STARKVILLE — Annie Willis was relieved to be relieved.
The Mississippi State junior, a transfer from Troy, had been dominant through six scoreless innings of Sunday’s Bulldog Slamboree final against Southeast Missouri at Nusz Park in Starkville. But in the top of the seventh, with Mississippi State up 2-0, two hits off Willis put runners on first and second with two out.
As pitching coach Josh Johnson strolled out to the circle to talk to Willis, the pitcher noticed junior Emily Williams jogging in from the bullpen.
“When I looked over and saw E-Dub was coming in,” Willis said, “I knew she had it.”
After a walk to load the bases, Williams struck out Austine Pauley swinging on a pitch above the zone. The Bulldogs had survived the scare.
Behind early offense, Willis’ stellar starting performance and Williams’ short but clutch relief outing, Mississippi State (24-3) shut out SEMO (12-5) by a score of 2-0 on Sunday to win the Bulldog Slamboree in its last home game before its daunting Southeastern Conference schedule begins Friday.
“I thought that was a good game for us, especially going into SEC play,” Mississippi State head coach Samantha Ricketts said. “It’s good to have close-game pressure situations against a quality team and a quality pitcher in Southeast Missouri.”
Faced with a challenge in Redhawks starter Rachel Rook, who left Sunday’s game with an ERA of 0.90, the Bulldogs made a plan to attack early, target center field or the opposite field and keep the ball down — line drives or ground balls.
In the first inning, sophomore left fielder Chloe Malau’ulu and senior first baseman Fa Leilua lined singles to left field, and junior designated player Carter Spexarth followed with a line drive to right center that SEMO center fielder Rachel Anderson couldn’t snag with a dive. Both runners sped to the plate, and Mississippi State had a 2-0 lead.
“Scoring first is a big thing that we take pride in,” Spexarth said.
As it turned out, not only did the Bulldogs score first — Spexarth’s double produced the game’s only tallies.
That was thanks to Willis, who struck out 12 hitters and allowed just four hits in her 6⅔ innings of work. The Troy transfer had a school record with 19 strikeouts as she no-hit Mississippi Valley State in the team’s second game of the tournament Friday, and she followed it up with another standout performance.
“I really liked the way Annie held her composure with no walks and 12 strikeouts,” Ricketts said. “Any time they had momentum, she shut them down. It was really good to see a quality outing out of her.”
Given the lead, Willis struck out the side in the first inning around a triple by Anderson — one of two for the Redhawks star — and struck out all three hitters in a 1-2-3 fifth inning. She lowered her ERA to 1.03 with the performance.
“I love when we have pitchers’ duels,” Spexarth said. “It’s fun. Putting up those runs for her was important, too, to let her relax a little bit and throw her pitches.”
Even when she allowed an infield single to Rachael Donald with one out in the seventh and a bloop hit by Claudia Gallo with two away, Willis still seemed calm. After her infielders converged on the circle, she handed Johnson the ball and left the game in Williams’ hands.
“She’s got great stuff as well, and we thought we’d change it up a little bit,” Ricketts said. “We knew they were gonna have a hard time putting stuff solid in play off of her.”
Williams looked a little wild as she issued a walk to Danina Marton, but that proved effective as Pauley chased a 2-2 pitch that was inside and near her neck level and failed to connect.
The victory continued a stellar nonconference stretch for the Bulldogs, who won all five games at the Bulldog Slamboree and have won 12 straight. Their last loss was Feb. 22 to BYU in the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Palm Springs, California.
“It’s really about the girls and this team and what they’re doing together,” Ricketts said. “It’s fun to watch them continue to grow in their confidence, and it’s showing up on the field for us.”
Mississippi State has one more game before its “second season” — SEC play — starts at 5 p.m. Friday against Kentucky (18-3) in Starkville. The Bulldogs will travel to face Southern Miss (14-7) at 6 p.m. Wednesday in Hattiesburg.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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