State Drops Series Opener At No. 11 Tennessee

Friday, April 1

Knoxville, Tenn.

5:00 PM

Mississippi State

23-11, 4-3

#13 Tennessee

24-9, 6-3

Mississippi State

Tennessee

Photo by: Mississippi State Athletics

State Drops Series Opener At No. 11 Tennessee

April 01, 2022 | Softball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

By: Brian Ogden, Associate Director/Communications

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Mississippi State lost the series opener at No. 11 Tennessee on Friday night by a score of 9-1 in five innings.

The Bulldogs' (23-11, 4-3 SEC) lone run came on a solo homer from Matalasi Faapito, who later pitched in the contest. Chloe Malau'ulu had a double, and Mia Davidson singled but was thrown out trying to stretch it to second.

The game looked set up to be a pitchers' duel through three and a half innings. Tennessee (24-9, 6-3 SEC) had scored the game's only run to that point on an inside the park homer when the ball kicked away from the right fielder into the corner.

"I thought we started out well, but to beat a quality team like Tennessee, we have to be clean in all three phases," head coach Samantha Ricketts said. "It unraveled there for us in the fourth and fifth. We have to bounce back, clean it up, learn from our mistakes and be ready to compete and play a cleaner game tomorrow."

The Lady Vols used a six-run bottom of the fourth to take control of the ballgame and added a pair of runs in the fifth to end the game early. Tennessee tallied three doubles, a triple and three home runs in the game.

Quick Hitters

Lineup Log – Samantha Ricketts used her 26th different batting order through 34 games.

Paige Cook – Drew a walk and stole a base.

Mia Davidson – Went 1-for-2 on the day.

Matalasi Faapito – Continued her trend of homering in games she pitches … in her 12 pitching appearances, she has homered four times, including in three of the four games she's won.

Chloe Malau'ulu – Doubled in the top of the first … later drew a walk.

Scoring Recap

Bottom 2
With one out, Rylie West hit a blooper into right field that hung up in the sun and kicked off the outfielder's glove. The ball rolled up the line and into the corner as West raced home for an inside-the-park home run.
Mississippi State 0, Tennessee 1

Bottom 4
West and McKenna Gibson hit back-to-back doubles to open the frame, scoring West. Ivy Davis and Kelcy Leach then hit back-to-back homers to plate three more runs. Following a strikeout, Kiki Milloy drew a walk and stole second. She scored on a single from Lair Beautae. Beautae advanced to second on a single from Ashley Morgan. With two outs, West singled to center field to score Beautae.
Mississippi State 0, Tennessee 7

Top 5
Matalasi Faapito hit a leadoff home run to right field.
Mississippi State 1, Tennessee 7

Bottom 5
With one out, Leach singled up the middle. She scored on a two-out triple from Milloy. Milloy then scored on a walk-off single from Beautae.
Mississippi State 1, Tennessee 9

On Deck

The Bulldogs and Lady Vols will continue the series on Saturday at 1 p.m. CT with the game available on SEC Network+. The series finale on Sunday will be broadcast nationally on SEC Network at 11 a.m.

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