Softball Drops Extra-Inning Battle to No. 17/16 Ole Miss

Saturday, April 20

Starkville

1:00 PM

Mississippi State

27-19, 0

#17 Ole Miss (DH-2)

33-12, 0

Ole Miss

Mississippi State

Mia Davidson slugged her 23rd home run of the season to move into a tied for fourth in SEC single-season history.

Photo by: Trevor Birchett/MSU Athletics

Softball Drops Extra-Inning Battle to No. 17/16 Ole Miss

April 20, 2019 | Softball

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by Taylor Shirey, Assistant Director/Communications

STARKVILLE – A pitching duel between the Rebels' Brittany Finney and sophomore Emily Williams was decided in eight innings on Saturday at Nusz Park as Ole Miss (33-12, 11-6) secured a 3-1 victory over Mississippi State softball (27-19, 4-14 SEC) to claim the series on Senior Day.

Over her back-to-back starts against Ole Miss, Williams tossed a career-high 14.2 conesucitve shutout innings before allowing a three-run double in the eighth. Mississippi State brought the winning run to the plate in the bottom of the inning, but couldn't complete the comeback.

Williams allowed just four hits, two of which came in the eighth inning, and four walks over her eight innings of work. All three runs scored by Ole Miss were unearned. The right-hander struck out seven in the contest.

Mississippi State out-hit the Rebels in the contest with the Davidson sisters both picking up multiple hits in the contest. Redshirt sophomore Montana Davidson went knocked two singles, while sophomore Mia Davidson went 2-for-4 with a double and a home run.

The Rebels looked poised to get on the board early in the first after a lead-off walk, stolen base and a pass ball put a runner at third base, but Williams answered with back-to-back strikeouts to silence the scoring threat. A one-out error in the top of the second put another Rebel on base early, but the Bulldogs went around the horn with a 5-4-3 double play to retire the side.

Mississippi State had an early scoring chance in the bottom of the second with back-to-back singles to center from junior Candace Denis and Montana Davidson. Senior Sarai Niu just missed a home run, but the wind at Nusz Park kept the ball in play at the warning track while a strikeout ended the inning.

Finney and Williams traded seven scoreless innings, allowing just six hits combined between the pair to force extra innings in the rubber match. Ole Miss had a runner in scoring position in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings with Williams shutting down the scoring threat in all three opportunities.

Mikayla Allee led off the top of the eighth with a double just inside fair territory in left field. A pop up to second and ground ball to third recorded two quick outs and kept the runner stranded at second. A ground ball at third appeared to end the inning and keep Ole Miss off the board, but a Bulldog error on the play placed runners on the corners with no outs.

Finney and Williams went to battle against as Finney used a 14-pitch at bat to draw a walk to load the bases. Autumn Gillespie delivered the big hit of the inning with a bases-clearing double to left center to put the Rebels up, 3-0.

The top of the order made things interested in the bottom of the eighth after Mia Davidson sparked the dugout with a solo home run to right field to cut the lead to 3-1. Senior Kat Moore singled with a hot shot back to the pitcher before a fielding error at second base brought the tying run to the plate with two outs. Second baseman Jessica Puk redeemed herself with a ground ball out to retire the side for the series win.

QUOTING VANN STUEDEMAN
"We seemed to be able to hit up in the zone against (Brittany) Finney, so Ole Miss did a good job of switching up her game plan which kept us off balanced. We weren't able to get any real strong hits until late. We did put a couple early, but we're able to capitalized behind them. We hit two home runs, maybe three, that the wind held, so a different day, you never know. I thought it was a very well-played game on both sides."

THUNDER ROLLS TO ANOTHER RECORD
With her eighth inning home run against the Rebels, Mia Davidson moved one step closer to taking down two more records. The home run was her 23^rd of the season. She now stands tied with Georgia's Tina Iosefa (2016) for fourth in SEC single-season history. Georgia's Alex Hugo holds the SEC record, slugging 25 over the 2014 season.

Davidson now has 42 career home runs to her credit. She is now just two shy from tying and three from breaking Kellie Wilkerson's (1999-2002) program record.

With her home run, Davidson recorded her 55^th RBI of her senior season, breaking Caroline Seitz's (2015) sophomore RBI record.

THANK YOU, SENIORS!
Following Saturday's contest, Mississippi State honored its 2019 senior class of Bevia Robinson, Kat Moore, Emily Heimberger, Sarai Niu, Taylor Kelly and senior student manager Garrett Russell. The senior class has 127 wins, with two 30-wins seasons to their credit. The group has help Mississippi State to its first SEC Tournament win since 2005 and has advanced to two NCAA Regionals.

OLE MISS SERIES SCHEDULE
Friday, April 19
Game One - No. 17/16 Ole Miss def. Mississippi State, 21-0 [5 inn.]
Game Two -Mississippi State def. No. 17/16 Ole Miss, 6-0

Friday, April 20
No. 17/16 Ole Miss def. Mississippi State, 3-1 [8 inn.]

ON DECK
Mississippi State rounds out its home schedule at Nusz Park next weekend with a three-game series versus Missouri. The home finale begins on Friday, April 26 at 6 p.m. CT on the SEC Network +. Saturday and Sunday's contests against the Tigers will feature a national broadcast 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".

--HailState.com--