Misplays Sink Bulldogs In Shutout Loss To No. 5 Florida

Saturday, March 20

Starkville

2:00 PM

Mississippi State

15-10, 0-5

#5 Florida

20-2, 4-1

Florida

Mississippi State

Misplays Sink Bulldogs In Shutout Loss To No. 5 Florida

March 20, 2021 | Softball

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By: Brian Ogden, Assistant Director/Communications

STARKVILLE – For six innings, Mississippi State held No. 5 Florida to just a one-run lead, but in the seventh, the Gators erupted for nine runs on seven hits with help from two Bulldog errors.

The Bulldogs (15-10, 0-5 SEC) were held scoreless in a 10-0 defeat and finished the ballgame with five errors. Florida (20-2, 4-1 SEC) collected 13 hits in the contest.

"You never want to see that. Again, I think that's more part of the mentality and speeding yourselves up and less about the physical errors," head coach Samantha Ricketts said. "A lot of them came down to communication and really just trusting yourself and trusting your teammates around you to make the plays, and we did not do that very well today."

Alyssa Loza got the start and went 2.2 innings while allowing just one unearned run. Aspen Wesley came on in relief and tossed 2.0 innings of two-hit, shutout ball. Emily Williams worked through a scoreless fifth and sixth innings before being tagged for nine runs, eight of them earned, in the seventh.

"Our pitchers have done a great job. They've done exactly what we've asked of them over the last couple of weeks, giving us a chance even last night," Ricketts added. "A solo shot shouldn't kill us with our offense. We need to clean it up behind them so they're not having to make five outs an inning."

Offensively, MSU left six runners on base. Chloe Malau'ulu had a pair of singles, advancing as far as third base in the first inning. State had two on with no outs in the sixth, but a double-play ball erased the two lead runners and killed the rally.

Quotables

Samantha Ricketts on the SEC's All For Alex Campaign:
"It's such a special thing for us. That was the idea. The All For Alex day came from Beth Torina at LSU, and it was her way of helping us find a way to continue to honor Alex, as well as use the platform that Alex has built for awareness of ovarian cancer. That's something that's very close to Coach Torina's heart, and she knows now, partnered with us and Alex's name, our hope is that we're able to help the next young woman that comes along maybe catch ovarian cancer earlier. It's a silent disease, and so often the symptoms are ignored because they are so mild. So really, our biggest push right now is let's help the next one, and if using Alex's story and her name and her platform can prevent one more young lady from dying way too young, then we know it was worth it. That's been her goal. That's our goal now with her, and that's something that Alex's dad talks about as well. If we can use her story to save more young girls, then now we're going to make her fight worth it."

Samantha Ricketts on the team's offense:
"We've got to quit leaving runners on when we get them out there, especially in the middle part of our order. I think it's kind of been the story the past week, runners in scoring position with no outs a lot of the times, and we can't find a way to have a situational hit. It doesn't even need to be a hit, I'll take a sac fly, ground ball to second, things that we work on all the time. I think we need to do a better job at being disciplined to pick up some of these runs in situations. It really just comes down to executing better and staying within our game plan. I thought we did not do a very good job of that today. They're great pitchers, but I think we need to stay in our plan and be able to put some of those runs on the board, especially early on when we had the opportunities. Credit to them, they do a good job of attacking the zone, mixing locations and speeds, but we still believe we're a good-hitting team and we need to be able to trust that and attack that a little bit better."

Quick Hitters

Madisyn Kennedy – Had a career-high four putouts … Also singled and was hit by a pitch in three trips to the plate.

Fa Leilua – Now seven hits away from 200 for her career ... Leads the SEC with 23 walks.

Chloe Malau'ulu – Picked up her team-leading eighth multi-hit game of the year.

Aspen Wesley – Threw 2.0 shutout innings while allowing just two hits.

Scoring Recap

Top 1
Hannah Adams was hit by a pitch to lead off the game. Adams advanced to second when Kendyl Lindaman reached on an error by the third baseman. Avery Goelz singled to left field with two outs. The throw was cutoff, and the Bulldogs attempted to catch Lindaman returning to second. The throw to second escaped into right field, allowing Adams to score, Lindaman to take third and Avery Goelz to reach second.
Florida 1, Mississippi State 0

Top 7
Lindaman singled to left field to lead off before Charla Echols reached on an error that advanced Lindaman to second. Julia Cottrill laid down a bunt single, advancing Echols to second and Lindaman to third. Avery Goelz walked to bring home a run. Jaimie Hoover dropped down a bunt, and Echols beat the throw home while the other runners advanced one base. Bryn Thomas pinch hit for Kinsey Goelz and drove a ball into right field. The throw came to second base to try to retire Hoover on a force play at second, but the throw was off the mark. Avery Goelz and Cottrill scored and Hoover advanced to third on the throwing error. Thomas advanced to second. Thomas and Hoover then scored on a Cheyenne Lindsey single to right field. Hannah Adams and Lindaman hit back-to-back homers, resulting in the final score.
Florida 10, Mississippi State 0

On Deck

The series finale will be played at 11 a.m. CT on Saturday and air on SEC Network+.

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