Mississippi State Drops Tight Series Opener At South Carolina

Friday, April 30

Columbia, S.C.

5:00 PM

Mississippi State

25-22, 1-15

South Carolina

25-20, 4-15

Mississippi State

South Carolina

Mississippi State Drops Tight Series Opener At South Carolina

April 30, 2021 | Softball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

By: Brian Ogden, Assistant Director/Communications

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Mississippi State rallied back. Trailing by four entering the seventh inning, the Bulldogs plated four runs to tie the game at South Carolina, but the Gamecocks won, 8-7, in walk-off fashion in the bottom half of the inning.

"We fought back," head coach Samantha Ricketts said. "They did what I asked them to do and won the freebie war, but we gave up 12 hits. It's hard to win a game when you do that."

The Bulldogs (25-22, 1-15 SEC) fell behind early, allowing two runs in the bottom of the first, but Montana Davidson provided an answer in the next frame with a two-run homer to tie the game. After South Carolina (25-20, 4-15 SEC) plated four runs on three hits and an error in the third, Davidson again answered with a solo shot in the top of the fourth.

Alyssa Loza came in in relief and held the Gamecocks scoreless for two innings before allowing a run on an infield single in the sixth. But the Bulldog offense came to life in the top of the seventh. State scored four runs on two hits, two errors and two walks to tie the game.

However, in the bottom of the inning, the first three Gamecocks reached safely as the winning run scored on a single to left field.

Quick Hitters

Montana Davidson – Went 2-for-4 with a pair of home runs … Posted her first career multi-homer game … Matched her career high with four RBIs (vs. Missouri, Apr. 28, 2019).

Chloe Malau'ulu – Went 2-for-5 … Drove in a run in the four-run seventh with a single.

Jackie McKenna – Singled and scored State's first run on Davidson's home run … Drove in a run in the four-run seventh by reaching on an error.

Carter Spexarth – Went 1-for-2 with a double and two walks … Drove in the tying run with a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning.

Scoring Recap

Bottom 1
Kenzi Maguire led off with a single then scored from first one Cayla Drotar's single to right-center field. Kassidy Krupit singled, allowing Drotar to reach third. Jordan Fabian hit a sacrifice fly to score Drotar.
Mississippi State 0, South Carolina 2

Top 2
Jackie McKenna beat out a single to the shortstop with one out. Montana Davidson homered to left field.
Mississippi State 2, South Carolina 2

Bottom 3
Mackenzie Boesel doubled to lead off the inning. Drotar drew a walk. Krupit singled to center to load the bases. Following a strikeout, Riley Blampied hit a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Boesel. The throw came to third, but a relay to second was wild and allowed Drotar to also score. Zoe Laneaux pinch hit and homered down the right field line.
Mississippi State 2, South Carolina 6

Top 4
Davidson hit a leadoff home run to left field.
Mississippi State 3, South Carolina 6

Bottom 6
Katie Prebble led off with a double to left field. She advanced to third on a groundout from Alyssa Kumiyama and scored on Maguire's infield single to the diving shortstop who had no play.
Mississippi State 3, South Carolina 7

Top 7
Paige Cook led off with a single into right field. Madisyn Kennedy then reached on a throwing error, allowing both runners to be safe. Addison Purvis drew a walk to load the bases, and Jackie McKenna reached on an error that allowed all the runners to be safe, scoring Cook. Christian Quinn pinch ran at second for Purvis. Davidson hit a groundball to the shortstop that retired McKenna at second, but she beat the throw to first as Kennedy scored. Chloe Malau'ulu singled through the left side to score Quinn and advance Davidson to second. Fa Leilua walked to reload the bases before Carter Spexarth hit a sacrifice fly to center field.
Mississippi State 7, South Carolina 7

Bottom 7
Blampied singled to right field. She was nearly retired at second on a ground ball to the pitcher from Chooch Carroll but was ruled safe. Prebble singled to right field to score Blampied.
Mississippi State 7, South Carolina 8

On Deck

The Bulldogs and Gamecocks continue the series on Saturday at 2 p.m. CT. The game will be televised nationally on SEC Network.

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