No. 22 Mississippi State had scored 32 runs in four games by noon on Saturday, sweeping the Getterman Classic on opening weekend at Baylor.
The Bulldogs (4-0) led off the weekend with a run-rule 10-0 mauling of the host Bears, followed up with a midday doubleheader on Friday, 9-3 over Northwestern State and 5-2 over Wichita State, and notched an easy 8-1 win over New Mexico on Saturday morning.
The only trickiness came on Friday afternoon as Wichita State took the Bulldogs to extra innings, but the maroon and white fireworks began in the top of the eighth.
The extra runner at second got home to give the Bulldogs a lead, but the difference maker was senior Nadia Barbary going to bat with a pair of teammates on base and a chance to put her team in control.
“I was just saying to stay calm. We do our best when we’re calm, and we know we have a runner on second,” Barbary said after the game. She had taken note of the pitching change by the Shockers, and knew it was time to swing for the fences.
“They changed the pitcher, we knew it was a dropball pitcher, so I knew I had to get under it. Luckily, I got under it enough, and the ball went flying,” she said.
The three-run shot cleared the fence and landed in the parking lot beyond the outfield wall, ensuring that even with the Shockers getting one on the board in the bottom half of the innings, the comeback would need a bit more juice to walk the Bulldogs off.
“That was a gritty, resilient win. I think they showed a lot of fight, a lot of heart,” head coach Samantha Ricketts said. “I think the biggest thing was the maturity and not getting too big when it was 0-0 for most of the game and answering right back, finding ways to manufacture runs on balls that didn’t leave the infield.”
Balance
The MSU pitching staff had a good weekend in the circle, debuting transfers Peja Goold and Alyssa Faircloth to good effect, with 11.0 and 10.0 innings pitched, respectively, and two wins apiece.
Goold, who threw a one-hit shutout of Baylor on Thursday, allowed no earned runs and just three hits with 10 strikeouts. Faircloth recorded a remarkable 21 punchouts in two games. She played a notable role in MSU’s 8-1 drubbing of New Mexico on Saturday, recording 14 strikeouts in a complete-game performance.
“Alyssa was cruising, and she was mixing speeds, attacking,” Ricketts said of the junior transfer. “I think she had strikeouts on every one of her different pitch types, and I love her confidence, her poise. The ball was moving, and, you know, she’s really good. It’s fun to watch her go out there and just be sharp and do what she does best.”
Moving on
Ricketts oversaw a strong start to her seventh season as head coach, passing the 200-win milestone on Friday as the fastest coach to do so in program history.
“It’s really special to think back on all of the players and staff who have been a part of it and just, you know, how much each and every win and player has been through this program is meant to us,” Ricketts said of the milestone. “They’ve all been such a huge part, buying into all of us, what we stand for and what we’re working to do. And so I’m thankful for it, for the ones that have been here for a lot of it, and I’m looking forward to getting some more.”
Ricketts is the sixth-fastest coach in any MSU sport to reach 200 wins and the second-fastest in women’s sports at the university.
The Bulldogs will look to go 5-0 with their first home game today, taking on Southern Miss at Nusz Park at 4 p.m.
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