with singles to the left side by Robinson Heimberger. Mizzou recorded the force out at second on a fielder's choice, but an error at second on senior Reggie Harrison's ground ball allowed Robinson to score to give MSU a 1-0 lead.

The Bulldogs would load the bases with one out after a single to right field from junior Sarai Niu, but Mizzou would record a force out at home on a bang-bang play before retiring the side with an unassisted play at third.

Ward worked around another jam in the bottom of the fourth after the Tigers got two aboard with one out with a couple singles. Ward's third strikeout of the night and another comebacker to the circle retired the side with no damage done.

The pitching duel continued in the top of the fifth as State loaded the bases with one out with help of two Mizzou errors and a Harrison walk, but a strikeout and fly ball to deep center field kept the Bulldogs off the board.

State plated an insurance runs in the top of the sixth. With one-out, senior Calyn Adams slugged MSU's first extra-base hit of the night with a double to center. A mental error by the Tigers on a fielder's choice put Bulldogs on the corners before Heimberger singled to right to drive in a run. Davidson extended MSU's lead to 3-0 with a sacrifice fly to left.

With two outs in the top of the seventh, State loaded the bases once more with a single by senior Morgan Bell, a double off the bat of junior Kat Moore and a walk issued to Adams. A wild pitch sailed to the back stop to allow pinch runner sophomore Maddie Dorsett to score and give the Bulldogs a 4-0 lead.

Missouri got two Tigers on in the top of the seventh with a walk and one-out hit by pitch, but Ward forced a groundout to second and a struck out her sixth batter of the night to retire the side. Ward stranded 11 Tigers over her fourth shutout of the season.

ON DECK
Mississippi State will go for its first SEC opening weekend win since 2011 with game two versus the Tigers on Saturday, March 17 at 4:00 p.m. CT. Saturday's game will be television nationally on the SEC Network.

OPENING SUCCESS
For the second consecutive season, Mississippi State has earned a victory in its first game of SEC play. The Bulldogs knocked off No. 6 Texas A&M, 5-2, in College Station to kick off the 2017 SEC conference season. The victory was also the first shutout in conference play for the Bulldogs since topping No. 24 Arkansas, 3-0, in April 22, 2017. It is also Mississippi State's first shutout to open the conference slate since the 2006 season when the Bulldogs opened conference play with a 5-0 win at Arkansas.

LET'S GO STREAKING
With its win over Missouri, Mississippi State extended its win streak to 12 consecutive games, which is tied for the fifth-longest winning streak in program history. Mississippi State has strung together a12-game win streak on one previous occasion, which ran from April 10 – May 4, 2012.

WARD UP
With tonight's shutout, Holly Ward moved into a tie with Alicia Judd (1997-1998) for sixth all-time in program history with nine career shutouts. Ward now struck out 276 batters and is just now 11 away from surpassing Kylie Vry (2010-13) for seventh in school history.

WATCH LIVE
The final two games of the series will be nationally televised on the SEC Network with Trey Bender and Carol Bruggeman on the call.

Game Two: Mississippi State at Missouri (SEC Network)
Game Three: Mississippi State at Missouri (SEC Network)

LIVE STATS
Missouri will provide live stats for all three games of the weekend series, which can be accessed in the link below.

Mississippi State at Missouri Live Stats

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".