No. 21 MSU Picks Up 11th Run-Rule Win
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Fifth-year senior Madisyn Kennedy has been swinging one of the hottest bats at the plate. The Alabama native hit three runs and had seven RBIs in Mississippi State's weekend series against Ole Miss.
Her bat was even hotter in the No. 21 Bulldogs' Wednesday night game against Louisiana-Monroe. Kennedy hit two home runs, including her second grand slam of the season, and tied the school record with six RBIs to lead Mississippi State (20-4, 2-1 SEC) to a 15-0 victory in five innings against ULM (17-9). She now has nine home runs this season and is tied for sixth in all-time home runs at MSU with 32.
Kennedy got the Bulldogs on the scoreboard early with a RBI single in the first inning. In the next inning, Sierra Sacco drew a bases loaded walk to score Kylee Edwards and Nadia Barbary singled to center field to drive in Ella Wesolowski and give MSU a 3-0 lead.
MSU's defense managed to strand a pair of ULM runners in the top of the fourth inning, the Warhawks' biggest scoring threat so far against freshman Delainey Everett.
"I remember telling one of the pitchers, 'Listen, in this inning, we are going to score some runs,'" Kennedy said in her post-game press conference.
"Some runs" was an understatement. The Bulldogs scored 12 runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, the most they have scored in a single inning this season. Following Paige Cook's bases loaded walk, Kennedy hit a grand slam to left field. MSU loaded the bases again and Nadia Barbary hit a grand slam home run of her own, to give MSU a 13-0 lead.
"That was a lot of fun," head coach Samantha Ricketts said. "This offense, really all year long, has done a really great job of really staying with it. Even if we're not getting the knockout punch early on when we had opportunities to – the bases were loaded earlier in the game – it doesn't frustrate them. They're really using it to learn for that next at-bat."
Kennedy ended the inning the same way she started the game - with a two home run to left field that gave MSU a 15-0 lead and its 11th run-rule victory this season.
Everett (2-0) earned the win for MSU after Josey Marron pitched a hitless first two innings. Everett pitched the third and fourth innings, allowing only two hits and one walk while striking out 10 batters. Matalasi Faapito pitched the final inning, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out a pair of batters.
MSU will continue its SEC schedule next when it hosts No. 13 Texas A&M this weekend. The Bulldogs and Lady Aggies are slated to play a three-game series beginning at 4 p.m. Friday. They'll meet again Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at 11 a.m. All games will be televised on SEC Network+.
