State Scores Eight In Victory At Samford

Tuesday, April 13

Birmingham, Ala.

6:00 PM

Mississippi State

21-16

Samford

14-20

Mississippi State

Samford

State Scores Eight In Victory At Samford

April 13, 2021 | Softball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

By: Brian Ogden, Assistant Director/Communications

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – After falling behind by one run, Mississippi State's softball program rallied to score eight total runs on its way to an 8-5 victory at Samford on Tuesday night.

Samford (14-20, 4-5 SoCon) opened the scoring in the first, but Carter Spexarth and Jackie McKenna responded with solo home runs in the second to take the lead. MSU (21-16, 0-9 SEC) would never trail again in the game.

"I thought Carter and Jackie did a great job answering back and getting us right back in front in the second inning," head coach Samantha Ricketts. "Then Grace [Fagan] coming in and calming the situation down and keeping them off balance. I thought she did a good job mixing speeds and locations. Really good job from the bottom of the order, finding ways to get on base and getting down the bunts when we needed to. Montana [Davidson] getting a two-out RBI helped turned the lineup over and another good day for Carter in the four spot."

Grace Fagan came on to pitch in the second and went 5.0 innings, while striking out seven batters, which was a career high in a relief outing for the junior. She earned the win while allowing two runs.

McKenna was hit by a pitch and came home to score on a single from Montana Davidson in the fourth to extend the lead. Samford plated a pair in the sixth to pull within one.

State put together a big inning in the top of the seventh. MSU manufactured a run small-ball style using a hit-by-pitch, sacrifice bunt and advancing on a flyout to put a runner on third. Mia Davidson brought her home to extend the lead. Fa Leilua singled and Spexarth walked to load the bases before Paige Cook hit a bases-clearing triple.

Quotables

Samantha Ricketts on Paige Cook's triple:
"Paige's only hit is a bases-clearing triple. That's big time for some insurance runs there at the end. One thing she's really doing a lot better as she continues to go deeper in the season is learning from her at-bats. She's not letting her previous at-bats bring her down. She just continues to grind it out, something that Chloe [Malau'ulu] does a really good job for us in the leadoff. I thought she looked the same way and was able to continue to learn and know what she was going to get that fourth time she got to see that pitcher."

Samantha Ricketts on Grace Fagan's outing:
"I thought Grace looked really good coming in. She kept them off balance, mixing in all parts of zone, being able to go up, down, in, out and coming right back after any walks or hits she gave up. That really helped her extend it to get to [Alyssa] Loza to close it. We need all of them. It's a pitching staff. It's not just one or two arms. To get them some innings and build some confidence going into the weekend and SEC play is going to be big, because it's going to take all of us to continue moving forward."

Quick Hitters

Paige Cook – Drove in three with a base-loaded triple.

Grace Fagan – Threw 5.0 innings in relief with seven strikeouts … Strikeouts were a career high in a relief outing and one shy of her career high in a start (8).

Fa Leilua – Went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored … Tied for the team lead with 10 multi-hit games this year.

Jackie McKenna – Went 1-for-2 with a home run and two hit by pitches … Scored twice.

Carter Spexarth – Went 2-for-3 with her sixth home run of the season … Also walked and scored from first on Cook's triple … Tied for the team lead with 10 multi-hit games this year.

Scoring Recap

Bottom 1
Whitney Hinton drew a one-out walk. Ryan Brzozoski hit an RBI double to score Hinton from first.
Mississippi State 0, Samford 1

Top 2
Carter Spexarth hit a leadoff home run to left field. With one out, Jackie McKenna homered to left center.
Mississippi State 2, Samford 1

Top 3
Montana Davidson drove a ball off the pitcher then reached second when the pitcher threw the ball up the right field line to open the inning. With two outs, Fa Leilua singled into left field to push Montana Davidson to third, then got in a rundown between first and second. That created an opportunity for Montana Davidson to score, sliding around the tag, and Leilua advanced to second.
Mississippi State 3, Samford 1

Top 4
Paige Cook led off by reaching on an error. McKenna was then hit by a pitch. Madisyn Kennedy grounded into a fielder's choice that saw Cook thrown out at third. With two outs, Montana Davidson singled into right field, and McKenna scored from second. Kennedy was caught in a rundown on the play to end the inning.
Mississippi State 4, Samford 1

Bottom 6
Amanda Briskin led off with a single. With two outs, Jordan Moore walked, and the ball skipped away allowed Briskin to take third. Mekhi Mayfield walked to load the bases. Timberlyn Shurbutt singled home two runs.
Mississippi State 4, Samford 3

Top 7
Kiki Edwards pinch hit to lead off and was hit by a pitch. Brylie St. Clair re-entered to run at first and was bunted over to second. She took third on a flyout to center from Chloe Malau'ulu. Mia Davidson singled past the third baseman to score St. Clair. Fa Leilua singled to put runners on first and second. Aquana Brownlee pinch ran for Mia Davidson at second. Spexarth walked to load the bases. Cook tripled to score all three runners.
Mississippi State 8, Samford 3

Bottom 7
Brzozoski legged out an infield single. Back-to-back errors loaded the bases, and a wild throw on the second error allowed Brzozoski to score from second. O'Neal Roberson grounded out to short to plate a final run.
Mississippi State 8, Samford 5

On Deck

The Bulldogs return home to host in-state foe Southern Miss at 6 p.m. CT on Wednesday, April 14. The game will be nationally-televised on SEC Network.

Follow the Bulldogs

For more information on the Bulldog softball program, follow on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching "HailStateSB."