For the first time this season, it seems that Raelin Chaffin’s immense workload may finally be catching up to her.
Chaffin’s 88 innings pitched as a junior at LSU last year were a career high by a lot, but she has blown past that mark in her senior season at Mississippi State. Her 120 ⅔ innings are the most in the Southeastern Conference, and as good as she has been all year, in her two outings at Tennessee over the weekend, she was not fooling a soul.
In Friday’s series opener, Chaffin allowed seven runs (six earned) in 4 ⅔ innings of an 8-0, five-inning loss. The No. 7 Volunteers were all over Chaffin again in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, chasing her in the second inning after she allowed five earned runs on six hits in another 8-0, run-rule defeat for the No. 17 Bulldogs.
MSU did take the middle game of the series, scoring eight runs in the first inning of Saturday’s first game and defeating Tennessee 12-4 in six. The Bulldogs (31-10, 7-5 SEC) could not score off Volunteers ace Karlyn Pickens in her 10 innings in the circle, but were all over Tennessee’s other pitchers in their lone victory.
“This conference is such a gauntlet, and you have to be ready,” MSU head coach Samantha Ricketts said. “Every game is a battle and can swing either way.”
Chaffin vs. Pickens a one-sided matchup
The two matchups pitting the teams’ aces against each other both turned into blowouts in the Volunteers’ favor. Tennessee (32-8, 7-5) struck immediately against Chaffin in the first inning Friday on a two-run home run by Kinsey Fiedler and scored again before making the first out. Chaffin surrendered another homer in the fifth to McKenna Gibson, then gave up two more hits and a walk in the inning before being relieved.
In Saturday’s nightcap, the Volunteers’ damage came mostly in the second, all with two outs. A hit-by-pitch opened up the door to a Tennessee rally, and the hosts followed with back-to-back singles, then back-to-back home runs by Taylor Pannell and Gibson.
Pickens, meanwhile, was at her best in both starts. She worked out of a first-inning jam Friday and struck out six without issuing a walk, then allowed just one hit — an Ella Wesolowski single — in the rubber match.
“Against any top-10, top-25 team, if you give them extra opportunities and freebies, they’re going to take advantage of them, and that’s exactly what they did,” Ricketts said. “We have to play better all around in all three phases. We need better pitching, better defense and some timely hitting if we’re going to compete.”
Big first inning gives Bulldogs middle game
With Pickens unavailable for the first game Saturday, MSU jumped on Tennessee starter Erin Nuwer as Sierra Sacco and Nadia Barbary led off with back-to-back home runs. The Bulldogs kept adding on with run-scoring singles by Morgan Stiles and Jessie Blaine, saw three different pitchers in the first inning and scored eight runs.
Kylee Edwards kept things going with a two-run double in the third, and Lexi Sosa and Stiles both went deep in the sixth to put the game into run-rule territory.
Delainey Everett was a bit shaky in her start in the circle, giving up a run in the first and a three-run shot to Gibson in the third. But Sosa helped the Bulldogs end the game early with two scoreless innings of relief.
MSU returns to Nusz Park to open a three-game series against Missouri on Friday evening.
“When someone punches you, you have to be ready to take it and get up and swing back,” Ricketts said. “We did a good job of that in the first game (Saturday), particularly in the first inning setting the tone. But it’s about finding ways to compete in every game, in every inning. That’s the goal every weekend out.”
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
