STARKVILLE — Neither Mississippi State pitcher Annie Willis nor designated player Matalasi Faapito saw much of the play.
As left fielder Chloe Malau’ulu scooped up the softball and came up firing, Willis was racing toward home plate to cover the dish.
While Willis found herself in a fourth-inning jam against Southern Miss — the Golden Eagles, trailing 5-3, had loaded the bases with two out — Faapito was warming up in the Bulldogs’ bullpen.
“I did not see it, but I’m pretty sure she did great,” Faapito said of Malau’ulu.
From her vantage point to the right of the plate, Willis saw Malau’ulu’s throw arcing in from left field, coming in on a line to catcher Mia Davidson. Davidson applied the tag, keeping USM to one run and preserving a narrow Mississippi State lead.
“Any of our defense out there, I know no matter what they’re going to make the play behind us and we’re going to get the job done,” Willis said.
Backed by two big swings and Malau’ulu’s stellar play, Willis settled down to keep the Bulldogs (30-19) on top in a 5-4 win over Southern Miss (27-19) on Wednesday at Nusz Park.
“It was just a typical midweek,” Willis said. “Everybody has to pull their weight as a team effort.”
Mississippi State lost to Southern Miss 3-0 on April 6 in Hattiesburg and fell behind by the same score by the second inning Wednesday. But the Bulldogs erased the deficit in their half of the second and took the lead for good in the third.
Matalasi Faapito tied things up with a three-run home run to left field, and Jackie McKenna put MSU ahead with a two-run, ground-rule double an inning later.
The Bulldogs provided a crucial early response after back-to-back RBI singles up the middle by the Golden Eagles in the first inning and a solo homer to left by Destini Brown in the second. All three runs came off starter Kenley Hawk.
“It was good for us to come right back,” Mississippi State coach Samantha Ricketts said. “We’ve had quite a few games now where we’ve been down early with maybe not our best pitching start. It’s been something we’ve talked about, we’ve worked on — how to not press early on and to continue to have competitive at-bats and really start earlier in the game and not try and wait until the fifth, sixth and seventh.”
MSU walked a tightrope in holding onto its lead, stranding 13 Southern Miss runners on the basepaths. A fielder’s choice at the plate followed by a strikeout got Grace Fagan out of a jam in the third inning, and Malau’ulu’s 12th career outfield assist — fifth in program history — kept a second run off the board against Willis in the fourth.
Willis finished out a rare four-inning save from there, allowing five more runners to reach — but none to score — over the final three frames. She struck out the side after a leadoff walk in the seventh, fanning Maria Smith on an offspeed pitch to end the contest.
“I thought Annie did a great job coming in for us and really kind of calming things down — attacking the zone, getting us out of a tough situation, only giving up one run and being kind of our steady constant,” Ricketts said. “It’s exactly who we know she is and what she can be, and it was good to see her come in and be Annie and do what she does best.”
Mississippi State’s offense also looked much better than it did three weeks prior, when Southern Miss pitcher Morgan Leinstock tossed a complete-game shutout.
The Bulldogs managed eight hits and a walk against the Golden Eagles ace, attacking early on to get back in the game.
Faapito’s home run followed singles by Paige Cook and Brylie St. Clair; base hits by Mia Davidson and
Malau’ulu set the stage for McKenna’s two-strike, two-out double, which bounced over the wall in left center field.
Ricketts said seeing Leinstock previously “definitely helped’ the Bulldogs get ready for the rematch.
“She does a really good job of mixing speeds and location with a good drop ball,” Ricketts said. “We were able to prepare for it a little bit better being able to see her for the whole game last time.”
Wednesday’s game was the Bulldogs’ final midweek contest of the season, and Faapito said she hoped it will build momentum for Mississippi State’s weekend series at Kentucky (31-14, 9-9 Southeastern Conference). MSU will wrap up the season by hosting LSU from May 5-7.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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