AUBURN, Ala. — Due to not one, but two earlier games lasting 14 innings Wednesday at the Southeastern Conference Tournament, Mississippi State’s first-round game against South Carolina did not begin until after 10 p.m., more than three hours after the originally-scheduled first pitch.
Once the teams did get going, it took less than five minutes — or seven pitches — before the No. 6 seed Bulldogs found themselves trailing.
The No. 11 seed Gamecocks jumped on MSU ace Aspen Wesley, who threw a complete-game shutout at South Carolina just over a month ago, for two runs in the first inning and two more in the second, defeating the Bulldogs 8-4 and ending their conference tournament run prematurely.
“They did a good job staying loose, got to get up and warm up again, take some extra swings,” MSU head coach Samantha Ricketts said. “I don’t really know where it didn’t click once we started the game, but for some reason it just didn’t seem like we came out with the same energy like we normally do in this type of a game.”
Gamecocks leadoff hitter Denver Bryant set the tone for both her night and the game as a whole by bunting for a hit, starting a two-run rally in the first. She singled and came around to score again in the second, with South Carolina adding to its lead on a misplayed ball at first base by Madisyn Kennedy and a bases-loaded hit batter. That was it for Wesley, who allowed four earned runs on six hits in just 1 ⅔ innings.
Matalasi Faapito and Ella Wesolowski each doubled to put the Bulldogs (33-18) on the board in the bottom of the second, but Gamecocks ace Alana Vawter entered the game in the third and recorded all of her outs on the ground in her first two innings of work, keeping MSU’s deficit at three.
South Carolina (31-21) broke it wide open with four runs in the fifth against Josey Marron, punctuated by a two-run double from Bryant — her fourth hit of the night. The Bulldogs’ pitchers held the Gamecocks to a total of three runs over three games in Columbia from Apr. 5-7, but South Carolina’s bats were ready this time.
“There was a level of comfort that we had seen them,” Gamecocks head coach Beverly Smith said. “I don’t think when Mississippi State came to Columbia that we played our best ball. We left a lot of runners on, we were missing that timely hit, and tonight that wasn’t the case. I was really proud of our hitters making adjustments when they made pitching changes.”
MSU cut into the deficit in its half of the fifth on a long three-run home run by Kennedy, her 17th of the season but just her second since the series opener against South Carolina on Apr. 5. In fact, Kennedy has just two hits over her last nine games, although both have left the yard.
“Just knowing that they’re going to pitch around me, whenever they give me a pitch to hit, I’d better hit it,” Kennedy said. “They’re eventually going to leave something, so when they do, I’ll put a good swing.”
Freshman left-hander Delainey Everett, in her first postseason game, retired all seven batters she faced with four strikeouts in relief, but Vawter settled back down after Kennedy’s homer and set MSU down in order in the sixth and the seventh.
The Bulldogs are likely out of the running to host an NCAA regional, but they will certainly return to the NCAA Tournament after being the only SEC team not invited a year ago. They’ll find out their destination when the bracket is revealed Sunday evening.
“We’re excited for the opportunity and the chance to be back,” Ricketts said. “The end of the year last year, it’s been our goal ever since. The result of this season and putting ourselves in this position where we know we’re in started in May of last year. … It’s always an exciting day on Selection Sunday. That’s something that’s special to us and continuing to stick with what we’ve done all year, which is to continue to prove ourselves right.”
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