STARKVILLE — Mississippi State senior Alexis Silkwood is confident her team will score more runs sooner rather than later.
That will come as a welcome relief to the squad’s pitching staff.
Georgia State scored two runs in the 12th inning to upset MSU 3-1 in the championship game of the Bulldog Kickoff Classic on Sunday afternoon at Nusz Park.
“Those hits are going to start falling in,” Silkwood said. “We have too many good hitters to not make some things happen. I think everybody might be pressing a little bit because of the difficulty we had last season. We hit a lot of balls hard all weekend. I think that hard work is going to pay off. We will get better at getting some timely hits.”
Breathing life into the offense would be a welcome relief for the Bulldogs. After missing an NCAA regional last season thanks in large part to a stagnant offense, the Bulldogs (3-2) saw little to make themselves feel better in their first five games of the 2017 season.
The loss came on the heels of a 1-0 loss to Western Kentucky on Saturday. The Bulldogs hit .221 in the tournament and scored nine runs and had 31 hits.
“We went through this the entire season last year,” MSU coach Vann Stuedeman said. “It really has to stop now. Other than the game against Western Kentucky, we left runners on base all weekend. You just have to have players step up and get that run-producing hit. We have to find ways to be a better offensive team. It has to happen now.
“We have played five games on a 56-game schedule. You don’t panic. However, you know have you to get better at the plate, and it has to happen now.”
In five games, the Bulldogs stranded 38 runners. On Sunday, MSU had six hits in 43 at-bats. The Bulldogs stranded 10 runners.
In the fourth, Morgan Bell had a one-out double. Silkwood followed with a hit before Sarai Niu followed with a two-out bloop single to right field for a 1-0 lead.
A hit by Silkwood in the sixth and a hit by Niu in the 11th were the lone hits the rest of the way. The Bulldogs had two runners reach scoring position in the final eight innings.
Georgia State (4-1) tied the game in the fifth and took the lead on a Mandy Blackwell single in the 12th.
“It takes a little time for a new team to come together,” Silkwood said. “The biggest thing is we can’t get down. There is a lot of the season left to be played. We just have to work hard in practice and focus on the process. We just have to get better each day. As pitchers, we know our job is to give our team a chance to win.”
The offensive struggles overshadowed a strong weekend in the circle. The Bulldogs allowed four earned runs and 25 hits in 40 innings. Sophomore Regan Green (five innings) and junior Holly Ward (seven innings) pitched Sunday.
Silkwood had two wins and a save in the tournament. Junior Cassady Knudsen was the tough-luck loser against Western Kentucky.
“What we saw in the circle is we have pitchers who are ready to compete,” Stuedeman said. “They are going to fight every at-bat. All four pitched well. We had (35 strikeouts for the tournament), and that is a very good number. These pitchers pitched in some real tight situations all weekend.
“That may be the best thing to come out of the weekend. Our pitchers pitched well, and it was a situation where every inning was critical the entire weekend. When you are struggling to score runs, the margin for error is gone. You just go out there and throw up as many zeros as possible.”
Silkwood said the confidence level of the pitching staff won’t be shaken. Working through last season’s offensive struggles made the staff tougher.
“Our job is to pitch,” Silkwood said. “Today, for example, we pitched 12 innings. That is our job. We just go out there and go as long as we can and do what we can to help the team win. We will pitch all day long if we have to.”
MSU will take today off before Monday before it begins preparations for the Puerto Vallarta Collegiate Challenge in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. MSU will face Fresno State (Thursday), Cal State Fullerton, Texas Tech (Friday), and Florida Gulf Coast (Saturday). Fresno State (4-1) closed its opening weekend of play by collecting 20 hits in a 24-8 win against Stanford.
“We have to get better in a hurry,” Silkwood said. “Fortunately, this team is capable of doing that.”
n Ole Miss 8, Loyola Marymount 1: At Fullerton, California, In her collegiate debut, Morgan Bruce allowed one unearned run and three hits to lead the rebels (3-1) on Sunday in the final game of the Easton Invitational.
