Bulldog Comeback Falls Short Against No. 20 UCF

Sunday, February 19

Clearwater, Fla.

7:00 PM

Mississippi State

6-4

UCF

5-5

Mississippi State

UCF

Bulldog Comeback Falls Short Against No. 20 UCF

February 19, 2023 | Softball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

By: Brian Ogden, Associate Director/Communications

CLEARWATER, Fla. – Mississippi State's final game of the TaxAct Clearwater Invitational ended with a tight, 6-5 loss to No. 20/20 UCF on Sunday night.

State (6-4) scored once in each of the first two innings, but UCF (5-5) answered. The Knights scored once in the first and four in the second to take a 5-2 lead with the hold of two errors. MSU would finish with four errors on the night.

"I thought it was a hard-fought game. I liked our response and how we continued to fight," head coach Samantha Ricketts said. "That's another quality opponent that's a Super Regional team [last year]. That's exactly where we want to be, and we've got to figure out a way to clean things up, finish the play, execute a little better, both offensively and defensively going into SEC play. It's early. We take these as lessons moving forward and with a renewed focus getting back after it next week."

State's response began with a two-run homer from Nadia Barbary, the first of her career. It came on the heels of Aquana Brownlee's first hit of the night. Brownlee would be joined by Jackie McKenna, who drove in two runs, in posting multi-hit games. Those three went a combined 5-for-8 with four RBIs out of the 7-9 slots in the order.

Brownlee would double in the sixth before being bunted over by Barbary. McKenna would drive her in to tie the game at five, but UCF led off the bottom half of the inning with a pinch-hit triple. The Knights scored the game-winning run with two outs in the sixth.

Quotables

Samantha Ricketts on the bottom three hitters in her order – Aquana Brownlee, Nadia Barbary and Jackie McKenna…
"They were doing exactly what they need to do, which is turning the lineup over and getting us back to the top. The top of the order had been hot for us all weekend. I really like the job they did answering back after a couple of bad at-bats or tough games. I just loved the response from them, particularly the freshman in Nadia getting a chance to step up and take advantage of her opportunity. You've got Jackie and Aquana just being veterans and knowing what they need to do in those situations. They really came through in the clutch for us, which is fun to watch."

Samantha Ricketts on her team's 21 extra-base hits this weekend, which trailed only No. 5 Oklahoma State in Clearwater…
"I think a big part of it is just making sure we're getting the right pitch and swinging within our plan, giving ourselves a chance to damage early in the count. It's something that I thought we did really well at times, but also kind of got away from in maybe the middle innings of the game. We're going to continue that focus on our approach. We've got good, solid, strong hitters, and we want to continue to give ourselves chances to drive the ball and score early and often for our pitchers."

Quick Hitters

Starting Strong – The Bulldogs' leadoff hitter reached base in 10-of-12 innings on Saturday between the Bulldogs' two games … MSU was 5-of-7 against UCF … Macy Graf has now reached base in 11-of-14 leadoff opportunities this season.

Taking The Extra Base – MSU collected 21 extra-base hits during its stay in Clearwater, which trailed only No. 5 Oklahoma State (28) during the tournament … the Bulldogs hit nine home runs at the Clearwater Invitational, which ranked third amongst the field behind No. 2 UCLA (14) and the Cowgirls (12).

Nadia Barbary – Hit her first career home run, a two-run shot that cut the UCF lead to one run in the fourth … also delivered a sacrifice bunt.

Aquana Brownlee – Went 2-for-3 with a double … finished the Clearwater Invitational with a .462 average (6-for-13) that was second on the team … slugged 1.000 this weekend with five RBIs, both of which were second on the team.

Paige Cook – Doubled and scored.

Macy Graf – Drew a walk to extend her reached-base streak to include every game of State's season … is the only Bulldog to reach base in all of MSU's games … batted .471 (8-of-17) while in Clearwater to lead MSU.

Kenley Hawk – Threw 5.0 innings in relief, allowing just one run … despite taking two losses in Clearwater, pitched to a 1.91 ERA over a team-high 11.0 innings.

Jackie McKenna – Went 2-for-3 with two RBIs … lined a ball into left field to bring home a run in the second … singled home the tying run in the sixth.

Brylie St. Clair – Singled and reached base on an error … batted .353 (6-for-17) while in Clearwater.

Scoring Recap

Top 1
Macy Graf drew a leadoff walk, and Brylie St. Clair singled into center field. Chloe Malau'ulu's ground out moved the runners to second and third. Matalasi Faapito also grounded out, but it was enough to score Graf from third.
Mississippi State 1, #20 UCF 0

Bottom 1
Micaela Macario reached on a fielding error by the third baseman. She then took second on a wild pitch and scored on Chloe Evans' two-out double down the right field line.
Mississippi State 1, #20 UCF 1

Top 2
Paige Cook hit a leadoff double over the right fielder's head. She scored on Jackie McKenna's line drive single over the third baseman's outstretched glove with two outs.
Mississippi State 2, #20 UCF 1

Bottom 2
Kennedy Searcy singled through the right side and stole second to open the inning. She scored on Jasmine Williams' single to center. Johneisha Rowe then singled to put runners on first and second. Olivia Elliott doubled to score both runners. She scored on Jada Cody's one-out single.
Mississippi State 2, #20 UCF 5

Top 4
Aquana Brownlee hit a leadoff single up the middle. Nadia Barbary then hit a two-run homer to left field for her first career long ball.
Mississippi State 4, #20 UCF 5

Top 6
Brownlee opened the inning with a double down the right field line. Barbary then laid down a sacrifice bunt to move her to third. McKenna singled through the right side to score Brownlee.
Mississippi State 5, #20 UCF 5

Bottom 6
Katie Burge pinch hit and led off the inning with a triple. With two outs, she scored on a single from Shannon Doherty into left-center field.
Mississippi State 5, #20 UCF 6

On Deck

Mississippi State heads to Mobile, Alabama, next weekend for the South Alabama Invitational. State will play Tulsa and South Alabama on Friday, Feb. 24. On Saturday, the Bulldogs match up with Louisiana Tech and Furman before closing the tournament with a rematch against Furman on Sunday.

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