Softball Stumbles in Series Finale at No. 15/18 Kentucky

Sunday, March 17

Lexington, Ky.

11:00 AM

Mississippi State

19-8, 0

#15 Kentucky

20-7, 0

Mississippi State

Kentucky

Fa Leilua tied Mia Davidson and Georgia's Alyssa DiCarlo for the NCAA lead in home runs with her 14 bomb of the season.

Softball Stumbles in Series Finale at No. 15/18 Kentucky

March 17, 2019 | Softball

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by Taylor Shirey, Assistant Director/Communications

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Despite a strong SEC pitching debut by freshman Kayla Boseman, No. 15/18 Kentucky (20-7, 6-0 SEC) knocked off Mississippi State softball (19-8, 0-3 SEC) by a 4-1 final to secure the series sweep Sunday at John Cropp Stadium.

Boseman allowed a two-run first inning, but settle down to keep the Wildcats off the board until a two-run double by Katie Reed in the sixth extend the Kentucky lead to 4-0. Junior Fa Leilua led off the seventh inning with a solo home to break up the shutout, but the Bulldog rally fell short.

Tossing the complete game, Boseman was tagged with her first loss of the season, falling to 2-1. She gave up the four runs off four hits and three walks while striking out five. Kentucky's Autumn Humes (7-4) only allowed two Bulldog hits and a lone hit by pitch in the contest while fanning five.

Kentucky took advantage of a one-out walk in the first, bringing the run home off an Abbey Cheek double to right center. An Alex Martens single up the middle allowed Cheek to score to push the Wildcat lead to 2-0. The Wildcats extended their lead in the sixth inning with a two-run double by Reed.

Mississippi State's first hit of the game came in the top of the first with a bunt single by junior Candace Denis. MSU would not have another base runner until the fifth inning when senior Sarai Niu got on base with a two-out hit by pitch.

Leilua plated the lone Bulldog run of the game with a solo home run to left field in the seventh to cut the Kentucky lead to 4-1, but junior Humes retired the side with help of two strikeouts to snuff out the MSU comeback.

LIGHTNING STRIKES
With her second home run of the series, Fa Leilua tied teammate Mia Davidson and Georgia's Alyssa DiCarlo for the SEC and NCAA lead in home runs with 14 this season. Davidson and Leilua are now tied for fifth in MSU's single-season history. Davidson set the Bulldog single-season record as a freshman last season with 19.

KENTUCKY SERIES RESULTS
Friday, March 15
Game One –No. 15/18 Kentucky def. Mississippi State, 8-0 [5 inn.]

Saturday, March 16
Game Two – No. 15/18 Kentucky def. Mississippi State, 9-8

Sunday, March 17
Game Three – No. 15/18 Kentucky def. Mississippi State, 4-1

ON DECK
Mississippi State continues conference play next weekend with the first home series at Nusz Park when the Bulldogs welcome #20/16 Auburn to StarkVegas. The three-game series with the Tigers begins on Friday, March 22 at 6 p.m. CT. All three games of the series will be streamed on the SEC Network +.

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".