Offensive Outbursts Lead State To Pair Of Victories

Friday, February 14

Starkville

2 p.m.

Mississippi State

6-1

North Texas

5-2

North Texas

Mississippi State

Offensive Outbursts Lead State To Pair Of Victories

February 14, 2025 | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 North Texas Box Score (PDF)Bradley Box Score (PDF)Postgame Notes (PDF)Press Conference Photo Gallery

By: Brian Ogden, Associate Director/Communications

STARKVILLE – No. 19 Mississippi State ran its winning streak to six games with a pair of victories on Friday. The Bulldogs opened the day with a run-rule victory over North Texas before battling back for a come-from-behind, 5-3 victory against Bradley. State (7-1) scored 19 total runs in the two games with three homers after entering The Snowman: Alex Wilcox Memorial with just one long ball. Raelin Chaffin threw her third complete game of the season while winning her fifth consecutive appearance in Game 1. Josey Marron took the circle for Game 2 and came one out shy of a complete game. Delainey Everett stepped in for her first career save to close the contest. "It was good to get a bounce back outing from Josey [Marron]," head coach Samantha Ricketts said. "We knew we were going to go right back to her. She's earned our trust. She's earned that right. She's a great pitcher, and she's a big part of what we do. I think the sooner we can go back to her the better. Just because it's one off outing doesn't mean we're going to not go to her for the rest of the weekend. I thought it was a really good bounce back even after the three-run home run. She just continued to put zeros on the board for us and keep us in and give a chance to chip away and the defense making plays behind her. She's got really good stuff when she's moving it and attacking the zone. I thought she did a great job of not letting any illegal pitch calls or anything affect her either, so good bounce back from her and good to see just the maturity and her approach." Offensively, Lexi Sosa led the way against the Mean Green (5-2) with a career-high five RBIs including her first home run since 2020, a three-run walk-off blast off the foul pole. Paige Ernstes also hit her first career home run, launching the first pitch she saw as a pinch hitter over the wall for a three-run shot. Against Bradley (2-4), Kiarra Sell's first career home run was the difference, breaking a 3-3 tie in the fourth. <div class="inpage-header-m">Quotables</div> Samantha Ricketts on Kiara Sells' home run and her overall performance at the plate... "Kiarra is just locked in and she's swinging the bat. Jessie said it, I think before one of her at bats today, she just doesn't miss barrel. She's going to find a way to get a good piece every time she's up there, and again, it's just so satisfying to see that from a player like her who's put in her time. She's really good and worked hard her first two years, learning a lot, getting better and better. She went and played this summer for a little bit of experience and is getting to reap the rewards, and I think that she has shown that she's fully capable of hitting in the middle of our lineup, and she's already a consistent presence for us and a mature hitter that maybe didn't come in with a whole bunch of career at bats. Proud of her. Proud of the work she's doing to get here and for her to be able to see the success that she is. I think she's going to be a big part of us for this season moving forward." Kierra Sells on her home run... "I was just thinking to myself man, I'm going to sit back and I'm going to let her pitch the ball take as many as I can and then I'll be ready, so that's kind of my approach." Josey Marron on bouncing back from yesterday... "After yesterday, you know, short-term memory is huge. That's all Coach T [Taryne Mowatt-McKinney] was saying. The whole team, they were like, 'Hey we got you. We got your back. Leave it in the past. Today's a new day, so attack.'" <div class="inpage-header-m">Quick Hitters</div> Launching The Long Ball – State recorded its first multi-home run game of the season with a pair of three-run home runs against North Texas … the win over the Mean Green was State's first run-rule of the season and a season-high scoring output … State had two home runs on the year entering Friday and hit three today … all three homers were the players' first at MSU. Morgan Bernardini – Extended her career-long hitting streak to six games … batting .471 (8-for-17) during the streak with a double. Jessie Blaine – Collected her second multi-RBI game of the season on a two-run single against Bradley. Raelin Chaffin – Saw her season-long scoreless innings streak end at 17.1 innings … allowed her first earned run 25.0 innings into her MSU career, which is the longest stretch to open a Bulldog career since at least 2003 … extended her winning streak to a career-long five appearances … first Bulldog since at least 2003 to win each of her first five appearances in Maroon and White … recorded her third complete game of the season. Kylee Edwards – Brought home a run with a sacrifice fly against the Mean Green … stole her second base of the season. Paige Ernstes - Hit her first career home run on the first pitch she saw as a pinch hitter … drove in a career-high three runs against North Texas. Delainey Everett – Earned her first career save against Bradley … extended her scoreless innings streak to a career-long 11.0 innings, dating back to last year. Riley Hull – Stole three bases across two games … posted a career high with two swipes against Bradley … entered today's game with one stolen base each year dating back to 2023. Josey Marron – Earned her first win of 2025 against Bradley … turned a double play to end the fifth … three strikeouts away from 200 for her career. Sierra Sacco – Reached base in every trip to the plate against North Texas … tied her career high in walks (3) against North Texas and extended her hitting streak … batting .611 (11-for-18) during her current six-game hitting streak with four doubles and seven RBIs … leading the team batting .500 on the year. Kiarra Sells – Extended her career-long hitting streak to eight games with a hit in every game this year and is batting .421 (8-for-19) … slugged an RBI double against North Texas and recorded her first career multi-RBI game … followed that with her first career home run, a two-run shot for her second multi-RBI game of the day, against Bradley … has successfully advanced a runner in 12-of-16 (75.0 percent) opportunities this season. Lexi Sosa - Recorded her first multi-RBI (5) game of the season with a career-high five runs driven in … plated two on a single and hit a walk-off three-run home run … home run was her first as a Bulldog and first since 2020 while playing at UCLA. <div class="inpage-header-m">Scoring Recap vs. North Texas</div> Bottom 1 Sierra Sacco hit a leadoff single to right field and stole second. With one out, Kiarra Sells hit a double to left field, scoring Sacco. Jessie Blaine and Lexi Sosa walked to load the bases. Kylee Edwards popped up to second, and Sells scored. North Texas 0, No. 19 Mississippi State 2 Bottom 2 Riley Hull led off with a double followed by a Sacco walk. Nadia Barbary reached first on a fielding error by the second baseman, which loaded the bases. Sells walked to score Hull. Blaine hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Sacco. Lexi Sosa singled up the middle which allowed both Sells and Barbary to score. North Texas 0, No. 19 Mississippi State 6 Top 3 With one out, Riley McNemar, Tatum Sparks and Cierra Simon hit three consecutive singles, scoring McNemar. Kailyn Bearpaw reached on a fielder's choice to third base, but the throw across the diamond for the double play attempt sailed, allowing Simon to score on the throwing error. North Texas 2, No. 19 Mississippi State 6 Top 4 With one out, Rylee Nicholson hit a single. Following a second out, Madison Conley walked before McNemar singled to score Nicholson. McNemar advanced to second on a passed ball before Sparks singled, scoring both runners. North Texas 5, No. 19 Mississippi State 6 Bottom 4 With one out, Blaine and Sosa walked, and Grassel pinch ran for Blaine at second. Morgan Bernardini singled through the right side, scoring Grassel. Paige Ernstes pinch hit for Hull and homered on the first pitch she saw, scoring both Bernardini and Sosa. North Texas 5, No. 19 Mississippi State 10 Bottom 5 Sacco walked before advancing to second on a passed ball. Barbary singled, scoring Sacco. With one out Blaine walked, advancing Barbary to second. Sosa hit a walk-off three-run homer off the right field foul pole. North Texas 5, No. 19 Mississippi State 14 <div class="inpage-header-m">Scoring Recap vs. Bradley</div> Bottom 1 Sierra Sacco beat out an infield single to second base, and Nadia Barbary walked. Kiarra Sells lined out to right field, allowing Sacco to advance to third. Barbary then stole second. Jessie Blaine singled through the left side, scoring bother runners and advancing to second on the throw home. Bradley 0, No. 19 Mississippi State 2 Top 2 Bailey Sample walked before advancing to second on a wild pitch. With one out, Kierston McCoy hit a single out up the middle, advancing Sample to third. Ashley Breeding hit a three-run homer to center field. Bradley 3, No. 19 Mississippi State 2 Bottom 3 Blaine walked. Morgan Bernardini singles out to shortstop with Blaine advancing to second. Bernardini advances to second and Blaine advancing to third on a wild pitch. Riley Hull reached on a dropped fly by the shortstop, advancing Bernardini to third and Blaine scoring. Bradley 3, No. 19 Mississippi State 3 Bottom 4 Sacco walked before stealing second. Kiarra Sells homered to left field, scoring Sacco. Bradley 3, No. 19 Mississippi State 5 <div class="inpage-header-m">Next Up</div> Mississippi State will play just one game on Saturday. The Bulldogs and Bradley will play a rematch at 11:30 a.m. CT at Nusz Park. The game will be available on SEC Network+. For more information on the Bulldog softball program, follow on <a href="http://twitter.com/hailstatesb" title="http://twitter.com/hailstatesb">Twitter</a>, <a href="http://facebook.com/hailstatesb" title="http://facebook.com/hailstatesb">Facebook</a> and <a href="http://instagram.com/hailstatesb" title="http://instagram.com/hailstatesb">Instagram</a> by searching "HailStateSB."

