STARKVILLE — Samantha Ricketts had a good feeling about Matalasi Faapito.
The fifth-year senior, in her third season at Mississippi State after transferring from New Mexico State, was a true two-way player in her first year as a Bulldog in 2022, hitting 14 home runs and driving in 40 runs. But she entered Sunday’s regular-season finale with just 13 at-bats all year, the majority of them as a pinch hitter. In likely her final game at Nusz Park, though, Faapito drew the start at designated player and in the cleanup spot — on Samoan Heritage Day, no less.
With two outs and a runner on in the bottom of the first inning, Faapito battled to a full count against Georgia right-hander Shelby Walters, and on the ninth pitch of the at-bat, she turned on a pitch on the inner half of the plate and launched it over the left-field wall for a two-run home run, her first long ball of the season.
The blast gave MSU all the runs it needed as Aspen Wesley held Georgia to four hits in a 2-1 victory, giving State its first Southeastern Conference home series win of the season.
“My role has changed a lot this year,” Faapito said. “Coach Ricketts always has my best interests, and when I’m going up to bat, there’s nothing that’s holding me back. I just know I have to do it for my team, and today was a special day.”
In Friday night’s series opener, Wesley became the first pitcher to throw a shutout against Georgia all year, and she nearly did it again Sunday. A fly ball pitcher can be dangerous against a lineup that traded places with Florida and Tennessee throughout the season atop the SEC’s team home run leaderboard, but Wesley kept UGA in the park all weekend. She struck out eight, walked just one and recorded eight ground ball outs compared to just five on fly balls.
Georgia did not even get a runner into scoring position until the fifth, when Sarah Gordon walked with one out, Sydney Chambley singled and pinch-hitter Jaiden Fields — sister of NFL quarterback Justin Fields — hit a two-out single to break up the shutout.
“I tried to hit my spots as much as I could and just keep the ball lower,” Wesley said. “That’s really what my plan was today, just keep it a little lower. I know when I get a little tired, I try to allow my spin to do the work.”
MSU (33-17, 12-12 SEC) was kept silent offensively by Walters and Lilli Backes after Faapito’s homer, but Wesley made the early blow stand up. The veteran worked out of a two-on, one-out jam in the sixth before retiring Georgia (38-15, 12-12) in order in the seventh, ending the game on a called third strike.
Coming off a season in which MSU won just seven conference games and was the only SEC team to miss the NCAA Tournament, State finished .500 or better in SEC play for the first time since 2007.
With the tiebreakers over both Georgia and LSU, MSU will be the No. 6 seed in the SEC Tournament, hosted by Auburn, and will play No. 11 seed South Carolina on Wednesday night for a chance to face No. 3 seed Texas A&M in the quarterfinals. State won two out of three against the Gamecocks on the road from Apr. 5-7.
“It’s a special event. It really feels like a tuneup for (NCAA) postseason,” Ricketts said. “Especially after last year, just getting our girls a taste of what that postseason environment feels like… we’re going to get down there pretty early just so we can get that rhythm of, ‘Hey, this is how it works for regionals, but we can do it in a tournament format.’”
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