Hawk Headlines Sweep Of In-State Rival Ole Miss

Sunday, March 20

Starkville

12:00 PM

Mississippi State

19-10, 4-2

Ole Miss

21-7, 0-3

Ole Miss

Mississippi State

Hawk Headlines Sweep Of In-State Rival Ole Miss

March 20, 2022 | Softball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Photo Gallery

By: Brian Ogden, Associate Director/Communications

STARKVILLE – Kenley Hawk was locked in. The junior threw 6.0 no-hit innings before giving up a single in the top of the seventh to help Mississippi State shut out Ole Miss for a series sweep with a 6-0 victory.

MSU (19-10, 4-2 SEC) earned its first sweep of the Rebels since the teams met in Starkville in 2013. That series saw a no-hitter in the final game as the Bulldogs claimed a run-rule victory. Hawk tried to repeat history on Sunday, but the offense couldn't quite end the game early for her this time around.

After six no-hit frames, she surrendered a walk and a base hit before getting a ground out to end her day in the seventh inning. Annie Willis came on to close the game and preserve the shutout.

"I'm really proud of this team," head coach Samantha Ricketts said. "I think they have really come together the last few weeks. We have done a good job of focusing on us and not worrying about who is on the other side of the field. It was a really good team win and all-around great pitching performances. The offense top to bottom showed up, and we had some big-time defensive plays behind to help us out."

Offensively, State started the scoring with small ball and finished it with the long ball. In the first, bunt singles from Paige Cook and Brylie St. Clair led to a run as Cook raced home. St. Clair drove in another run in the fourth, and Matalasi Faapito tacked on two more to make it a 4-0 game.

Cook returned to the plate in the fifth and hit a towering home run down the left-field line to cap the scoring. State went 5-for-11 (.455) with two outs and drove in three two-out RBIs. It was a consistent theme of the series as the Bulldogs scored 14 of their 22 runs in the series against Ole Miss (21-7, 0-3 SEC) with two outs.

Quotables

Samantha Ricketts on Kenley Hawk's improvement from her freshman year…
"I think number one is her confidence, she finally made that switch in her mindset, and her belief in herself and what she can do on the mound. The presence that she has out there is so fun to watch. With that comes more of an attack, she's throwing way more strikes than she did early on. She has done a great job of adding to her repertoire, not just being a drop ball pitcher but can go up in the zone. She can go curve, she can change speeds, she's hard to make a game plan for. She throws hard, she mixes locations, and she attacks the zone. "

Kenley Hawk on how she's changed as a pitcher…
"I felt really good. It felt like everything we've been working towards is finally coming together. It just felt good to have everybody behind me. If you would've seen me from freshman year to this year, it's a completely different kid. You would've never had any comparison. I think it's my mentality. A lot of it has to deal with understanding that it's you, not what you're asked to do. It's all about how you do it."

Paige Cook on how a pitcher's performance helps the offense…
"It's very well-needed. We need that to keep us up and keep us going, and usually when your energy is down it might die down a little bit. But when our energy is up, our pitchers are up, our defense is up and our batters are up as well. Overall, the whole team is ready to go."

Shea Moreno on the team's emphasis on defense…
"They [the coaches] stress it a lot, and we do too as a team. We've been working on holding each other accountable at practice and taking on that more mature aspect of the game and not being little girls about it. But our defense, we try to focus a lot about it during practice and making the right plays at the right time."

Quick Hitters

SEC Sweep – MSU swept Ole Miss for the first time since 2013, which was also in Starkville … Hawk came three outs away from a no-hitter that would have been the Bulldogs' first against an SEC team since the series finale against Ole Miss in that 2013 series.

Two Out Rally – MSU was 14-for-33 (.424) with two outs in the series and collected 12 two-out RBIs … State scored 14 of its 22 runs (63.6 percent) in the series with two outs.

Paige Cook – Bunted for a single for the game's first hit and came around to score on a bunt … also hit a two-run homer to go 2-for-3.

Matalasi Faapito – Brought in two runs for her second multi-RBI game of the series.

Kenley Hawk – Came three outs shy of a no-hitter before allowing a single … struck out three and walked two … threw 10.0 shutout innings in the series while earning two wins … held Ole Miss to a .067 batting average.

Chloe Malau'ulu – Went 2-for-3 today and was 7-for-11 (.636) in the series with two doubles and triples.

Shea Moreno – Went 2-for-3 and scored a run.

Brylie St. Clair – Was 2-for-3 with two RBIs … went 7-for-10 (.700) in the series with four RBIs and four runs scored.

Scoring Recap

Bottom 2
Paige Cook reached first with a bunt single down the first base line. Jackie McKenna advanced Paige Cook to third with a single up the middle. Brylie St. Clair drove in Cook on her own bunt single.
Ole Miss 0, Mississippi State 1

Bottom 4
With one out, McKenna reached second on a dropped infield pop up. Saleyna Daniel pinch ran at second. She scored with an acrobatic slide on a single up the middle from St Clair. Shea Moreno delivered a single that would advance St Clair to third. Mia Davidson was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Matalasi Faapito. Faapito singled up the middle to plate two more runs.
Ole Miss 0, Mississippi State 4

Bottom 5
Chloe Malau'ulu led off with a line-drive single over the shortstop's glove. Two pitches later, Cook sent a 1-0 pitch over the left field wall for a two-run homer.
Ole Miss 0, Mississippi State 6

On Deck

Mississippi State will travel to Memphis on Wednesday, March 23 to play the Tigers. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. CT on ESPN+.

Follow the Bulldogs

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