State Opens Series With Shutout Victory At No. 22 South Carolina

Friday, April 5

Columbia, S.C.

5:00 PM

Mississippi State

27-9, 7-6

#22 South Carolina

27-11, 3-7

Mississippi State

South Carolina

Photo by: Mississippi State Athletics

State Opens Series With Shutout Victory At No. 22 South Carolina

April 05, 2024 | Softball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Photo Gallery

By: Brian Ogden, Associate Director/Communications

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Josey Marron was locked in all night on her way to her third complete-game shutout of the year as No. 16/16 Mississippi State cruised to a 6-0 victory at No. 22/25 South Carolina.

Madisyn Kennedy opened the scoring with a solo homer in the first, and Salen Hawkins singled home a run with two outs in the second. State (27-9, 7-6 SEC) plated two more runs in the fifth on a Lexi Sosa pinch-hit single and scored twice in the sixth.

"I thought they really just did a great job all the way around. The goal was to go out there and score first, and I thought Madi did an excellent job in her plan," head coach Samantha Ricketts said. "Up and down the lineup a lot of people were contributing, finding ways on, being tough outs, picking up RBIs off the bench. Lexi's double was huge, and then Josey was really in control the whole game."

Marron at one point retired 13 straight Gamecocks (27-11, 3-7 SEC), and she allowed just three hits. The sophomore struck out seven total.

Jessie Blaine and Paige Cook also added RBIs in the contest, and Sierra Sacco and Nadia Barbary turned in multi-hit games. Barbary doubled twice, setting a career high and giving her a team-leading 14 this season.

Quotables

Samantha Ricketts on Josey Marron's performance in the circle…
"Josey really commanded all of her pitches well. She was spinning the ball in different zones and different speeds. Even when she got behind, she had no problem attacking right back, getting soft contact and feeding her infield. I thought it was a really complete game by her."

Josey Marron on her complete game and retiring 13 straight…
"We put runs on the board early and that kind of helped settle in on defense. Our defense is lockdown day-in and day-out, and I trust every single one of them. They will make any play when called upon."

Nadia Barbary on her day at the plate…
"I was just really trusting the plan. We did the plan the whole week, so when we went into the game, I knew what I was looking for and how to make adjustments during the at-bats. It worked."

Nadia Barbary on players driving in runs off the bench…
"That's just them coming in and doing their job. They saw the ball really well, put some good swings on it and allowed us to score some more runs."

Quick Hitters

Two Outs, So What? – The Bulldogs now have 105 two-out RBIs this season, which ranks fourth in program history (since 2002).

Nadia Barbary – Extended her hitting streak to a career-long six games … hit a career-high two doubles … now has 14 this year, which leads the team and ranks second in the SEC … leads the team with 13 multi-hit games this year.

Jessie Blaine – Recorded a season-high three hits and drove in a run … also walked to reach safely in every trip to the plate.

Salen Hawkins – Extended her hitting streak to a career-long six games … drove in her 14th two-out RBI of the year.

Madisyn Kennedy – Hit her SEC-leading 15th home run of the season … homer came with two outs, giving her 19 two-out RBIs this year as she attempts to become the seventh Bulldog with 20 two-out RBIs in a season … now has 60 career two-out RBIs … has hit 16 career homers in SEC play, which is tied for second in program history (since 2004) and trails only SEC-record-holder Mia Davidson (27) … added a single for her eighth multi-hit game of the season … was intentionally walked to load the bases twice … has reached in a career-best 23 straight games.

Josey Marron – Threw her fifth career complete-game shutout and third of the year … struck out seven … scattered three hits … at one point retired 13 straight hitters.

Sierra Sacco – Turned in her 11th multi-hit game of the season, which ranks second on the team.

Lexi Sosa – Drove in a pair of runs as a pinch hitter … recorded her second career multi-hit game and first since driving in four in a game in 2020.

Scoring Recap

Top 1
Madisyn Kennedy homered to left with two outs.
No. 16 Mississippi State 1, No. 22 South Carolina 0

Top 2
Jessie Blaine led off with a single over the shortstop's head. With one out, she moved to second on Kylee Edwards' ground out to third. Salen Hawkins singled through the left side to score Blaine.
No. 16 Mississippi State 2, No. 22 South Carolina 0

Top 5
Kennedy singled up the middle. Aquana Brownlee pinch hit and singled up the middle. Blaine also beat out an infield single to load the bases. With one out, Kat Wallace pinch ran for Brownlee at second, and Lexi Sosa came on to pinch hit. Sosa singled off the outfield wall, scoring Kennedy and Wallace.
No. 16 Mississippi State 4, No. 22 South Carolina 0

Top 6
Sacco led off with a single to short. Barbary doubled to right-center field, pushing Sacco to third. Kennedy was intentionally walked to load the bases. Paige Cook beat out a single to second base to score Sacco. Blaine nearly hit a grand slam to center, but settled for a single when it bounced off the top of the wall. Barbary scored on the play.
No. 16 Mississippi State 6, No. 22 South Carolina 0

Next Up

The series continues at Beckham Field on Saturday. The Bulldogs and Gamecocks can be seen on SEC Network at 1 p.m. CT.

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