Tennessee Takes Series With 16-2 Romp Of Bulldogs
Lady Vols Exploit MSU Pitching With Six-Run Third, Eight-Run Fourth
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. --? Homestanding Tennessee (25-12, 4-5 SEC) exploded for 13 hits and 14 runs in the third and fourth innings alone, leaving visiting Mississippi State (23-12, 3-6) little room to recover, as the Lady Vols took the weekend series from MSU with an emphatic 16-2 rout of the Bulldogs Sunday afternoon at Tyson Park.
Three different MSU players turned in noteworthy days at the plate. Brooke Best drove in a run on a 2-for-3 tally, while fellow middle infielder Lindsay Nelson went perfect, getting a pair of hits on two trips to the plate. Two-time all-SEC outfielder Iyhia McMichael extended her hitting streak to a career-long 15 games, scoring a run on a 1-for-3 hitting performance. Angela Brewer drove in five runs on 2-for-3 tally, including her fifth home run of the campaign, to lead seven Lady Vols with double-digit hitting tallies.
MSU starter Melissa Massey (15-5) lasted just seven outs in the game, allowing six earned runs on six hits and one walk from the Big Orange, to saddle the loss for the Maroon and White. Stephanie Owens came on in relief of Massey with one out in the third and did not fare much better, surrendering seven earned runs on eight Tennessee hits throughout the remainder of the inning. Summer Delaneuville walked two and gave up two hits in allowing three earned runs to cross the plate in the fourth. Tennessee freshman Stacey Jennings (15-7) captured her second win of the series after scattering seven hits and allowing just a lone earned run.
The loss marked State's most lopsided defeat in school history and the 16 runs is the most allowed by a MSU ballclub since a 16-13 loss to Carthage College in 1982. The defeat also marked the Lady Vols' third mercy rule win over the Bulldogs in the 17-game series ? the most of any other of State's conference foes.
"There's not much to say. We didn't get any pitching," said Mississippi State head coach Jay Miller. "We are getting hits and we are playing good defense, we just aren't getting anything from our pitchers right now."
After both teams went down in order in the first innings, State drew first blood in the top of the second, utilizing a one-out single from Jennifer Jessup and a costly fielding error by UT leftfielder Katherine Card to take a 1-0 lead. However, Tennessee struck back in the bottom of the frame and took the lead on two-straight hits ? the latter being a two-run dinger from Lauren Mattox.
State knotted the score in the top of the third on Jennifer Nelson's one-out triple and Best's RBI single, but the Maroon and White would find its troubles keeping up after that. Tennessee sent 10 batters to the plate in a six-run third inning to take an insurmountable 8-2 lead, then sent 14 batters to the plate in an eight-run fourth to put the game away for good.
The Bulldogs will return home on Wednesday to face their first opponent from the SEC's Western Division. State will face eighth-ranked LSU (21-9, 4-4) in a rare midweek conference series at the Mississippi State Softball Field. The two will open their set with a Wednesday evening doubleheader beginning at 5 p.m. and will close out the series on Thursday with a single game set to begin at 4 p.m. Admission to all 2003 Mississippi State Softball home games is free of charge.
TENNESSEE 16, MISSISSIPPI STATE 2 (5 Innings) Mississippi State 011 00 - 2 7 0 Tennessee 026 8x - 16 16 1
Massey, Owens (3), Delaneuville (4) and Waterman; Jennings and Durant. W ? Jennings (15-7). L ? Massey (15-5). Save ? None. 2B MSU, Best (1). UT Card (6), Jennings (4). 3B J. Nelson (4). HR UT, Mattox (5), Brewer (5).