STARKVILLE — Twice was nice for Mississippi State senior infielder Madisyn Kennedy on Wednesday night.
Kennedy dealt the knockout blow to Louisiana Monroe with a towering grand slam in the fourth inning of what turned into a 15-0 run-rule victory, but she wasn’t done.
She wanted more, and that came later in the same inning, when she came back to the plate with a runner on in a 13-0 game.
For the second time in the inning, Kennedy went deep, her ninth homer of the season and fifth in her last three games as the Southeastern Conference’s leader in slugging percentage made her presence felt against the Warhawks.
“Delainey (Everett) threw a really good inning before that, got out of that jam, and that fired us up,” Kennedy said. “A freshman coming in to do that? That’s huge. … That put a lot of confidence in the hitters. I remember telling one of the pitchers, ‘we’re going to score some runs.’”
She hit two of the Bulldogs’ (20-4) three homers on Wednesday – all coming in the fourth inning – including two grand slams.
Nadia Barbary joined in the homer barrage, making it just the third time in program history that Mississippi State hit multiple grand slams in the same game, but possibly the first instance of both coming in the same inning.
“Madi has been on fire,” Barbary said. “That’s a lot of home runs within a couple day span. Her energy just pushes everyone through the lineup to do what she’s doing. … It can’t be a grand slam if the other runners don’t get on. Just playing as a team and supporting each other.”
Everything went right in that fourth inning, but it was the third inning that set the stage for that offensive outburst.
The freshman left-hander Everett came into the circle after two shutout frames from Josey Marron, looking to continue what Marron started.
Everett soon ran into some trouble, however, loading the bases with no outs. She persevered, striking out the next two batters and inducing an inning-ending popup to second baseman Kat Wallace to end the threat.
“We put her in a tough spot defensively behind her by not making plays,” head coach Samantha Ricketts said. “She really didn’t let it rattle her. If anything, she dug down even deeper and got grittier, which is exactly what we want to see.”
With Tuesday’s home doubleheader against Memphis canceled, this was MSU’s first chance to bounce back from Sunday’s walk-off loss against Ole Miss, and the Bulldogs responded accordingly.
Wins like Wednesday are exactly what this program is looking for as SEC play continues this weekend with their first home conference series of the season against Texas A&M.
“It was good to get back on the field after Sunday’s back-and-forth game,” Ricketts said. “… Just get back into our groove and where we feel like we can play. Staying together, working on the little things because it’s going to be a big weekend with a tough, ranked opponent coming into town.”
Weekend Preview: No. 17 Texas A&M (23-2, 3-0 SEC)
There are no off-days in the SEC, and that’s true again this weekend as the Bulldogs open up their home conference slate against a top-20 opponent in Texas A&M.
The Aggies come into this weekend with a 23-2 record and a perfect start in SEC play, sweeping then-No. 22 South Carolina in three closely contested games in College Station. A&M out-scored the Gamecocks, 7-2, in the series, including a pair of 2-1 victories to end the weekend.
“I think it will be a really good series,” Barbary said. “We just need to go out there and do what we know how to do.”
Texas A&M has been dominant on both sides of the ball, with a 1.38 ERA for its pitching staff and an offense that’s hitting .333 as a team, averaging 6.7 runs per game with a +126 run differential through 25 games.
The Aggies players to watch include Jazmine Hill, Trinity Cannon and Julia Cottrill offensively and Emiley Kennedy in the circle.
“Both teams are going to come out and compete,” Madisyn Kennedy said. “We’ve been tested before, but we’re excited for this weekend coming up because we know it’s a tough test.”
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