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Next Event

Bradley

W, 12-3

Feb 15 (Sat)

11:30 a.m.

Box Score Recap Watch Preview Live stats Tickets History

Full Schedule

Team Stats

Pitching:

W: Chaffin, Raelin (5-0)

L: Anneca Anderson (3-2)

North Texas

Batting:

2B: Cierra Simon 1

RBI: Tatum Sparks 2 ; Cierra Simon 1 ; Riley McNemar 1

Base Running:

RUNS: Cierra Simon 1 ; Rylee Nicholson 1 ; Madison Conley 1 ; Riley McNemar 2

CS: Rylee Nicholson 1

Mississippi State

Batting:

2B: Sells, Kiarra 1 ; Hull, Riley 1

HR: Sosa, Lexi 1 ; Ernstes, Paige 1

RBI: Barbary, Nadia 1 ; Sells, Kiarra 2 ; Blaine, Jessie 1 ; Sosa, Lexi 5 ; Edwards, Kylee 1 ; Bernardini, Morgan 1 ; Ernstes, Paige 3

SF: Blaine, Jessie 1 ; Edwards, Kylee 1

Base Running:

RUNS: Sacco, Sierra 3 ; Barbary, Nadia 2 ; Sells, Kiarra 2 ; Blaine, Jessie 1 ; Grassel, Gretta 1 ; Sosa, Lexi 2 ; Bernardini, Morgan 1 ; Hull, Riley 1 ; Ernstes, Paige 1