STARKVILLE — All Paige Cook could do was watch.
Cook had held up her part of the bargain Saturday night against Abilene Christian at Nusz Park. The Mississippi State senior dropped a line drive into center field and headed for first base as speedy center fielder. Brylie St. Clair took off from second.
“I had all my faith in her,” Cook said. “I was like, ‘Run, Brylie!’”
St. Clair rounded third and slid in ahead of the throw to the plate, scoring the winning run in a walk-off — more like a “run-off” — victory over ACU on Saturday.
Cook provided the go-ahead single to score St. Clair from third base in the fifth inning, then had to do it again as the Bulldogs (15-5) beat the Wildcats (4-15), 5-4, in The Snowman (Alex Wilcox Memorial) Tournament in Starkville.
MSU had to walk things off after ACU tied the game on a seventh-inning error. Bulldogs pitcher Kenley Hawk slipped while fielding a bunt in the seventh, throwing wide of first base and allowing ACU’s Catrin Hoffman to race home from first base. Hawk injured her leg on the play, and although she was alright, Bulldogs coach Samantha Ricketts summoned Aspen Wesley from the bullpen.
Wesley said she got all of seven warm-up pitches before entering the game, but it was apparently enough.
With little time to get in her own head, the right-hander struck out two and got a first-pitch groundout to keep the score tied.
“You have some pitchers who can go down, and that’s OK,” Wesley said. “That’s why there are seven of us.”
Avery Miloch socked a solo home run in the top of the first, the only run charged to Bulldogs standout freshman Josey Marron in four innings.
Senior Aquana Brownlee equalized for the Bulldogs with an RBI double in the bottom of the first.
The Bulldogs were victimized by a wild pitch in the top of the fifth as MSU freshman Reis Beuerlein misfired, giving ACU a 2-1 lead. Abilene Christian added on with a single by Miranda Davila.
Some standout baserunning helped the Bulldogs answer in the bottom of the inning sophomore Riley Hull went first to third on a single by freshman Macy Graf; Graf took second on the throw.
Both Hull and Graf scored on wild pitches by reliever Bubba Rote, allowing Mississippi State to tie things up.
“Hitting can be ups and downs and you can be hot and cold, but defense, pitching and your baserunning and decision-making can always play,” Ricketts said. “That can keep us in games when maybe we’re not having the timely hitting when we need to.”
Cook followed the pair of wild pitches with a two-out, two-strike liner to left field to give MSU a 4-3 lead.
Typically a third baseman, Cook made her first career appearance in the outfield Saturday with the return of the freshman Graf to the lineup after a weeklong absence.
Starting in right field against the Wildcats, Cook said she got some choice advice from associate head coach Tyler Bratton.
“(He) actually told me to go out there and play like a rec-baller and just have fun and not a care in the world and go out there and just go catch the ball,” Cook said. “I had one roller at me, so I was like, ‘Hey, we’re good.’”
Murray State 4, Mississippi State 1
An ugly fifth inning featuring three errors did in Mississippi State in its first game Saturday, a 4-1 loss to Murray State.
The Racers (12-6) broke a scoreless tie when they plated two runs on a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning, the second coming in on a bad throw by shortstop Madisyn Kennedy as the Bulldogs attempted to appeal a Murray State runner leaving second base early.
The Racers added an infield single in the sixth and a solo homer by Lily Fischer in the seventh.
Kennedy got a run back for the Bulldogs with a solo shot of her own in the final half-inning.
Seven different MSU players had hits, but none had more than one in the game.
Mississippi State will close out the tournament with a rematch with Murray State at 1:30 p.m. Sunday.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 26 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 26 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
