Series Opener Slips Away From State At Georgia

Friday, March 20

Athens, Ga.

5 p.m.

Mississippi State

28-5, 1-3

#15 Georgia

22-7, 2-2

Mississippi State

Georgia

Series Opener Slips Away From State At Georgia

March 20, 2026 | Softball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Postgame Notes

By: Brian Ogden, Director/Communications

ATHENS, Ga. – No. 11 Mississippi State took a three-run lead into the fifth, but three errors in the bottom of the inning allowed No. 15 Georgia to score six runs on its way to a 6-3 victory on Friday night.

State (28-5, 1-3 SEC) outhit Georgia (22-7, 2-2 SEC), 12-3, but MSU left 11 runners on base. Most of State's damage came with two outs, as the Bulldogs collected seven two-out singles and scored two of three runs with two outs already on the board.

"I mean, walks and errors – multiple of both in one inning – is never going be a good solution," head coach Samantha Ricketts said. "That's just not what our expectations are, and it just continued to snowball and we weren't able to find a way out of the inning with two outs. Against a good team like that, they're going take advantage when you put extra runners on base."

Defensively, Peja Goold got the start in the circle, throwing 5.0 innings. Of her six runs allowed only one was earned.

Morgan Stiles led the way at the plate, going 3-for-4 with two RBIs out of the leadoff spot. Georgia native Nadia Barbary along with Des Rivera both had a pair of hits including a double.

Quotables

Samantha Ricketts on her team's offense...
"I thought we looked more like ourselves in the box, but again, I think we let them the hook a couple times leaving runners on base. In this conference, every weekend's a battle, and we have to make sure that we're finding ways of driving runners in out there. We have them on base early in the game with no outs, and I thought we just left too many early on. Tthey came back to hurt us there at the end."

Quick Hitters

Two Outs, So What? – The Bulldogs collected seven two-out singles tonight … two of their three runs were scored with two outs.

Nadia Barbary – Hit her 41st career double, moving into a tie for eighth in program history … now has six this season, which is tied for second on the team … also drove in a run … now has nine multi-hit games this year.

Peja Goold – Retired the first eight hitters in order … struck out the side in the third … finished with seven strikeouts.

Abby Grace Richardson – Singled, walked and scored.

Des Rivera – Went 2-for-3 off the bench with a double and a run scored.

Tatum Silva – Singled, walked and scored.

Morgan Stiles – Went 3-for-4 for her 10th multi-hit game this season … has reached base in four straight games … finished with two RBIs for her fifth multi-RBI game of the year.

Scoring Recap

Top 2
With two outs, Tatum Silva and Abby Grace Richardson hit back-to-back singles. Silva scored from second on Morgan Stiles' single to center field, and Richardson advanced to second. Richardson scored on Nadia Barbary's single into left field.
No. 11 Mississippi State 2, No. 15 Georgia 0

Top 4
Des Rivera led off with a pinch hit double to right-center field. She advanced to third on a wild pitch. Silva walked and stole second base before Richardson walked to load the bases. Stiles singled up the middle to score Rivera.
No. 11 Mississippi State 3, No. 15 Georgia 0

Bottom 5
Gabi Novickas and Marisa Miller reached on consecutive walks to open the inning. Both were pinch ran for with Mollie Mitchell taking over at second and Natalie Donaldson running at first. Delani Sullivan grounded out to first to move the runners. Emily Digby hit a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Mitchell from third. Bailey Lindemuth reached on a throwing error by the catcher to put runners on first and third. Keirstin Roose reached on a fielding error by the third baseman, allowing Donaldson to score. Lindemuth and Roose both scored on Jaydyn Goodwin's triple to left-center field. Sarah Gordon then hit a two-run homer just inside the left field foul pole.
No. 11 Mississippi State 3, No. 15 Georgia 6

Next Up

The series continues on Saturday with a 1 p.m. CT first pitch from Jack Turner Stadium. The game will air on SEC Network+.

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