State Wins High-Scoring Series Opener In Rivalry

Friday, March 18

Starkville

6:00 PM

Mississippi State

17-10, 2-2

Ole Miss

21-5, 0-1

Ole Miss

Mississippi State

Photo by: Mississippi State Athletics

State Wins High-Scoring Series Opener In Rivalry

March 18, 2022 | Softball

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By: Brian Ogden, Associate Director/Communications

STARKVILLE – Mississippi State rallied for a come-from-behind victory over in-state rival Ole Miss on Friday night. The Bulldogs used a season-high-tying 13 hits to claim a 9-8 win in front of its largest home crowd of the season.

State (17-10, 2-2 SEC) made the most of Rebel errors, scoring four runs in the first and two more in the second to take a 6-1 lead through two innings. All of the Bulldogs' runs were unearned at that point. Ole Miss (21-5, 0-1 SEC) then scored seven unanswered runs to take an 8-6 lead into the bottom of the fourth.

From there, Kenley Hawk took control in the circle. She tossed 3.2 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit to give the Bulldog bats a chance to come back to life.

"I'm definitely excited about the way we came out," head coach Samantha Ricketts said. "I'm excited to see us have a comeback. We haven't had a come from behind win yet this season. It's been something that we have worked on in practice, and we emphasize how we are going to fight together and do it together. It was good to see that, and we know it's going to take that type of an effort for the rest of the series too."

MSU scored one in the bottom of the fourth when Madisyn Kennedy drove in her fourth run of the game after an earlier three-run homer. Riley Hull came through with a two-run single in the fifth that would stand as the game-winning play.

It was State's first comeback victory of the year and the Bulldogs highest scoring SEC game since a 10-2 victory against Missouri on April 28, 2019. Brylie St. Clair collected a career-high three hits for the third time this season. Chloe Malau'ulu also had a season-high three hits with a career-high-tying two doubles.

Quotables

Samantha Ricketts on Kenley Hawk…
"Kenley looked great out there. She really did what we needed her to do in a tough situation, get some ground balls, feed her defense and some big strikeouts in there as well. I loved the confidence out of her in her defense and in her pitches. It really helped settle things down. It was a dog fight for a while. They are a great team as well. It was an offensive battle."

Kenley Hawk on her outing in the circle…
"I think just taking how calm, cool and collected I was coming from the bullpen onto the field. Then I just focused on relaying the energy from the first inning on with the dugout while we're on offense and the defense creating something that's powerful within our team, because we all feed off of it. We all get pumped and play our game when it's like that, and so I think that's what worked best."

Riley Hull on her game-winning hit…
"That hit—I, honestly, pulled the heck out of it because there were runners on second and third. In my head, I was thinking right side just to get Brylie [St. Clair] in. It ended up working out. I think the ball was in the river – on the other side of the plate – so I just stuck my bat out there and somehow got lucky enough to get it over a head."

Riley Hull on the team's offense lately…
"We've been working really hard in the cages. We have really good game plans coming into the game, especially from [volunteer assistant coach] DJ [Sanders]. All she does is study other pitchers, so just coming in with the game plan, we knew what we wanted to do."

Quick Hitters

Kenley Hawk – Came on in relief in the fourth inning … threw 3.2 scoreless innings, allowing just two batters to reach base.

Riley Hull – Went 2-for-4 … drove in the game-winning run with a two-run single in the fifth.

Madisyn Kennedy – Hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the first … tied her career high with four RBIs.

Chloe Malau'ulu – Went 3-for-4 with a career-high-tying two doubles and an RBI … scored twice.

Brylie St. Clair – Went 3-for-4 … bunt single in the second broke an 0-for-12 slump over her last eight games … scored twice … made a catch over her head at the wall in the first inning.

Scoring Recap

Bottom 1
With one out, Mia Davidson was hit by a pitch. She was retired at second when Matalasi Faapito reached on a fielder's choice. Chloe Malau'ulu then singled through the right side to put runners on first and second. Allison Florian pinch ran for Faapito at second. Florian scored when Paige Cook reached on a throwing error by the second baseman. Madisyn Kennedy then hit a three-run homer.
Ole Miss 0, Mississippi State 4

Top 2
With one out, Sydney Gutierrez singled to right field. Following a strikeout, Angelina DeLeon singled to right field as well, but the ball got by the outfielder and rolled to the wall allowing Gutierrez to score from first.
Ole Miss 1, Mississippi State 4

Bottom 2
Brylie St. Clair beat out a bunt single to lead off the inning. With one out, Riley Hull singled down the third-base line. With two outs, Faapito hit a high pop up that the third baseman dropped, allowing St. Clair to score and Hull to reach third. Malau'ulu ripped a doubled into center field to score Hull from third.
Ole Miss 1, Mississippi State. 6

Top 3
Nyomi Jones and Tate Whitley led off with back-to-back singles. With two outs, Abbey Latham singled to left-center field and advanced on the throw. Jones scored, and Whitley advanced to third on the play. Whitley and Latham scored on a single from Gutierrez.
Ole Miss 4, Mississippi State 6

Top 4
DeLeon singled to open the inning. With one out, Jones singled on a bunt, and DeLeon advanced to second. Whitley singled up the middle to score DeLeon and advance Jones to second. Bre Roper then hit a three-run homer.
Ole Miss 8, Mississippi State 6

Bottom 4
With two outs, Malau'ulu doubled off the top of the wall. Cook singled to left field to advance Malau'ulu to third. Kennedy singled to the diving shortstop to score Malau'ulu.
Ole Miss 8, Mississippi State 7

Bottom 5
St. Clair led off with a single ahead of double from Shea Moreno. Hull singled home St. Clair and Moreno.
Ole Miss 8, Mississippi State 9

On Deck

The series continues at 4:30 p.m. CT on Saturday on the SEC Network. The Bulldogs and Rebels will conclude their series with a Sunday afternoon finale set for 12 p.m.

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