STARKVILLE — Raelin Chaffin may have been fighting off fatigue with every pitch, but the senior had the largest regular-season crowd in Mississippi State program history behind her.
With 1,903 fans packed into Nusz Park on Saturday evening — many of them youth softball players who had played in a travel ball tournament nearby earlier in the day — the Bulldogs’ new ace battled a tight strike zone and a strong Auburn lineup. The Tigers had the tying and go-ahead runs on base with two outs in the seventh when Chaffin threw her 144th pitch of the game, a 1-2 fastball to Kylie Brockman on the inside edge of the plate.
Strike three called. Game over.
“It’s just tough, especially when you’re in a close game like that with a really good Auburn team,” Chaffin said. “It got to a point where I was just throwing it over the zone and trying to make them earn it.”
Chaffin issued seven walks but also struck out 11 batters as No. 21 MSU took the series and Southeastern Conference opener 5-4 over No. 18 Auburn. The Bulldogs then earned the series win with a 9-4 victory on Sunday, with a chance to complete the sweep Monday night.
MSU (21-3, 2-0 SEC) put the leadoff batter on base in all six innings Saturday, taking the lead in the second on Jessie Blaine’s RBI double to drive in Kylee Edwards. But the Tigers (20-3, 0-2) made some noise in the third against Chaffin, going in front on Anna Wohlers’ two-run double and adding a third run on an error.
The Bulldogs cut the deficit to one in their half of the third when Sierra Sacco led off with a single, moved to second on a groundout and scored on an RBI hit by Kiarra Sells. Sacco reached base in all four plate appearances with two singles and two walks, and she has an on-base percentage of .604 through Sunday.
“We want to be the aggressors,” MSU head coach Samantha Ricketts said. “Energy and momentum is a big part of the way we play. Just setting the tone early, finding ways on base. Sierra, over and over, has done it for us game after game. We felt like we were having quality at-bats and knew we were going to be able to break through.”
Sells started the decisive bottom of the fifth with a double off Auburn ace SJ Guerin, scoring on an error with two outs. Blaine then collected her third of the night before pinch-hitter Paige Ernstes, who has thrived coming off the bench all year, drove in the go-ahead run with an RBI single. Another error scored Blaine with what turned out to be a necessary insurance run.
Chaffin was one strike away from the victory when AnnaLea Adams hit an RBI double to right field, and she followed that up by walking the next batter on four pitches. But the LSU transfer buckled down for the game-ending strikeout, finishing her SEC-leading eighth complete game of the season.
“A lot of adrenaline today,” said Blaine, who transferred to MSU from Auburn prior to the 2024 season. “The SEC opener is a big game. This is a big series for us. It was really about seeing the ball, knowing the scout and finding the barrel.”
The Bulldogs had an easier time of it Sunday, blasting three two-run home runs. MSU jumped out in front early on a Sells RBI single in the first and a Morgan Stiles RBI double in the second, and added on in the third on a long homer by Lexi Sosa.
Sosa had been robbed of a long ball in the first on an incredible catch by Tigers right fielder Icess Tresvik but left no doubt in her second at-bat. Sacco padded the lead with a two-run homer in the fourth, and Stiles went deep in the sixth for the second home run of her freshman season.
“The whole team had really great at-bats the whole game,” Stiles said. “We were communicating really well in the dugout with what the pitchers were doing and what they were trying to attack us with. Up and down the lineup, we were all crushing the ball, and that’s what you want to see.”
Sophomore Delainey Everett started in the circle for the Bulldogs and worked out of a first-inning jam thanks to a sparkling double play started by Edwards at shortstop. KK McCrary’s two-run home run in the fourth put Auburn on the board, and Everett handed the ball to Josey Marron one batter later.
Marron settled things down, but issued three straight free passes to start the sixth, and Chaffin entered the game with the bases loaded and nobody out. The first batter she faced, Kyla Stroud, hit a two-run single to left field, but Chaffin worked out of the jam from there and finished things off with a three up, three down inning in the seventh.
“Our offense did a really good job of making adjustments,” Ricketts said. “Just really mature at-bats up and down the lineup. It’s good to see it coming from different people. That’s what it takes in this conference, contributions up and down the lineup and not just relying on one bat.”
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