No. 23 Mississippi State Softball Plays Waiting Game, Then Blasts Troy, 12-1
STARKVILLE – Mississippi State won two games Friday.
The No. 23 Bulldogs (13-3) won the waiting game after a series of delays before beating Troy (15-5) in five innings, 12-2.
A rain storm in the area delayed the start of day two of the Bulldog Invitational. Then the first game of the day between Troy and Samford lasted more than two hours, pushing the start of Mississippi State’s game against Troy to 7:40 p.m. The Bulldogs’ game was originally scheduled for 3 p.m. before the rain delay.
“It was definitely anticipation, waiting game,” fifth-year senior Paige Cook said in the postgame press conference. “We were excited and eager to play. I don’t think it messed with our competitiveness. It drove us even more to want to jump on them quick and get done early.”
That’s exactly what MSU did.
After giving up one run in the top of the first inning on a sacrifice fly, the first six Bulldogs reached base and scored a run before a single out was recorded. They ended the inning with seven hits in 14 at-bats and eight runs. No hit was bigger than Jessie Blaine’s grand slam home run to right center field that gave MSU a 6-1 lead. It was the program’s 50th and Blaine’s first-ever grand slam.
“We showed up here today to hit,” Blaine said after the game. “We’re a hitting team and we had some big hits tonight.”
Cook added a pair of runs on a bases loaded single to right field that was the start of a big night for her. She was a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate with six RBIs and a run scored.
“In BP I kept telling myself to see the ball deep and hit it hard,” Cook said. “I think the coaches definitely had a good gameplan going in, and it definitely prepared us for that game.”
In the second inning, Nadia Barbary drew a bases loaded walk to put MSU up 9-1. Cook then had her biggest hit of the night, a three-run double to center field.
Troy tried to stave-off a run-rule defeat with a run on a fielder’s choice in the fourth inning, but the effort was fruitless as MSU secured the 12-2 victory after the fifth inning.
Aspen Wesley (5-1) picked up the win inside the circle for MSU, allowing just one run on one hit and two walks in three innings. She also struck out five of the 12 batters she faced. Matalasi Faapito pitched the final two innings and allowed one run on two hits and striking out one batter.
After playing just once per day to start the Bulldog Invitational, MSU is slated to play double headers Saturday and Sunday. The Bulldogs will start Saturday with a 11:30 a.m. game against Alcorn State and then play a rematch of Friday night’s game against Troy at 2 p.m. On Sunday, MSU faces Alcorn State again at 12:30 p.m. and ends the tournament with Samford at 3 p.m.
“It’s going to be a challenging rest of the weekend, starting off a little bit backwards with the single game, single game and then back-to-back double-headers,” MSU coach Samantha Rickets said. “It’ll be a good challenge for us to see, especially after two run-rules, how we respond and can we stay focused. I think, mentally, that’s something we’ve been talking about a lot, bringing our best approach to every single game and doing it throughout the weekend. That may be fading away as the games go on, so I’m excited to see how they come back tomorrow. It’s a short turn around, but we have a lot of veteran leadership, a lot of maturity in that dugout, and they’re doing a great job of doing everything together. I think that’s really fun to watch them do.”
Of course, all start times are subject to change based on any inclement weather or field maintenance delays. Based on Friday night, though, that wouldn’t be a bad thing for the Bulldogs.
