State Homers Three Times To Secure Two Wins At The Snowman

Saturday, February 14

Starkville

12:30 p.m.

Mississippi State

8-0

Rutgers

5-4

Rutgers

Mississippi State

State Homers Three Times To Secure Two Wins At The Snowman

February 14, 2026 | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Game 1 Box Score (PDF)Game 2 Box Score (PDF)Postgame Notes Highlights vs. Rutgers Highlights vs. North Texas

By: Brian Ogden, Director/Communications

STARKVILLE – No. 19 Mississippi State defeated Rutgers and North Texas on Saturday with the help of three home runs to move to 9-0 on the season and 4-0 at The Snowman: Alex Wilcox Memorial presented by Newk's Eatery.

State's day began with a 7-2 victory over Rutgers (5-4) powered by a pair of homers from players off the bench. Abby Grace Richardson broke open a 2-2 tie in the sixth with a pinch-hit two-run homer before defensive replacement Kalani Sells launched a three-run shot later in the inning for her first career hit.

Against North Texas (2-6), the Bulldogs fell behind in the third but scored three unanswered runs to win, 3-1. Kiarra Sells tied the game with a solo homer in the third. Kinley Keller doubled in the fourth and came home on Morgan Stiles' ground out. Keller scored again in the sixth on Nadia Barbary's double.

"I thought we did a good job in two close games today, which it's good to see how we perform in those as well," head coach Samantha Ricketts said. "I thought we had really strong performances by our pitching staff. I think it was a quality start from Alyssa [Faircloth] in Game 1, and Peja [Goold] did a great job closing it out. Then, a great 7.0 innings from Leila [Ammon] in Game 2. She just really dominated and attacked the whole time. I love that. I think it allows the offense time to settle in a little bit."

Faircloth went 3.1 innings before handing the ball over to Goold. Goold collected her second win in relief, striking out eight batters in 3.2 innings. Ammon tossed her first complete game at MSU while posting a career-high-tying 10 strikeouts.

Quotables

Samantha Ricketts on the team's approach at the plate …
"We had big at-bats up and down the lineup from different people and then girls coming in off the bench ready to embrace their role. I think we saw mature approaches from Abby Grace Richardson and Taylor Troutman, who got us big pitch-hits there in the first game. The same thing, in Game 2. Nadia Barbary, after not really performing at her best in Game 1, came in big for us there. I think Morgan Stiles just continues to have quality at-bats. We were putting bunts down and doing the little things right. There's obviously some things in the middle we want to clean up to be able to score a little bit more often, but I don't feel like they have pressed, which is always a big part of this time of the year. Making sure that we play our game, we trust what we know how to do and just find different ways to win."

Samantha Ricketts on Kiarra Sells …
"[Kiara] is so good. She's just so talented, and she gets better and better every year. I think her confidence just continues to grow. We challenged her to really work on different sides of the plate, knowing where people are going to attack her as a senior. I think she's embraced it. She just doesn't get sped up. She knows that no matter the count, she's not out and that she can hit a lot of pitches really well."

Kiarra Sells on her home run …
"I was trying to keep it really simple in my plan, especially when I up to bat. I was kind of having fun with it and that was honestly it. We worked on a lot getting on top of the ball, so I was like, 'All right, I am going to trust in that and then do what I can.' It just worked really well for me today."

Quick Hitters

The Magic Number – MSU has scored five or more runs in 89 of State's 110 wins (80.9 percent) since 2023 … State is 159-20 when scoring five or more under Coach Ricketts … the Bulldogs have scored five or more runs in eight of nine games this season.

Leila Ammon – Threw her first complete game as a Bulldog … struck out a career-high-tying 10 batters … allowed only one run off one hit.

Nadia Barbary – Moved into ninth in MSU history with her 38th career double against North Texas.

Morgan Bernardini – Hit her second double of the weekend against Rutgers … scored the Bulldogs' first run of that game.

Anna Carder – Has hit safely in three consecutive games.

Peja Goold – Threw 3.2 innings against Rutgers with a season-high-tying eight strikeouts … now 4-0 this season with two wins in relief … struck out five straight batters at one point … now 25-2 when striking out at least five hitters since the start of last year.

Kinley Keller – Has recorded a hit in every game of The Snowman … scored two of the Bulldogs' three runs against North Texas … picked up her second career double.

Abby Grace Richardson – Hit her second career home run against Rutgers as a pinch hitter … two-run homer provided the winning run … recorded a career-high 10 putouts against North Texas.

Des Rivera – Reached base in every plate appearance versus Rutgers … recorded a season-high 12 putouts against Rutgers.

Kalani Sells – Hit a three-run homer against Rutgers for her first career hit.

Kiarra Sells – Opened up scoring for the Bulldogs against North Texas with her team-leading third home run … extended her on-base streak to season-long six games.

Morgan Stiles – Extended her on-base streak to a career-long 13 games dating back to last year with a walk against North Texas … saw her hitting streak end at a career-long 12 games against the Mean Green.

Scoring Recap vs. Rutgers

Bottom 2
With one out, Morgan Bernardini doubled to center field. She advanced on an infield single to second base by Des Rivera. Kinley Keller singled to left field, scoring Bernardini.
Rutgers 0, No. 19 Mississippi State 1

Top 3
With one out, Hailey Stripling drew a walk. Baileigh Burtis singled to right field, sending Stripling to third. Addie Osborne singled to center field to score Stripling.
Rutgers 1, No. 19 Mississippi State 1

Bottom 3
With one out, Kiarra Sells singled up the middle. Anna Carder singled down the left field line, and the outfielder mishandled the ball in the corner. Kiarra Sells rounded third, scoring on the error.
Rutgers 1, No. 19 Mississippi State 2

Top 4
Kassandra Gewecke homered on the first pitch of the inning.
Rutgers 2, No. 19 Mississippi State 2

Bottom 6
With one out, Des Rivera singled to left field. Abby Grace Richardson pinch hit and homered on the first pitch she saw. Taylor Troutman then pinch hit and singled to center field. Gabby Schaeffer reentered to run for Troutman. Morgan Stiles singled to right field before Kalani Sells hit a three-run homer to left center field with two outs.
Rutgers 2, No. 19 Mississippi State 7

Scoring Recap vs. North Texas

Top 3
Taylor Platt singled to left field, moving to second on a wild pitch. Platt then scored off consecutive ground outs by Sienna Mayer and Laiana Hull.
North Texas 1, No. 19 Mississippi State 0

Bottom 3
Kiarra Sells led off with a home run to left.
North Texas 1, No. 19 Mississippi State 1

Bottom 4
Kinley Keller hit a leadoff double to right field and was bunted to third by Gabby Schaeffer. Morgan Stiles' ground out allowed Keller to score.
North Texas 1, No. 19 Mississippi State 2

Bottom 6
Keller singled down the left field line to start the inning. A sacrifice bunt by Schaeffer advanced her to second. Barbary singled to right field, picking up an extra base on the throw as Keller scored.
North Texas 1, No. 19 Mississippi State 3

Next Up

The Snowman concludes on Sunday with Mississippi State hosting North Texas at 12:30 p.m. CT. The game will air on SEC Network+. The Bulldogs remain at home next week to host Memphis on Wednesday, Feb. 18 at 4 p.m.

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