STARKVILLE — Lexi Sosa entered Thursday night’s home opener at Nusz Park with Mississippi State already in deep trouble.
Starter Josey Marron had walked five of the six batters she faced, and the only Southern Illinois hitter to put the ball in play reached base when Bulldogs second baseman Morgan Stiles dropped a pop-up. So No. 19 MSU was already trailing by three runs in the first inning without giving up a hit, and the Salukis had the bases loaded with still nobody out.
Sosa quickly settled things down, getting out of the jam on two strikeouts and a pop fly. She proceeded to shut down the Southern Illinois bats until the sixth, allowing just two hits, while the Bulldogs’ offense quickly came to life in a 10-3 victory.
“I just took it one pitch at a time, staying very present,” Sosa said. “Not trying to get too ahead of myself, not trying to think about the next out, just attacking and going right at them.”
Third baseman Nadia Barbary got the comeback started in the bottom of the first, hitting an opposite-field solo home run over the wall in right-center. MSU (5-1) added one more run in the inning, then took the lead for good in the second on RBI singles by Sierra Sacco and Jessie Blaine. It was the 200th hit of Sacco’s collegiate career, including her two years at Louisiana Tech.
Blaine made her fifth straight start behind the plate while sophomore Ella Wesolowski recovers from a concussion. Wesolowski was injured during the Bulldogs’ season opener in a nasty collision going after a pop-up, and head coach Samantha Ricketts said she is hopeful to have her back later in the weekend.
“The plan was just to go up there and be aggressive, and I got a good pitch to be aggressive on,” Barbary said. “I just wanted to pick up my team after that first inning and get the energy back on our side.”
MSU tacked on four more runs in the fourth inning, capped by a two-run double from shortstop Kylee Edwards that just missed clearing the wall in right field. The Bulldogs scored twice more in the fifth, with Blaine driving in her second run of the night.
Meanwhile, Sosa was dialed in. She retired 10 of the first 11 batters she faced and allowed just two hits and no walks over 5 ⅔ innings, striking out seven.
“She did a great job,” Ricketts said. “We knew if we could get out of that (first) inning with just three on the board, that was going to give us a good shot. If it had gotten any bigger, four or five runs is a little bit more demoralizing. She’s mature, she’s a sixth-year senior and she’s been there before. She just had all the composure in the world and knew the defense was going to have her back. She did a great job of continuing to attack the zone and not being fazed.”
Sophomore left-hander Delainey Everett recorded the final four outs in her first appearance of the season, after returning from a trip home to California following the death of her father in late January.
The freshman Stiles singled in the fifth for her first college hit, and Morgan Bernardini’s double in the second was the first extra-base hit of her college career. MSU has more action at home all weekend at The Snowman: Alex Wilcox Memorial tournament, with games against North Texas, Bradley and Georgia Tech.
“The biggest thing when you get down early like that is not trying to press and not playing defensive,” Ricketts said. “They were very composed. The message was to just keep doing what we do, still staying on the attack even though we had a deficit to make up for. It helps when you get a big swing like that from Nadia to start off our half of the first. I loved the response.”
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