Bulldogs Open NCAA Tournament With Victory Over Washington

Friday, May 16

Lubbock, Texas

7 p.m.

Mississippi State

38-17

Washington

34-18

Washington

Mississippi State

Bulldogs Open NCAA Tournament With Victory Over Washington

May 16, 2025 | Softball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Postgame Notes (PDF)Press Conference Photo Gallery

By: Brian Ogden, Associate Director/Communications

LUBBOCK, Texas – No. 18 Mississippi State opened its stay at the Lubbock Regional with a 6-3 victory over Washington to open the NCAA Tournament on Friday night.

State (38-17, 13-11 SEC) responded to a solo homer in the top of the first with a four-spot in the bottom half of the inning. Jessie Blaine doubled home one run, and Kylee Edwards doubled in a pair. Edwards then scored on Ella Wesolowski's infield single.

Washington (34-18, 12-9 Big Ten) added two more runs on solo homers in the second inning, but the Bulldogs responded with a two-run homer from Nadia Barbary in the bottom of the fourth.

"You know I like the way that we came out ready to compete, and I think the team was really excited to play and get back on the field," head coach Samantha Ricketts said. "It feels like we've been here for a week already. I think scoring four in the first just kind of settled in a little bit and gave Raelin [Chaffin] a little bit of cushion. I thought she did a really good job responding after those early runs too, settling in and competing the way that we know that we can and have been doing all year long. Nadia came up with us some big runs for us late in the game, but we know it's going to be a team effort. We're going to have to continue to pitch it well, have some timely hitting and play defensive behind our pitchers. That was a good start for us, and we are excited for our opportunity to continue to play in the winners bracket tomorrow."

In the circle, Raelin Chaffin tossed her 18th complete game to earn her SEC-leading 22nd victory. She struck out nine, which stands as the fifth-most in an NCAA Tournament game in program history. Wesolowski also highlighted the defensive side of the ball by catching her eighth runner stealing this season.

Barbary's homer tied the single-season school record as State's 73rd of the year. Sierra Sacco also collected her 26th multi-hit game of the year, which ranks sixth in program history.

Quotables

Raelin Chaffin on changing her game plan ...
"I think the way we were approaching their hitters changed a little bit just because maybe I wasn't having my best stuff, so we just had to go with what was working. Honestly, I had a little nerves too for the game – just being in a new place – but truthfully after the first few innings, we got more runs and that makes you feel like even better."

Nadia Barbary on the four-run first inning ...
"It was huge. It was our answer back to them. Just knowing like not to put any pressure on ourselves, so we know that we can come back and have Raelin's back or any of our pitchers' backs. It's just showing that we're here to play."

Samantha Ricketts on making adjustments…
"Washington did a good job with their game plan. They adjusted to what we were hitting in the first, and we kind of had to make some adjustments right back. I think that's the game within the game and being ready to change up the game plan at a moment's notice once we notice the pitch calling changing up against us. I thought we did good a good job. It's just constantly trying to learn and share information up-and-down the dugout as we get deeper in the game. For us, a big focus is the middle innings and finding ways to score there – not just early or late. I thought Nadia's home run was a huge answer back for us there. I thought we had a lot of good hits, particularly late in the game. It didn't really show up for runs for us, but some good pinch-hit at-bats, some good line drives that didn't fall for us, but that's what we're looking to do. We're just finding the wins in the quality at-bats because we know that's something you have to do in the postseason, especially when you're going up against really quality pitching like we're going to see tomorrow."

Quick Hitters

Call The Bomb Squad – Mississippi State tied the school record with its 73rd home run of the season … for the first time in program history, four different Bulldogs have double-digit home run totals … Samantha Ricketts has had a hand in all four 70-homer seasons in program history.

The Magic Number – The Bulldogs improved to 150-19 under Samantha Ricketts when scoring at least five runs … they have scored five or more runs in 80 of State's 100 wins over the past three years.

Nadia Barbary – Hit her 11th home run of the season, which is tied for the team lead … home run resulted in her 11th multi-RBI game, which is also tied for second on the team.

Jessie Blaine – Doubled home a run in the first.

Raelin Chaffin – Threw her 18th complete game of the year to earn her 22nd victory … leads the SEC in wins … struck out nine and is now just four strikeouts shy of becoming the fifth Bulldog to record 200 strikeouts in a season.

Kylee Edwards – Doubled in a pair of runs … now has 11 multi-RBI games this year, which is tied for second on the team … scored from second on an infield single.

Sierra Sacco – Recorded her team-leading 26th multi-hit game of the year, which is sixth in MSU single-season history.

Morgan Stiles – Collected her eighth multi-hit game of the year.

Ella Wesolowski – Extended her reached-base streak to a season-long five games with an RBI single in the first … caught her eighth runner stealing this year … has thrown out 47.0 percent of runners attempting to steal this year, which stands as the third-highest percentage by a Bulldog catcher with at least 10 attempts against.

Scoring Recap

Top 1
With one out, Alexis DeBoer hit a solo home run.
Washington 1, No. 18 Mississippi State 0

Bottom 1
Sierra Sacco led off with a single to second base. She was retired when Nadia Barbary reached on a fielder's choice to third. Morgan Stiles singled through the right side to put runners on first and second. Jessie Blaine doubled Barbary home, and Stiles advanced to third. Kylee Edwards then doubled down the left-field line, scoring both runners. With two outs, Ella Wesolowski beat out a single to shortstop, but Edwards never stopped running and scored from second on the play.
Washington 1, No. 18 Mississippi State 4

Top 2
Ava Carroll hit the first pitch of the inning out to center for a solo homer. With two outs, Sophi Mazzola also homered.
Washington 3, No. 18 Mississippi State 4

Bottom 4
Riley Hull singled to open the frame. Kiarra Sells bunted her to second, and she advanced to third on Sacco's deep fly out to center. Barbary hit a two-run homer.
Washington 3, No. 18 Mississippi State 6

Next Up

Mississippi State will meet No. 10 Texas Tech in the winner's bracket game on Saturday at 1 p.m. CT. It will be a rematch from Opening Day when the Bulldogs won, 3-1, in eight innings. All games of the NCAA Tournament are available on WatchESPN and the ESPN family of networks.

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