TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Chloe Malau’ulu watched with interest while taking her practice swings as Georgina Corrick’s warmup tosses suddenly gave way to hugs.
Malau’ulu and Mississippi State felt prepared to face the South Florida ace to open the second inning of Saturday night’s Tallahassee Regional elimination game.
But after one dominant frame, Corrick embraced her teammates and hugged head coach Ken Eriksen. Then she handed over the softball and walked toward the first-base dugout, holding back tears.
“We had our plan ready against her, and we were ready to see her a second time,” Malau’ulu said. “It was a little bit surprising when they took her out. I was like, ‘Oh, I was ready.’”
A lingering back injury knocked perhaps college softball’s best pitcher out of the game early, and South Florida sent Antoinette Hill into the circle instead. Given a big break, Mississippi State did exactly what it had to do.
It took advantage.
MSU (35-25, 10-14 Southeastern Conference) played its way into Sunday’s Tallahassee Regional final, shutting out a Corrick-less USF team by a 6-0 score at JoAnne Graf Field.
The Bulldogs finished off the Bulls (45-16, 12-5 American) three minutes after midnight Sunday, immediately after eliminating Howard on Saturday evening. MSU will face regional host and No. 2 overall seed Florida State at 1 p.m. Sunday and must win twice to advance to Super Regionals.
“Really proud of this team and the fight and just the grit that they showed to come back for two elimination games today,” Mississippi State coach Samantha Ricketts said. “Honestly, our energy got better as the night got later.”
The Bulldogs showed little trace of the team that was shut out 4-0 by USF barely 24 hours earlier, holding the Bulls to just four hits and keeping them off the scoreboard entirely.
Saturday night’s game also showed the veritable chasm between Corrick and the rest of the USF pitching staff. An MSU team that had just four hits Friday night had 11 against Hill, Erin Poepping and Lexie Kopko.
Corrick said postgame she had been battling through back pain for more than a month and a half. She was held out of USF’s winners’ bracket game against Florida State earlier Saturday, but she couldn’t manage more than one inning against the Bulldogs.
A fifth-year senior, Corrick pitched her final game for South Florida in the losing effort. She regretted not being able to complete it.
“At the end of the day, I pushed and pushed and pushed until I couldn’t push anymore,” she said.
Her exit opened the door for Mississippi State, which turned in its best offensive performance of the tournament. The Bulldogs left plenty of meat on the bone by leaving 11 runners on base, but they still managed to score six, striking in four different innings to keep the pressure on.
“It’s crucial to make sure that we’re getting those runners on base and then having those timely hits to bring them in,” Malau’ulu said. “I think tonight just gave a really good glimpse of what we need to be doing tomorrow against Florida State.”
Center fielder Brylie St. Clair drove in runs with singles in the second and seventh innings. Matalasi Faapito hit a solo home run in the fourth, and an error and two sacrifice flies accounted for the other three runs.
Mississippi State struck an excellent balance throughout its lineup, as both St. Clair in the leadoff spot and freshman Riley Hull in the No. 9 spot had multiple hits. So did Faapito and sophomore Addison Purvis.
Ricketts praised her team’s offensive performance Saturday, including a five-steal performance against Howard.
“Brylie at the top, Riley at the bottom sparking it, stealing bases, hitting home runs — just kind of doing a little bit of everything and finding ways to win,” Ricketts said.
Of course, the Bulldogs might not have won without a nearly flawless performance by pitcher Annie Willis, who tossed a four-hit shutout.
Willis didn’t have her best game in a four-inning, one-run performance against USF on Friday but was much better Saturday. She struck out five and limited traffic on the bases; the Bulls never had multiple baserunners at the same time against the MSU graduate student.
“We wanted to give her another chance to get back out there against them,” Ricketts said. “We were looking for a quality start. Going all seven was huge. She looked like Annie. She was sharp.”
Both MSU pitchers Saturday threw complete games, but Ricketts acknowledged it will take a staff approach — something the Bulldogs have employed all season — to beat a team like Florida State. The Seminoles run-ruled USF 8-0 in five innings Saturday after doing the same to Howard on Friday, and they’ve won 16 straight games.
But Mississippi State still has a puncher’s chance to make its first-ever Super Regional, and the Bulldogs will try their hardest Sunday.
“I’m excited to carry over what we showed tonight and just get out there and play hard and play focused and do what we can do,” St. Clair said.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
