Season-High 17 Hits Lead No. 21 Bulldogs To Midweek Victory

Wednesday, March 5

Starkville

6 p.m.

Mississippi State

19-3

Louisiana

11-7

Louisiana

Mississippi State

Season-High 17 Hits Lead No. 21 Bulldogs To Midweek Victory

March 05, 2025 | Softball

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By: Brian Ogden, Associate Director/Communications

STARKVILLE – The Bulldogs got back on the right page.

No. 21 Mississippi State bounced back from a disappointing Sunday loss to close the Bulldog Invitational with a resounding 14-1 victory over Louisiana on Wednesday night. State collected a season-high 17 hits in the ballgame, and every starter had at least one.

"I was really happy with how we responded," head coach Samantha Ricketts said. "We knew Sunday that we didn't play our best ball. It's something that we are going to have to bring every day, and I think that's what mature teams do. I love the response. I think that we came out and played Mississippi State softball. It was being aggressive. It was attacking. It was being the ones that wanted to be here and wanted to have the most fun. I thought they did a great job. Raelin [Chaffin] again with a quality start setting the tone for us and same thing with Sierra [Sacco] at the top of the order. I love the energy that they came out with and the willingness to go out there and finish out the preseason strong for us and get on the right foot as we go into SEC play."

Sacco paced the offense with three hits, including her fifth home run of the year. Lexi Sosa and Ella Wesolowski also left the year, giving State its 10th multi-homer game of the season. Along with the home run hitters, Xiane Romero collected her first multi-RBI game of the season.

Chaffin was dealing once again, earning her 10th win of the year in her seventh complete-game outing. She struck out five and allowed just three hits. Chaffin is just the third SEC pitcher to collect 10 wins this season.

Quotables

Coach Ricketts on scoring four runs in the first inning...
"Always love scoring first, it's one of the little things that we focus on with some of our process points that we do – setting the tone, scoring first. I think it was four straight hits to start the game, and I thought those were quality at-bats from mature upperclassmen who knew we were wanting to set the tone early and weren't happy with how we swung the bat in the previous game. I thought they came in focused but were still able to play loose and have fun like we expected."

Raelin Chaffin on her 10th win of the season...
"I felt great. It's been really easy this season just working with Coach T [Taryne Mowatt-McKinney]. Honestly, I know I've pitched a lot of innings for right now, but I've never felt better. I feel really, really good out there."

Lexi Sosa on the team's mindset today after losing on Sunday...
"Honestly, Sunday wasn't fun, but we just got to put it in the past and keep moving forward. I think it taught us a lot on Sunday just about our game, and we came all together and just had some fun today and played Mississippi State softball. It started with Monday's practice and just coming back and getting to work and really focusing on making those adjustment in the box. It really paid off today."

Quick Hitters

Starting Fast – The Bulldogs have outscored opponents 32-8 in the first inning … 10 of their 34 home runs have come in the first.

The Bomb Squad – MSU has scored 68 runs off homers this year … that amounts to 42.2 percent of their scoring this season and 46.9 percent of their RBIs … MSU has hit at least three homers in five games over the last eight days.

Hit Parade – State totaled a season-high 17 hits … it was the Bulldogs' eighth game this season with 10 or more hits and MSU is 8-0 in such games … every starter had a base hit and six tallied multi-hit games.

Nadia Barbary – Extended her reached-base streak to a career-long 10 games.

Jessie Blaine – Went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored.

Raelin Chaffin – Earned her 10th win of the season in her 13th appearance and is the fastest Bulldog to that mark in a season since Alexis Silkwood won 10 games in 13 appearances in 2015 … tossed her seventh complete game of the year, which leads the SEC.

Riley Hull – Recorded her second multi-hit game this season … beat out a bunt single.

Xiane Romero – Recorded her first career multi-RBI game … picked up her first career extra-base hit with an RBI double.

Sierra Sacco – Extended her reached-base streak to 20 games … has reached base in all but one game this season … tied her season-long hitting streak at seven games with a leadoff single … hit her fifth home run this season … finished with three RBIs on three hits … leads the team with nine multi-hit and seven multi-RBI games.

Kiarra Sells – Hit her fourth double of the season and posted her third multi-hit game.

Lexi Sosa – Hit her team-leading seventh home run of the season … finished 2-for-2 with three RBIs for her third multi-hit and sixth multi-RBI game.

Ella Wesolowski – Hit her first home run of the season.

Scoring Recap

Bottom 1
Sierra Sacco singled to left field, and Nadia Barbary singled to center field. Kiarra Sells doubled to right field scoring Sacco, before Lexi Sosa hit a three-run home run to right-center.
Louisiana 0, No. 21 Mississippi State 4

Bottom 2
Riley Hull led off by beating out a single to the first baseman. Xiane Romero reached on a fielder's choice to the shortstop, but the throw to second was wild, allowing Hull to reach third. The throw back in from right field was also wild, scoring Hull and letting Romero take second. Sacco hit a two-run homer. Barbary walked, and Sosa singled to left field with one out. Barbary reached third on Kylee Edwards' fly out to right field. Morgan Bernardini singled to a diving shortstop, scoring Barbary. Jessie Blaine singled to left field, scoring Sosa. Xiane Romero singled to left, scoring Bernardini, but Blaine was thrown out at the plate to end the inning.
Louisiana 0, No. 21 Mississippi State 10

Top 3
Savannah White drew a leadoff walk and advanced to second on Maddie Hayden's singled over third base. Kayla Falterman reached first on a fielder's choice that saw Hayden retired at second while White advanced to third. Cecilia Vasquez singled, scoring White.
Louisiana 1, No. 21 Mississippi State 10

Bottom 3
With two outs, Sells singled up the middle before Ella Wesolowski hit a two-run homer to center field.
Louisiana 1, No. 21 Mississippi State 12

Bottom 4
Blaine singled through right side, and Abby Grace Richardson walked. Xiane Romero doubled to right field, scoring Blaine as Richardson was thrown out at the plate. Sacco hit a single up the middle, scoring Romero.
Louisiana 1, No. 21 Mississippi State 14

Next Up

Mississippi State remains in Starkville this weekend to host the No. 18/17 Auburn Tigers in its SEC opener. The three-game series is the week's spotlight series, beginning on Saturday and concluding with SEC Network's showcase broadcast on Monday night at 7 p.m. All three games will see evening first pitches with the opener beginning at 5 p.m. and Sunday's game starting at 5:30 p.m.

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

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Full Schedule

Team Stats

Pitching:

W: Chaffin, Raelin (10-1)

L: Bethaney Noble (2-3)

Louisiana

Batting:

RBI: Cecilia Vasquez 1

SH: Kayla Falterman 1 ; Mia Liscano 1

Base Running:

RUNS: Savannah White 1

Mississippi State

Batting:

2B: Sells, Kiarra 1 ; Romero, Xiane 1

HR: Sacco, Sierra 1 ; Sosa, Lexi 1 ; Wesolowski, Ella 1

RBI: Sacco, Sierra 3 ; Sells, Kiarra 1 ; Sosa, Lexi 3 ; Wesolowski, Ella 2 ; Bernardini, Morgan 1 ; Blaine, Jessie 1 ; Romero, Xiane 2

Base Running:

RUNS: Sacco, Sierra 2 ; Barbary, Nadia 2 ; Sells, Kiarra 2 ; Sosa, Lexi 2 ; Wesolowski, Ella 1 ; Bernardini, Morgan 1 ; Blaine, Jessie 1 ; Hull, Riley 1 ; Romero, Xiane 2