In every inning except one Friday, Cal State Fullerton had traffic on the basepaths against Aspen Wesley. But Mississippi State’s veteran ace stayed composed each time, stranding eight Titans baserunners and throwing a complete-game shutout for a 1-0 Bulldogs victory in the opening round of the Stanford Regional.
MSU (34-18) will play the host and No. 8 national seed Cardinal in Saturday’s winners’ bracket game.
“Honestly, I put all the trust in my defense,” Wesley said. “We’ve worked for this for so long, and this is a time when we all have to come through together. Putting myself in that mental state, we’ve practiced that plenty of times in the bullpen. It’s just making sure they don’t get more free bases.”
Wesley allowed a two-out single in the first but got some help from freshman catcher Ella Wesolowski, who threw out pinch-runner Sarah Perez trying to steal second to end the inning. Freshman shortstop Kylee Edwards reached across the base to tag Perez on the foot just before the runner could get in.
In the second, Fullerton put two runners on base with one out before Wesley escaped any damage with a pop-up and a strikeout. She worked around a two-out double in the third and stranded two more in the fourth after back-to-back two-out singles.
The Bulldogs ran themselves out of a scoring opportunity in the bottom of the second and were held hitless by Haley Rainey until the fourth, when Sierra Sacco led off with a single. She was still at first base with two outs, but Matalasi Faapito lined a ball down the right-field line that landed just out of Kate Verhoef’s reach and rolled into the corner for a double, allowing Sacco to score easily for what ended up being the game’s only run.
“(Faapito) is just so locked in, and it’s a fifth-year senior wanting to do everything she can for this team and this program,” head coach Samantha Ricketts said. “She came up huge for us with a two-out RBI, and it’s really fun to see her being successful along with Aspen.”
Sacco’s single and Faapito’s double were MSU’s only two hits of the game, but they were all the Bulldogs needed thanks to Wesley, who worked her only three up, three down inning in the fifth. An error and a walk gave the Titans (36-18) a threat in the sixth with one out, but Wesley again got out of it with a pair of fly ball outs.
She then worked around another two-out baserunner in the seventh, ending the game on her fourth strikeout of the afternoon.
“Aspen’s just such a warrior. She just loves to compete, especially on this stage,” Ricketts said. “She’s done it time and time again for this program. Whether we can give her a big lead or one run, she’s under control and she’s going to compete. She did a great job of attacking out there today.”
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.