Samantha Ricketts knew two runs wouldn’t be enough.
When the Mississippi State softball team pulled ahead of top-seeded Florida 2-0 in the second inning of Thursday’s Southeastern Conference tournament quarterfinal, the Bulldogs coach doubted her team could survive against the powerhouse Gators without any more scoring.
Florida soon proved Ricketts right.
The Gators’ Kendyl Lindaman hit a go-ahead three-run home run in the fifth inning, Charla Echols added insurance with a three-run bomb of her own in the sixth, and Florida (41-8, 19-5 SEC) snapped Mississippi State’s eight-game winning streak with a 6-2 victory Thursday in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
“We ran into a great team, and I thought we competed well with them,” Ricketts said.
The ninth-seeded Bulldogs (33-23, 8-16 SEC) await their NCAA Regional assignment during Sunday’s 8 p.m. selection show. And despite Thursday’s loss, a Mississippi State team that almost certainly would have missed the postseason altogether three weeks ago feels optimistic.
“We still feel really good about where we’re at right now,” Ricketts said. “Eight and one in the month of May is a really big turnaround for us, and I think we’re still playing our best ball at the right time.”
The Bulldogs won their final two games at South Carolina before a doubleheader sweep of Tennessee and a three-game sweep of Georgia to round out the regular season. They beat Ole Miss on Wednesday before a Florida team that swept Mississippi State in Starkville put an end to the impressive run.
With two on and one out in the bottom of the fifth, Lindaman took starter Annie Willis deep to right field on a 3-2 pitch to put the Gators on top for the first time in the game. Ricketts acknowledged she could have gone to Alyssa Loza out of the bullpen, but Loza was tired after closing out Wednesday’s game.
“Annie was throwing really well,” Ricketts said. “She had a couple too many freebies — hitting batters and some walks.”
After a double play erased a Bulldogs threat in the top of the sixth, Loza entered the circle in the bottom of the inning and fared no better. With two out, Echols ripped the second pitch of the at-bat over the wall in right-center to put Florida in command.
It was the realistic end to any hope Mississippi State had of pulling a comeback against the No. 4 team in the country. But for more than four innings, the Bulldogs matched the Gators pitch for pitch — and then some.
In the second, Mississippi State struck first when left fielder Jackie McKenna lined a two-out, two-run double that hit the left-field foul line. McKenna said she was hoping to see an inside pitch from Gators ace Elizabeth Hightower — who baffled the Bulldogs back in March — and got what she was looking for.
“I really just got my hands inside, and I knew it was coming, so I just got my barrel out there and hit it,” McKenna said.
Her clutch hit kept the Bulldogs ahead while Florida threatened in almost every inning. The Gators stranded two runners in the first, one in the second, two in the third and one in the fourth.
But Willis hit Emily Wilkie with a pitch in the fifth and Echols followed with a single up the middle. Lindaman swung at the payoff pitch off the outside part of the plate and drove it well over the right-field fence.
Still, McKenna said, the Bulldogs’ performance represented a clear step up. Mississippi State was outscored 19-0 in that March sweep at Nusz Park, hardly resembling the team that put up a fight against the SEC’s No. 1 seed Thursday.
“I think we’re heading into regionals looking strong,” she said. “We’re going to keep fighting and competing and hopefully just keep winning — get some big hits.”
The Bulldogs don’t yet know where in the country they’re likely to be sent for the NCAA tournament, but after 13 straight conference games, they’ll take whatever they can get.
“I think we’re excited and look forward to the opportunity to play somebody who’s not the SEC in regionals,” Ricketts said. “We’re excited to get back out there again soon next weekend.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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