Mississippi State Falls In Five Innings To No. 5 Florida

Sunday, March 21

Starkville

11:00 AM

Mississippi State

15-11, 0-6

#5 Florida

21-2, 5-1

Florida

Mississippi State

Mississippi State Falls In Five Innings To No. 5 Florida

March 21, 2021 | Softball

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By: Brian Ogden, Assistant Director/Communications

STARKVILLE – Mississippi State softball allowed six runs in the fourth inning as the Bulldogs fell to No. 5 Florida, 8-0, in five innings on Sunday afternoon.

The MSU offense stalled against the Gators, collecting just two hits and adding a third baserunner via a walk.

"I just think there's a lot of pressing," head coach Samantha Ricketts said. "I don't know if I really have a word to put with it because we're still going through it. One thing that we talked about was that this conference is tough from top to bottom. It's a grind. You don't get a game off or a weekend off. [Florida] is a top-5 team for a reason. When you're giving them four outs an inning, they're going to make you pay for it."

State (15-11, 0-6 SEC) had its best scoring chance in the bottom of the third, when the first two batters reached. Brylie St. Clair, making her fifth start of the year, singled to open the inning before Christian Quinn reached on an error on a sacrifice attempt. A fielder's choice erased St. Clair at third and the next two batters were retired to end the inning.

Florida (21-2, 5-1 SEC) scored a pair in the second on a two-run homer from Kinsey Goelz. In the fourth they put up six runs on five hits with the help of an error to take control of the ballgame.

"I know it's very hard to stay positive through these first two weekends, but we're going to have to find a way to right the ship a little bit," Ricketts added. "We still have a lot of games ahead of us."

Annie Willis started and went 3.1 innings, allowing six runs and taking the loss. Alyssa Loza shut down the Gators in relief, throwing 1.2 perfect innings with three strikeouts.

Quotables

Samantha Ricketts on areas the team needs to improve:
"I think it's getting back to the little things. It's not even the timely hitting but swinging within a plan and executing like I talked about yesterday too. Just doing some of the little things right where we're not pressing and not trying to win the game every time we're up at the plate. [We need to] execute our pitches and make plays behind our pitchers. The game's pretty simple when we're able to do those things."

Samantha Ricketts on shuffling her lineup:
"We were just trying to group some of our hits together. I thought Paige Cook has been doing a great job for us at the bottom, so I slid her up. Then, just giving other people opportunities. We've been pretty cold offensively, so I wanted to get Brylie [St. Clair] in there. She really works hard and does a great job in practice. I think she's going to be a really great player for us. It was good to see her get out there and find her way on base to spark us, especially at the bottom of the order."

Quick Hitters

Fa Leilua – Leads the SEC in walks (24) ... Has more walks than hits (23) this season.

Alyssa Loza – Pitched 1.2 perfect innings ... Struck out three of the five batters she faced.

Chloe Malau'ulu – Threw a runner out at the plate for the third time this season.

Carter Spexarth – Hit a double in the second ... Eight of her 25 hits this year have gone for extra bases.

Brylie St. Clair – Made her fifth start of the season ... Singled at her first at-bat.

Scoring Recap

Top 2
Jaimie Hoover was hit by the pitch, stole second and advanced to third when the throw sailed into center field. Hoover scored when Kinsey Goelz hit a home run to left field.
Florida 2, Mississippi State 0

Top 4
Cheyenne Lindsey singled to shortstop and advanced to second on a Hannah Adams single to left field. Lindsey advanced to third and Adams advanced to second on a single to right field from Kendyl Lindaman. Baylee Goddard pinch ran for Lindaman. Back-to-back bases-loaded walks to Charla Echols and Avery Goelz brought home two runs. Goddard scored on a Jordan Matthews single, and Echols came home when the right fielder bobbled the ball. Avery Goelz took third on the play. Katie Kistler pinch ran for Matthews and quickly stole second. Avery Goelz and Kistler scored on a Julia Cottrill single to center field.
Florida 8, Mississippi State 0

On Deck

Mississippi State will close the current homestand with a midweek contest against Central Arkansas on Tuesday, March 23. First pitch is set for 4 p.m. CT, and the game will be broadcast on SEC Network+.

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