Mississippi State
12-12
North Carolina
16-10
Gates Hits First Career HR as Dawgs fall 8-2 to UNC
March 13, 2011 | Softball
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Junior Brittany Gates hit her first career home run as Mississippi State fell 8-2 to North Carolina Sunday afternoon in the final game of the Easton SEC/ACC Challenge in Tuscaloosa.
Mississippi State fell to 12-12 overall, while North Carolina improved to 16-10 on the season.
The Houston, Miss., native's second-inning, two-run home run came after Haleigh Dickey staked UNC to a 3-0 lead with a home run off MSU starter Misty Flesher. The Lone Grove, Okla., native fell to 4-2 after being touched for three runs and two hits over an inning.
"We really dug ourselves in a hole early with that home run in the first inning," MSU head coach Jay Miller said. "It was good to see Brittany Gates get her first home run, but we didn't give her much help. North Carolina's pitcher threw a really good game. We were swinging at pitches out of the strike zone and taking pitches in the strike zone. I was pretty disappointed with the way we came out and competed today."
Gates' home run over the wall in right field scored senior Chelsea Raines after she reached on a fielder's choice.
For the weekend, Raines hit .429 with two doubles, two home runs and two RBI to earn a spot on the all-tournament team alongside senior Courtney Nesbit. Nesbit also tallied a .429 average and hit a pair of home runs while driving in six runs.
Kylie Vry relieved Flesher and kept the Dawgs within a run over the next three innings, but she found trouble in the fifth as the Tar Heels scored three more runs to extend the lead to 6-2.
A Kelsey Green single and double by Dani Manko set up a Kelli Wheeler RBI base hit. Dickey capped the inning as she singled to score Wheeler.
Vry was tagged for three runs (two earned) and five hits over four innings. She struck out three before giving way to freshman Shana Sherrod in the sixth.
Sherrod, fresh off picking up her first collegiate victory in Saturday night's 8-7 win against Florida State, allowed UNC's final two runs (both unearned) on a pair of hits.
Lori Spingola ran her record to 12-7 as she allowed the two runs and a hit while striking out 10 in the complete-game effort.
State returns to Southeastern Conference action on Wednesday as it travels to Gainesville, Fla., for a midweek doubleheader against No. 1/2 Florida beginning at 4 p.m. CT. A free, live audio stream for both games will be available at www.mstateathletics.com/m2mlive.
North
Carolina 8, Mississippi State
2 (Mar 13, 2011 at Tuscaloosa,
Ala.)
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Mississippi State... 020 000 0 - 2 1 2 (12-12)
North Carolina...... 300 032 X - 8 9 1 (16-10)
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Pitchers: Mississippi State - Misty Flesher; Kylie Vry(2); Shana Sherrod(6) and Sam Lenahan.
North Carolina - Lori Spingola and Ally Blake.
Win-Lori Spingola(12-7) Loss-Misty Flesher(4-2) T-1:32 A-305
HR MS - Brittany Gates.
HR NC - Haleigh Dickey.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Lori Spingola (12-7)
L: Flesher, Misty (4-2)
Batting:
HR: Gates, Brittany 1
RBI: Gates, Brittany 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Raines, Chelsea 1 ; Gates, Brittany 1
Batting:
2B: Brittany McKinney 1 ; Dani Manko 1
HR: Haleigh Dickey 1
RBI: Kelli Wheeler 1 ; Jordan Scarboro 2 ; Haleigh Dickey 4
SH: Tisha Mahon 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Kelli Wheeler 3 ; Amy Nece 1 ; Haleigh Dickey 1 ; Kelsey Green 1 ; Paige Williams 1 ; Dani Manko 1
SB: Kelli Wheeler 1
