Mississippi State softball hit the road last weekend for a weekend at No. 25 Clemson for the Tiger Invitational, picking up its second loss of the season against the hosts as well as the first-ranked win of the season in a Sunday rematch.
The No. 13 Bulldogs improved to 18-2 on the year, the program’s best 20-game start ever, with wins over Wofford and Georgia Southern, and bouncing back from a 3-0 Saturday defeat to the Tigers with a 9-1 run-rule win the next day.
“I really love the response from the team. I thought they took yesterday as a challenge, and the energy was completely different,” MSU head coach Samantha Ricketts said on Sunday. “The fight today, I just thought we played Mississippi State softball. We set the tone, we controlled the momentum on both sides of the ball, and it was just a really well-rounded game for us and a good answer back from yesterday’s loss.”
Kiarra Sells went 3-for-4 at the plate in the Sunday win over the Tigers, registering a solo home run and getting home twice as a baserunner. She hit two home runs over the course of the weekend and now has an active hitting streak of eight games, with extra-base hits in seven of those games, while batting .636 and leading the team with 27 hits.
“She is unreal, she has just gotten better and better every year,” Ricketts said of Sells. “I think she’s still continuing to get better. She’s one of the best hitters in the country. You know, she’s hard to fool. She’s got power, speed, she really does it all, and I think she’s starting to put some people on notice with that.”
Sells wasn’t the only Bulldog with a strong weekend at the plate. The team scored at least eight runs in each of the three wins to wrap up the contests before the seventh inning. Morgan Bernardini extended her own eight-game hitting streak, Kinley Keller hit her first career home run and Abby Grace Richardson had two RBI in two plate appearances.
The squad has plenty of defensive talent as well, seeing more quality starts from Peja Goold, Alyssa Faircloth and Leila Ammon.
Goold took the circle on Sunday, improving her personal record to 7-1 on the year with five strikeouts and one earned run in 4.1 innings of work. Faircloth came in to finish the job, allowing no hits or walks to complete the win.
The rotation in the outfield saw plenty of movement on Sunday as well, with four different players taking innings at center field.
“This team is deep. We have a lot of talent waiting their turn and continuing to work hard and be ready for their opportunities,” Ricketts said. “I think of Tatum Silva coming in and being ready and sparking an inning for us. Abigail Stevens had a couple of pinch hits this weekend and is just doing what she does best and finding barrels. I think it just speaks to this team’s dynamic and how much they all are just excited for one another. There aren’t any egos, and they just really want the best for the team and for one another. It just makes a special group.”
The Bulldogs will continue their week on the road with a visit to UAB in Birmingham today at 5 p.m. and a weekend trip to Mobile for the Jaguar Classic hosted by South Alabama. MSU will face New Mexico and Samford in addition to the host Jaguars.
The next home game for the Bulldogs will be a doubleheader against Southeast Missouri on Tuesday followed by opening weekend in SEC play against No. 1 Tennessee in Starkville.
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