Faircloth Pitches First Solo Shutout As No. 11 Bulldogs Beat UAB

Wednesday, March 18

Starkville

7 p.m.

Mississippi State

UAB

Photo by: Mississippi State Athletics

Faircloth Pitches First Solo Shutout As No. 11 Bulldogs Beat UAB

March 18, 2026 | Softball

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By: Carlos Hurtado Jr., Student Assistant/Communications

STARKVILLE – No. 11 Mississippi State scored four runs in the sixth as the Bulldogs shut out UAB with a 4-0 win on Wednesday night.

Alyssa Faircloth struck out 14, matching her career high, while recording her first solo shutout for the Bulldogs (28-4,1-2 SEC). Entering the season, she had just one double-digit strikeout game in her career, and she now has five this year. Faircloth allowed just two hits, both on the infield dirt.

"Well, I mean, we do like to score in late innings, but we're not opposed to also scoring early. It just kind of felt offensively like a little bit of the pressure we were putting on ourselves over the weekend in the Tennessee series carried over tonight," head coach Samantha Ricketts said. "I think we were just making the moment too big and not playing Mississippi State softball and relaxing. You know, [UAB's Olivia Cummings] did a good job. I thought she did a really good job of staying within her game plan, and I just would like to see us make some adjustments sooner. I think the team overall did a really good job of staying calm, staying present with it. And really the message just became, 'Hey, let's get some runs for Alyssa.'"

State broke through offensively in the sixth inning. Tatum Silva led off with double before Abby Grace Richardson put down a sacrifice bunt. Morgan Stiles drove in the game's first run and then State loaded the bases. Morgan Bernardini drew an RBI walk, and Taylor Troutman plated a pair.

Quotables

Samantha Ricketts on the late-inning offense...
"I think sometimes when you can take that pressure off yourself where it's not so much thinking about me, me, me and my approach and my at-bat, but focusing on having a team approach, a team at-bat, do it for the person, to your left, to your right, do it for the pitcher in the circle – I think that just got them to calm down a little bit. It was a huge at-bat from Tatum Silva at the bottom order to really get it started there in the sixth, and you could see the maturity and the confidence in her when she went up there that at-bat. I thought it led to some really good team moments for us, which is always a focus on our offense with what we're going through."

Samantha Ricketts on Alyssa Faircloth's outing...
"She wasn't quite as sharp on some of her pitches she normally is early on, and a big credit to her, she really just kind of pushed through it. She continued to fight. She was talking and working with Coach T [Taryne Mowatt-McKinney] in the dugout in between innings. I think it came down to just trusting herself and what her and Coach T have done. She got out there and continued to get stronger each and every inning and mix pitches. She found a lot of pitches that maybe she didn't have total control over early. When she's got all of them working like she did towards the end, she's a really tough matchup because she can throw a lot of different pitches at different speeds at hitters."

Alyssa Faircloth on her outing...
"I went into this game working on some things. Usually I turn my brain off, but today I was thinking through things and making corrections. I felt that the beginning of the game was a struggle, and I felt like I got better as the game went on. I'm happy I got to work on some things, and I felt good by the end of it."

Quick Hitters

Morgan Bernardini – Hit her sixth double of the year and now tied for second on the team … also drew an RBI walk.

Alyssa Faircloth – Struck out 14 of 26 batters faced in her sixth complete game of the year … it was her first solo shutout as a Bulldog … matched her career high in strikeouts … allowed just two hits, both infield singles … fifth double-digit strikeout game of the year after entering the season with just one in her career.

Tatum Silva – Doubled and scored the game-winning run in the sixth inning.

Morgan Stiles – Singled and drove in State's game-winning run … has reached base in three straight games.

Taylor Troutman – Hit a two-run single … stands as her second multi-RBI game of the year.

Scoring Recap

Bottom 6
Tatum Silva doubled to right field to lead off the inning. Silva moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Abby Grace Richardson and scored on Morgan Stiles' RBI single over the second baseman. Xiane Romero pinch ran for Stiles at first. The bases were loaded after Nadia Barbary singled to left and Kiarra Sells walked. Romero scored on a walk by Morgan Bernadini. Taylor Troutman extended the score with a two-run single to right, bringing home Barbary and Sells.
UAB 0, No. 11 Mississippi State 4

Next Up

Mississippi State will travel to No. 15/13 Georgia this weekend to face the SEC's other Bulldogs in a three-game set. Friday night's first pitch is set for 5 p.m. CT on SEC Network. The final two games of the series will air on SEC Network+ with both Saturday and Sunday's games starting at 1 p.m.

For more information on the Bulldog softball program, follow on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and Instagram by searching "HailStateSB."