STARKVILLE — Mia Davidson turned silently and took the few steps back into the dugout.
The Mississippi State star catcher was left on deck as the Bulldogs lost Friday’s Super Regional opener 3-2 to Arizona in eight innings, watching Brylie St. Clair fly out to left for the final out.
Once again Friday, the Bulldogs were close, but not close enough.
It was Davidson getting robbed at the center-field wall in the first inning. It was her making slight contact with an Arizona runner in the seventh inning, leading to an obstruction call and eventually the tying run. It was the Wildcats’ Izzy Pacho sneaking the go-ahead home run just inside the left-field foul pole.
And, finally, it was Davidson standing in the on-deck circle, waiting for a chance she never got.
That was how Mississippi State’s first-ever Super Regional game ended after more than three hours. The Bulldogs made big plays and had big moments — but not enough of them.
“We hit a lot of balls hard within the game plan, but I think we just couldn’t get quite enough to fall that we needed to,” coach Samantha Ricketts said.
But it came down to a pair of half-innings in which both teams needed a run from the bottom of their lineup. Arizona came through to tie the game 2-2 in the top of the seventh; Mississippi State couldn’t do the same in the eighth.
Matalasi Faapito worked a leadoff walk for MSU, but Madisyn Kennedy struck out, and Riley Hull and St. Clair flied out to let Arizona escape with a win.
The Wildcats took home a hard-fought, back-and-forth victory on the right arm of Hanah Bowen, who tossed a complete game and threw 156 pitches. Bowen allowed seven hits and issued six walks, but she stranded 11 runners and gave up just two runs.
“I thought she really mixed locations well and did a good job keeping us off balance,” Ricketts said.
Bowen faltered only twice, giving up solo home runs to Davidson and Faapito. After coming up just short in the first inning, Davidson hit a 2-1 pitch off the camera rig in center field to break a scoreless tie.
“I think it just gave us a little momentum to know that we can play with them and keep pushing, and that’s what we did,” she said. “It just didn’t fall our way.”
Allie Skaggs answered with her own solo home run in the top of the sixth, tying the game back up at 1-1. But Faapito’s line-drive homer over the right-field wall put Mississippi State ahead again.
Facing the Wildcats’ Nos. 7-9 hitters with three outs left to get, MSU starter Annie Willis ran into trouble and, this time, could not escape. Blaise Biringer worked a leadoff walk, and Sophia Carroll was given first base on review after appearing to be thrown out on a bunt.
Umpires ruled Davidson had run into Carroll before the Arizona shortstop exited the batter’s box. Since Davidson didn’t field the ball — third baseman Paige Cook did instead — Davidson was called for obstruction.
“She bunted right in front, so I was just trying to get to the ball, and I happened to beat her out of the box,” Davidson said. “It just didn’t go our way.”
An infield single that deflected off Cook and into foul territory — Ricketts said postgame she thought the play should have been ruled an error — loaded the bases with one out. Sharlize Palacios tied the game on a sacrifice fly.
After Mississippi State went down in order in the bottom of the seventh, Pacho unloaded for her solo shot off Aspen Wesley in the eighth.
Bowen worked around the walk to get the final three outs, and the Wildcats closed out Game 1 to take a substantial edge in the series. Teams that win the first game of Super Regionals go on to win the series 81 percent of the time.
But the Bulldogs have faced — and beaten — longer odds before.
“Tomorrow, I’m just excited to see what this team will do,” Kennedy said.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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