TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Howard didn’t even appear to notice.
The Bison were content to throw out Mississippi State catcher Mia Davidson stealing second base in the fourth inning of Saturday’s elimination game at the NCAA Tallahassee Regional. But they didn’t even seem to pay attention to Brylie St. Clair scampering home to score from third.
Once again, MSU had run all over Howard.
The Bulldogs (34-25, 10-14 Southeastern Conference) stole five bases, breaking a program record for the most in an NCAA tournament game, and stayed alive in Tallahassee with a 6-3 win over the Bison (31-24, 17-4 MEAC) at JoAnne Graf Field.
MSU ousted Howard from the regional and forced another elimination game Saturday night against South Florida to determine who would advance to Sunday’s regional final against host Florida State.
The Bulldogs took advantage of three Howard errors and two baserunning mistakes by the fourth-seeded Bison. Davidson picked off a runner who strayed too far off second on a wild pitch, and left fielder Chloe Malau’ulu easily threw out a batter trying to stretch a single into a double.
MSU won without a single home run, playing effective small ball to stay alive in the postseason. The Bulldogs brought home two runs on bunts and two more on sacrifice flies. A costly dropped fly ball in right field accounted for the first run of a three-run second inning.
Mississippi State won despite just six hits, two of which came from St. Clair. The Bulldogs’ leadoff hitter drove home Riley Hull from third base on a bunt back to the pitcher in the second inning (ruled a sacrifice) before lining singles in the fourth and sixth.
Davidson followed St. Clair’s squeeze with a sac fly deep to left for the final run in the second. Madisyn Kennedy’s fly ball to deep left in the third added a run before Mississippi State’s well-executed steal brought home St. Clair in the fourth.
Aspen Wesley pitched effectively for Mississippi State to pick up the win in the circle. The junior pitched out of a two-on, no-out jam in the first inning, getting a strikeout and two flyouts to end the threat.
Wesley allowed just one baserunner in each of the next three frames and pitched a perfect fifth. But Kalita Dennis took her deep for a two-run shot in the sixth inning to end the shutout.
Howard added another run during a rundown as Shea Moreno’s throw to the plate was low and Davidson couldn’t dig it out.
Wesley then struck out Payton Quiñonez to end the sixth and pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning to finish the complete game.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
