State Smothers Southeastern Louisiana For Run-Rule Win

Monday, February 22

Hammond, La.

5:00 PM

Mississippi State

10-0

Southeastern Louisiana

9-2

Mississippi State

Southeastern La.

State Smothers Southeastern Louisiana For Run-Rule Win

February 22, 2016 | Softball

Box Score

By: hailstate.com

HAMMOND, La. – A pattern has developed for the Mississippi State softball team (10-0) and it has been as successful one as the Bulldogs used a balanced offense and a lock-down defense to take down Southeastern Louisiana (9-2) in five innings on Monday at North Oak Park.

MSU scored in every inning and freshman Regan Green threw complete-game shutout to lift State to an 8-0 run-rule win. Seven different Bulldogs scored the eight runs and seven combined for MSU's 12 hits.

Junior Katie Anne Bailey was the most efficient Bulldog on the night, going 3-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored.

“I'm proud of the way we handled our first road trip of the year,” head coach Vann Stuedeman said. “Five games in five days across two cities is an early challenge. We responded and played well tonight.”

The Bulldogs led off with a bang as three-straight extra base hits from Bailey, freshman Emily Heimberger and senior Kayla Winkfield led to an early 3-0 advantage.

Speed and small ball benefitted State in the second as an infield single a steal and alert base running from senior Loryn Nichols allowed her to score easily on a sacrifice fly from Bailey and push the lead to 4-0.

MSU used a similar formula to bring a run across in the third as a junior Caroline Seitz led off by getting hit by pitch. A base hit from classmate Mackenzie Toler moved Seitz to third and a sacrifice fly from freshman Sarai Niu brought her home to put her side ahead 5-0.

Another sacrifice would come in the fourth, this time off the bat of Winkfield to score Bailey and make it a six-run lead.

In the fifth, a double from junior Amanda Ivy and a single from Katie Anne Bailey would bring two more Bulldogs home to put the score at 8-0. The MSU defense retired the Lions in order in the fifth to clinch the run-rule road win.

Freshman pitcher Regan Green (2-0) recorded a complete-game shutout and stuck out five, while having only allowed three hits. In a losing effort, Kasey Nielson (1-1) got the start and allowed two doubles to start the game, resulting in two MSU runs which was all that was needed to make the difference.

State will now return home to Starkville before heading back out next weekend for four games in three days in Gulfport, Miss. as part of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Classic. The Bulldogs will open on Friday, Feb. 26 against McNeese State at 8 p.m. CT from the Gulfport Sportsplex.

For more information on the MSU softball program, follow “HailStateSB” on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. You can also find all-access coverage of the Bulldogs on SnapChat by searching for “HailStateSnap.”