It took a few innings this time, but Mississippi State was able to do damage against Tennessee ace Karlyn Pickens on Sunday for the second time this weekend. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, as soon as they did so, the Volunteers turned to the pitcher who had quieted MSU’s bats just the day before.
Paige Cook’s three-run home run in the fourth inning off Pickens ended up giving the No. 16 Bulldogs their only runs in Sunday’s rubber game as Payton Gottshall held them hitless over 3 2/3 innings of relief. No. 4 Tennessee hit three homers against Aspen Wesley and Josey Marron to take the series with a 7-3 victory.
“A lot of the offensive struggles goes back and starts with the staff,” MSU head coach Samantha Ricketts said. “We can do a better job at having them prepared for both arms. We spent a lot of time for Pickens and that showed a little bit. Credit to them, they are a great team, great pitching staff. They came out ready to go, and they answered back from the Friday night loss really well.”
Wesley, who was excellent in the Bulldogs’ run-rule win in the series opener Friday, allowed a solo homer in the second to Taylor Pannell as the Volunteers took an early lead for the third straight day. Tennessee was all over Wesley the second time through the order in the third, with McKenna Gibson padding the lead on a two-run double and Zaida Puni following with a two-run blast. Josey Marron entered in relief of Wesley two batters later.
MSU (29-12, 9-9 Southeastern Conference) managed just one hit against Pickens through the first three innings, but after a one-out walk to Jessie Blaine in the fourth, Ella Wesolowski legged out an infield single, and then Cook launched an opposite-field shot over the wall in right-center for a three-run homer to trim the Bulldogs’ deficit to 5-3.
“One of the best things about Paige is the way that she bounces back, and it’s really hard to keep her down,” Ricketts said. “She does a great job of keeping on and finding ways to get on for her team. Even when she’s not seeing that success that she knows she can have, she always believes that she will.”
The Volunteers (32-8, 12-3) wasted no time after the homer, calling upon Gottshall to take them the rest of the way. MSU’s only threat against Gottshall came in the sixth, when Blaine was hit by a pitch with one out and Wesolowski walked. But Gottshall retired Cook on a line drive to center field and then got Kylee Edwards to fly out to left.
Puni hit her second home run of the game off Marron in the fifth, then scored the game’s final run in the seventh on an RBI single by Sophia Nugent. The crowd of 1,439 at Nusz Park — which brought the weekend total to 4,042, making it the most-attended three-game series in program history — left disappointed.
The Bulldogs host Memphis on Tuesday and South Alabama on Wednesday before taking their SEC bye week over the weekend.
“We have higher expectations. We have to make plays behind our pitchers,” Ricketts said. “We gave them far too many extra chances. It definitely should have been a closer game for us there, as well as having quality at-bats. It’s something for us that we are talking about. How can we use these as lessons and finish strong? We still think that all of our goals, when we are talking about postseason and setting us up for success, are still in front of us.”
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