EUGENE, Ore. — Shelbi Everett hit a walk-off double with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning Thursday to lead the Brigham Young University softball team to a 4-3 victory against Mississippi State University at the NCAA Eugene Regional at Howe Field.
The first game of the 2012 NCAA tournament was the longest tournament game in school history for MSU, which will play Portland State at 4 p.m. today in the losers’ bracket.
“That was a hard-fought ballgame, and I am extremely proud of our team,” said MSU coach Vann Stuedeman, whose team slipped to 33-23. “We were able to hit the ball hard all day long, but the result did not fall in our favor today.”
Junior left-hander Kylie Vry (9-9) set a tournament school record with 10 strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings of relief. Senior southpaw Lindsey Dunlap helped Vry break the team school record with 13 total strikeouts, fanning three in the first three innings. Vry and Dunlap kept Delaney Willard, the Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year and the nation’s second-leading run producer (88 RBIs), hitless (0-for-4).
Hours after being named to the NFCA All-South Region First Team, senior Ka’ili Smith and sophomore Sam Lenahan combined to go 3-for-8 with three RBIs and a run scored. Senior right fielder Brittany Gates and sophomore center fielder Jessica Offutt went 4-for-8 with two runs. Sophomore second baseman Heidi Shape was 2-for-4.
The home team jumped on the board first with a three-run second stanza. BYU’s Stacie Toney led off the bottom half of the frame by getting hit on a 2-2 pitch. Toney moved to second on a single by Krista Hicks. Dunlap struck out Ashlee Brawley before getting Everett to pop out to shortstop Erin Nesbit. In the next at-bat, Smith picked off Toney at second, but obstruction was called on Shape to keep the inning alive.
The Cougars (44-13) took advantage. With two on and two outs, Jessica Dugas’ blooper to left scored Toney and moved Hicks to second. A passed ball put two in scoring position. Tiffa Messerschmidt’s single scored both runners.
MSU scored three runs on four hits in the top of the fifth. With one down and nobody on, Gates singled to right. On the next pitch, Offutt executed a picture-perfect bunt in front of the catcher to put two on. Smith then drilled a single down the line in left to score Gates and to push Offutt to second. After a popup by Shape, both base runners advanced on a wild pitch. Two stood in scoring position for Lenahan, who ripped a bases-clearing double to tie the game.
Both teams then played scoreless softball until the bottom of the ninth. The Cougars loaded the bases before Vry struck out her second batter of the inning. Everett deposited a 1-1 offering high off the wall in left, just out of the reach of left fielder Jessica Cooley, to score the winning run.
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