Bruce worked three clean innings and allowed three hits, two of which came in the second. The Lions’ lone run came in the sixth after the frame began with a Rebel error, but Bruce worked out of the jam. She struck out five.
In all, 20 players got in on the action, including three more who made their Rebel debuts. Freshman Alyssa Gonzalez went 2-for-3 with three RBIs, while Paige McKinney reached safely twice in a pinch-hit role with an RBI. Kylan Becker was 2-for-4 with an RBI and a stolen base, and McKinney, Ashton Lampton, and Dylinn Stancil also had stolen bases.
n Southern Mississippi 4-5, No. 11 Louisiana-Lafayette 3-3: At Lafayette, Louisiana, the Southern Miss softball team swept No. 11 Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns on Sunday at Lamson Park, upending the home squad twice on the final day of the Louisiana Classic.
The Golden Eagles improve to 4-2, while the Ragin’ Cajuns fall to 4-2.
The wins today mark the first time the Cajuns have lost at home to an unranked opponent since March 21, 2015 (9-5 against Troy). The last time Southern Miss defeated Louisiana was in the 1999 NCAA Regional.
In Game 1, former New Hope High School standout Lauren Holifield hit a three-run home run and Samantha Papp hit a solo home run to support Jillian Johnson, who pitched a complete-game eight-hitter. Johnson struck out six and walked four.
D.J. Sanders’, Holifield’s teammate at New Hope High, drove in two runs in the seventh inning.
In Game 2, the Golden Eagles rallied from a 3-0 deficit. Papp hit a three-run home run in the sixth. In the seventh, Samantha Reynolds led off with a walk and Selena Estrada hit a walk-off home run.
Samantha Robles started and allowed three runs on four hits. Peyton Carter came on in relief and threw 2 2/3 innings before Danielle Block recorded one out in the sixth. Kim Crowson pitched the final inning to improve to 3-0.
Holifield was 1-for-2 with a run scored. Sanders was 1-for-4 with a run scored, a double, and an RBI.
n On Saturday, Southern Miss lost to Iowa State 6-4 and beat Ball State 3-2.
n No. 7 Alabama 9, Coastal Carolina 3: At Conway, South Carolina, the No. 7 softball wrapped up its season-opening weekend at the Kickin’ Chicken Classic with a victory against the Chanticleers to improve to 5-0.
Alabama had 16 hits. Demi Turner tied a career high with four, while freshmen Bailey Hemphill and Gabby Callaway had three. Hemphill slugged a two-run home run in the fifth inning, her third of the season, and Sydney Booker hit a two-run home run, her second.
Madi Moore (1-0) struck out seven in a complete-game effort.
Alabama will play host to South Alabama (4-0) at 5 p.m. Wednesday in its home opener at Rhoads Stadium.
n EMCC to begin nine-day homestand: At Scooba, Following this past weekend’s season-opening participation in Pearl River Community College’s Wildcat Invitational, the East Mississippi Community College softball team is scheduled to begin its home slate with four doubleheaders in an upcoming nine-day homestand.
EMCC will play host to No. 12 East Central C.C. at 1 p.m. in a doubleheader Wednesday.
EMCC went 0-4 this past weekend in Poplarville to open the season. On Friday evening, EMCC fell to Marion Military, 16-7, and to host Pearl River, 14-7. EMCC lost to Calhoun C.C., 9-3, and to reigning National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II national champion and preseason top-ranked LSU Eunice, 13-5.
Offensively to begin the campaign, the Lions collectively hit .341 as a team during the Wildcat Invitational, including double-digit team hit totals in three of the four weekend contests. EMCC banged out 14 and 11 hits during Friday’s games and then added 13 more hits in the team’s tournament finale against LSU Eunice.
Sophomore infielder Kendall Wilkinson, a product of East Webster High School, batted .333 for the weekend with a team-leading five RBIs.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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