Deja Vu: Justice's Walk-Off Homer Helps Rebels Take Series With State In Wild One, 10-8
State Scores Eight In Late Innings, But Furious Comeback Effort Goes For Naught
OXFORD, Miss. -- DeDe Justice's walk off two-run home run with one out in bottom of the eighth gave homestanding Mississippi (16-25, 5-13 SEC) the final lead of the game as the Rebels held back a relentless Mississippi State (29-18, 9-11) ballclub in extra frames, 10-8, to win the rivalry series for the first time since 1999.
Iyhia McMichael highlighted a 2-for-4 night at the plate with a pair of homers and five RBI to lead a quintet of Bulldogs with double-digit hits, while Kate Jaspers (2-for-4, 2 R) joined McMichael as the only MSU players with multi-run outings. Jennifer Nelson (2-for-4, BB, 2 R), Lindsay Nelson (2-for-4, R) and Jennifer Jessup (2-for-3, HR) also posted multi-hit nights for the Maroon and White.
Justice hit a pair of homers on a 4-for-4 tally and Andrea Brahs recorded a grand slam on a 1-for-4 night to lead the Rebels. Just more than two hours after having her school record 25-game hit streak snapped, McMichael became just the third player to homer twice in one game for Mississippi State, joining Michelle Gates, who accomplished the feat once in both 1997 and 1998, and Kellie Wilkerson, who accomplished the feat five times from 1999-2002. McMichael's 15th round-tripper of the season in the seventh also established a new single season mark for MSU.
MSU starter Melissa Massey lasted just two innings after allowing seven earned runs on seven Rebel hits before giving way to Krystal Tillman's first appearance of the season to begin the third. Tillman struck out four and walked five, allowing just three hits in three innings of work. Courtney Frank (4-4) suffered her second loss of the day after surrendering a pair of earned runs on two hits in two and one-thirds innings of work. Mississippi reliever Dana Brill (2-8) worked the last two outs of the eighth to record her second victory of the campaign.
The Rebels got a double and a pair of singles to begin the first, then took a 4-0 lead on Brahs' grand slam on a 1-2 pitch from Massey. Mississippi got a leadoff double from Jenny Cox in the second, then stretched its lead out to 5-0 one batter later on a run-scoring triple from Britte Hardy. After getting Brooke Turner to ground out to third baseman Callye Williams, however, Justice took Massey's first offering of the next at-bat over the fence in leftfield, giving the Rebels a 7-0 advantage heading into the third.
With Tillman getting spurts of mastery on the Rebel hitters, State got new life in the fifth on a two-out solo home run from Jessup that cut MSU's deficit to 7-1. The Bulldogs got a pair of singles to leadoff the sixth before McMichael blasted her first homer of the night that cut the lead to just 7-4. Brooke Best's RBI double and Blaire Brown's RBI groundout brought State to within one, 7-6, heading into the bottom of the sixth.
Mississippi got consecutive doubles from Turner and Justice to leadoff the bottom of the sixth and give the Rebs an 8-6 lead heading into the seventh, but Mississippi State knotted the score up for the first time in the seventh, getting a one-out double from Jaspers before McMichael absolutely crushed a 0-1 offering from reliever Lindsay Price down the leftfield line and into the parking lot.
Mississippi State will continue its nine-game roadtrip this weekend when the Bulldogs head to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to battle conference-leading and 16th ranked Alabama (34-14, 17-4) in a three-game series at the Alabama Softball Complex. The clubs will open up their set with a 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon doubleheader and will close out the series on Sunday with a single game set for 1:30 p.m. For ticket information, please contact the Alabama Ticket Office at (205) 348-6161.
MISSISSIPPI 10, MISSISSIPPI STATE 8 (8 Innings)
Mississippi State 000 015 20 -- 8 13 1Mississippi 430 001 02 -- 10 12 2
Massey, Tillman (3), Frank (6) and Brown; Day, Price (6), Brill (8) and Justice. W -- Brill (2-8). L -- Frank (4-4). Save -- None. 2B -- MSU, Jaspers, Best. UM, Hardy, Turner, Justice, Cox. 3B -- UM, Hardy. HR -- MSU, McMichael 2, Jessup. UM, Justice 2, Brahs.