No. 22 Bulldogs Top Memphis, 3-1, in Final Home Midweek Contest

Tuesday, April 17

Starkville

6:00 PM

Mississippi State

33-12

Memphis

30-15

Memphis

Mississippi State

Carmen Carter knocked her seventh double of the season to plate two runs in the second inning versus Memphis.

Photo by: Blake Williams/MSU Athletics

No. 22 Bulldogs Top Memphis, 3-1, in Final Home Midweek Contest

April 17, 2018 | Softball

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STARKVILLE, Miss. – In the final home midweek Nusz Park, No. 22 Mississippi State (33-12) topple Memphis (30-15), 3-1, to sweep the home-and-home series with the Tigers on Tuesday night at Nusz Park.

The Bulldogs recorded five hits in the contest, none bigger than junior Carmen Carter's two-RBI double in the second inning.

Freshman Emily Williams earned the win to improve to 5-0 over her debut season. Williams tossed 4.1 allowing one run off six hits and two walks. The right-hander struck out three in the outing. Senior Holly Ward toss the final inning of the game to pick up her fourth save.

"We talk a lot about what our nonconference games mean in terms of seeding for postseason," said head coach Vann Stuedeman. "Our team knows that midweeks are equally as important if not more important than our conference games. We were disappointed with our efforts last night. We wanted to get back out here and play a game and dust that off of us."

After trading a scoreless first, the Bulldogs broke through in the second inning with a two-out rally. Junior Kat Moore and freshman Carter Spexarth knocked back-to-back single before moving up an extra base with help of a fielding error in the Memphis outfield. Carter capitalized with a double off the left field wall to plate two runs to give MSU an early lead.

Junior Emily Heimberger led off the third with a double to left center and would come around to score on an RBI single to right center field by junior Sarai Niu.

The Tigers tried to rally in the top of the fifth, recording three straight singles to plate a run. A walk would load the bases before MSU went to the bullpen for sophomore Candace Denis. The Tigers would try to score on a wild pitch during Denis' first faced batter, but freshman Mia Davidson recovered and dove to home plate for the second out. Denis would retire the side with a comebacker to limit the damage at one run.

Ward would allow a lead-off single in the top of the seventh, but a foul out and back-to-back fielder's choices retired the side to clinch the victory.

ON DECK
No. 22 Mississippi State will turn its attention to Super Bulldog Weekend as the Bulldogs host 2017 WCWS runner-up Florida for a Top 25 showdown at Nusz Park. The weekend series begins on Friday, April 20 with a 6 p.m. first pitch. Game two is set for Saturday, April 21 at 1 p.m. CT with the series finale on Sunday, April 22 at 12 p.m. CT. All three games will be streamed on the SEC Network +.

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