STARKVILLE — Samantha Ricketts had nothing but praise for Morgan Stiles before the season, but the freshman had a difficult time adjusting to college pitching over her first couple of weeks at Mississippi State.
Stiles had just two hits over her first 17 collegiate at-bats, and even after hitting safely in back-to-back games to close out the Rocket City Softball Showcase last weekend, she still entered Wednesday’s game against Alabama-Birmingham looking for her first extra-base hit.
She checked off that milestone in a big way with two runners on and two outs in the second inning, turning on a rise ball that didn’t get elevated enough and launching it over the left-field wall for a three-run home run. Stiles’ blast opened the scoring and opened up the offense for the No. 21 Bulldogs, who scored three more runs in the third and five in the fourth to defeat the Blazers in five innings, 11-1.
“I was just really trying to work on doing what I do best and staying within myself and not overthinking it,” Stiles said. “The biggest thing the older girls have really helped me with is confidence and being OK with failing. They’ve all been through it and they know how hard it can be.”
MSU’s hitters took advantage of a steady wind blowing out at Nusz Park. Nadia Barbary and Kiarra Sells hit back-to-back homers to lead off the third, and Morgan Bernardini’s three-run shot in the fourth put the game into run-rule territory.
UAB starter Tait Davidson struck out a pair of Bulldogs in the first, but Ricketts said the batters at the top of the lineup passing information to those lower in the batting order helped MSU break through in the second. Bernardini started that rally with a one-out double and Kylee Edwards was hit by a pitch before Stiles’ homer.
“The biggest thing that’s been a focus for us is making an adjustment after the first inning and not waiting until the second time through the lineup, but letting the top of the order relay what they learned to the bottom of the order,” the head coach said. “That’s something we work on a lot in practice that you don’t get to see a lot behind the scenes.”
Raelin Chaffin was excellent in the pitcher’s circle for the Bulldogs (14-2), allowing just three hits and no walks with eight strikeouts. She needed just 65 pitches in the five-inning complete game.
Normally a pitcher who throws a lot of rise balls, Chaffin had the Blazers (8-7) way out in front of her changeup. She threw only nine pitches in the fourth and eight in the fifth.
“They were also just really aggressive, so a lot of times they got themselves out,” Chaffin said. “I had a couple (quick) innings, so it was a lot of them swinging early and getting themselves out. It helped me have a low pitch count.”
Eight of the Bulldogs’ nine offensive starters had both at least one hit and at least one run scored, with first baseman Riley Hull the lone exception. Sells and Bernardini, both juniors who are regular starters for the first time this year, each had multi-hit games.
MSU hosts the Bulldog Invitational this weekend with five games in three days against Alabama State, New Mexico and Northwestern State. The Bulldogs are hopeful to get back catcher Ella Wesolowski, who suffered a concussion in the season opener on Feb. 7 and was recently cleared to return.
“I love this team. We always talk about our team chemistry, and a lot of times you hear people throw that around, but it is just serious here,” Chaffin said. “I love these girls, there’s no drama, there’s no stuff in the locker room. We’re all friends, we all love to play together, we all love the game we play.”
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