In the first at-bat of her senior softball season at Mississippi State, Fa Leilua hit the ball hard and had nothing to show for it.
Leilua came up in the first inning of Friday’s season opener against Missouri State in the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Clearwater, Florida, with one out and Mia Davidson aboard at first base after reaching on an error. She lined a hard one-hopper to second baseman Payton Minnis, who gloved it and quickly turned a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.
So when Leilua stepped to the plate a second time with the bases loaded and nobody out in the third inning, she made sure the result was better.
Leilua ripped the ball on a line to center field, where it glanced off the glove of Bears outfielder Darby Joerling and rolled away. Christian Quinn scored from third base and Candace Denis came in from second, giving Leilua a two-RBI double and pushing Mississippi State’s lead to 3-0.
It was the key blow in a four-run third inning that helped the Bulldogs (1-0) blank the Bears (0-1) by a score of 5-0 on Friday in Clearwater. Troy transfer Annie Willis pitched five shutout innings in her first start, and Emily Williams closed it out for Mississippi State.
Leilua, Denis and designated player Carter Spexarth each had two hits for the Bulldogs, and Chloe Malau’ulu opened the scoring with a solo home run in the second inning.
In the third, Quinn opened with a single, and Denis followed with a ground-rule double. After Davidson walked, Leilua came through by driving in two, and Spexarth followed with a run-scoring infield single. Montana Davidson drove in Leilua with a sac fly to right as the Bulldogs plated four in the inning to grab a 5-0 lead.
Willis settled in after that, improving from a lot of 3-2 counts early in the game to dispatch Bears hitters with less effort. In the bottom of the third, she quickly struck out all three Missouri State hitters. Willis finished her outing with a line of five scoreless innings pitched, three hits, one walk and seven strikeouts.
From there, junior Emily Williams took over and had no difficulty closing out the game. Williams totaled three strikeouts in a pair of 1-2-3 innings.
It was an all-around solid showing for Mississippi State, which is back in action for an exhibition game against Team USA at 5 p.m. Friday in Clearwater.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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