Massey, 'Dogs Blank Georgia Tech To Complete Twinbill Sweep
Official Game 2 Statistics
Whitehead Takes Game One, 7-4; Wilkerson Shatters NCAA Single Season Saves Record STARKVILLE, Miss. -- The Mississippi State softball team (30-21) sent seven batters to the plate in a three-run fourth inning, then rode the shoulders of a pitching gem from starter Melissa Massey, to complete a doubleheader sweep of visiting Georgia Tech (39-15) with a 3-0 victory Thursday evening at the Mississippi State Softball Field. Jennifer Waterman plated an RBI on a perfect 2-for-2 day at the plate, but it was Blaire Brown's (1-for-3, RBI, R) RBI double off the wall in the fourth that broke open a scoreless deadlock. Krystal Tillman completed a phenomenal day at the plate, plating an RBI on a 1-for-4 tally that extended her hitting streak to six games. Tara Neff and Katie Donovan both turned in 1-for-2 tallies for the Yellow Jackets. Mississippi State starter Melissa Massey (5-10) scattered four hits and struck out three in six and one-thirds innings to nab the victory for the Bulldogs. Kasey Whitehead came on with one out and two on in the seventh and retired two of the three batters she faced to earn her second save of the campaign. Eighteen-game winner Jessica Sallinger (18-7) allowed three earned runs on six hits to saddle the loss for the visitors. After being handcuffed through three frames, Mississippi State got something going in the fourth, getting Kellie Wilkerson into scoring position via a leadoff walk and a sac bunt by Lindsay Nelson to set the table for Brown who laced an RBI double off the centerfield wall to give the hosts a 1-0 advantage. Whitehead's single with the next at bat put runners on the corners for the Bulldogs, who then utilized Waterman's single to left field to stretch the lead out to two. Tillman's double two batters later completed the fourth-inning scoring barrage. In the opener of Thursday's twinbill, State pounded out 11 hits off two Georgia Tech pitchers, then staved off a late Yellow Jacket rally to win 7-4. Tillman plated a trio of RBIs on a 4-for-4 day at the plate, with teammate Iyhia McMichael reaching base three times on a two-walk, 1-for-1 tally. Six other players recorded base hits for the Maroon and White. Tara Knudsen turned in a 2-for-4 performance to pace the visitors. Starter Kasey Whitehead (18-9) allowed just one earned run through six innings of work, but gave way to Kellie Wilkerson, who recorded her NCAA record-breaking 13th save of the season, striking out one in a scoreless seventh. Georgia Tech starter Erin Voeltz (14-6) allowed four earned runs on four Mississippi State hits to take the loss for the Ramblin' Wreck. State plated a pair of runs in both the second and third frames, but Georgia Tech made the game interesting in the fourth, utilizing four hits and two errors by State's middle infield to plate three runs and cut its deficit to 4-3. McMichael's fourth-inning sac fly stretched the Maroon and White lead out to 5-3, but Georgia Tech answered in the fifth, using Lindsay Wood's hit and a throwing error by Jennifer Jessup to bring another runner across the plate. However, State slammed the door on the visitor rally, then added insurance runs in the bottom of the fifth and sixth innings on RBI hits from Tillman and Faith Robinson to provide the final. Mississippi State will return to action this weekend when the Bulldogs suit up to host 15th-ranked Alabama (38-13, 7-4 SEC) in a three-game set at the Mississippi State Softball Field. The two teams will open their series with a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday afternoon and will conclude the set in Sunday's series finale at 1 p.m. Admission to all 2002 Mississippi State softball home games is free of charge. All three games of the series can be followed via this live stats link.
GAME 1 - Mississippi State 7, Georgia Tech 4Georgia Tech 000 310 0 - 4 8 0Mississippi State 022 111 x - 7 11 3Voeltz, Goodman (3) and Wood; Whitehead,Wilkerson (7) and Mosley. W - Whitehead (18-9).L - Voeltz (14-6). Save - Wilkerson (13).2B, GT - Knudsen, Wood; 2B, MSU - Tillman 2,Patterson.GAME 2 - Mississippi State 3, Georgia Tech 0Georgia Tech 000 000 0 - 0 5 1Mississippi State 000 300 x - 3 6 0Sallinger and Wood; Massey, Whitehead (7)and Brown. W - Massey (5-10. L - Sallinger (18-7).Save - Whitehead (2). 2B, GT - Wood;2B, MSU - Tillman, Brown.