Goold Tosses First Career No-Hitter Against UT Martin

Wednesday, March 25

Starkville

5 p.m.

Mississippi State

30-6

UT Martin

19-14

UT Martin

Mississippi State

Photo by: Mississippi State Athletics

Goold Tosses First Career No-Hitter Against UT Martin

March 25, 2026 | Softball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Postgame Notes Goold No-Hitter Highlights Offensive Highlights

By: Brian Ogden, Director/Communications

STARKVILLE – Peja Goold threw her first career no-hitter on Wednesday night as No. 12 Mississippi State defeated UT Martin, 7-0. It was the 28th no-hitter in school history and she is the 20th Bulldog to toss one.

Goold had turned in four one-hit performances this year, losing her no-hit bid with one out remaining in two separate run-rule victories, yet against UT Martin she finished the job. Despite the offense not being able to end the game early, Goold struck out a season-high 13 batters over 7.0 innings.

"Peja is one of the best pitchers in the country, and she's really shown that all year long," head coach Samantha Ricketts said. "We gave her the start tonight to kind of get her sharpened up. She worked on some things with Coach T [Taryne Mowatt-McKinney] this week. It's good to see her get back out there and bounce back after the weekend. Her pitches, what she's able to do, changing speeds and moving the ball is just phenomenal. She had chances for a no-hitter earlier in the season and lost them late in the game. Coach T told her early on. She said 'You're going to throw one. You're going to do it before you leave.' It's really cool to see that being spoken into existence, and I think just the confidence that Coach T has in Peja and all her pitchers. I'm really happy for her. All of us are. The work she's put in and to see it pay off with this big accomplishment, especially a full seven-inning no hitter."

Ricketts moved Kiarra Sells into the leadoff spot for the first time in her career, and it paid off on Wednesday night. Sells drove in three runs and reached in all three trips to the plate. She walked, homered and doubled and drove in or scored four of the Bulldogs' seven runs.

Kinley Keller, Nadia Barbary and Gabby Schaeffer all added RBIs. Barbary and Bernardini each had a double in the game.

With the win, State improved to 30-6, marking the fewest games to reach the 30-win mark in program history. Last year, the Bulldogs reset that standard with 30 wins in 38 contests before bettering it this season.

Quotables

Samantha Ricketts on moving Kiarra Sells to the leadoff spot…
"We've been talking about it. I just didn't want to pull the trigger during an SEC series, so we thought we'd go with it on a Wednesday night game. One, it's just kind of protecting her a little bit and then just getting some traffic out there for Morgan Stiles and Nadia Barbary, who've done a great job all year with runners on base. She's got a lot of speed, so she can score right off the bat if either of those two come through, like Nadia did with the double in the first, to help us score early. But with what Kiarra has done all season long and just continues to produce, she sees a lot of pitches, and she'll take her walks. Obviously, she can leave the park at any time, and it's going to force them to decide if they want to pitch to her or if they are going to put her on base for some big bats behind her. She was excited about it and so were the others, and it was good to see her go out there and just continue to do what she's done all year long."

Peja Goold on her special outing...
"I started to notice towards the fourth inning that I had a chance, especially because our team scored a lot. I knew if the game ended early, there was a chance I could have it. Recently, when I get those one-hitters, in the last inning I happened to give up one hit. I just knew in God's time, he'll make it happen. I just trusted that if this is meant to be, it'll be."

Quick Hitters

Nadia Barbary – Hit an RBI double … now tied for seventh in MSU history with 43 career doubles.

Morgan Bernardini – Doubled and now tied for second on the team with seven doubles this year.

Peja Goold – Threw the 28th no-hitter in program history and the first of her career … only baserunner was a second-inning walk … struck out the side in the third inning … posted her third double-digit strikeout game this season with a season-high 13 tonight … came one strikeout shy of her career high … since the start of 2025, she has struck out five or more batters 37 times, recording the win in 32 of those games.

Kinley Keller – Went 2-for-2 with an RBI single and a stolen base ...had her fourth career multi-hit game.

Gabby Schaeffer – Reached in every plate appearance … picked up an RBI single and walked … scored twice ... also had a stolen base.

Kiarra Sells – Went 2-for-2 with a two-run home run, RBI double and a walk … now tied for the team lead in RBIs (28) … also leads the team with 12 home runs on the year, which is a new single-season career high … leads the team with 13 multi-hit and nine multi-RBI games.

Morgan Stiles – Has reached base in seven straight games.

Scoring Recap

Bottom 1
Kiarra Sells drew a leadoff walk and advanced to second on Morgan Stiles' groundout. Nadia Barbary doubled to left center scoring Sells.
UT Martin 0, No. 12 Mississippi State 1

Bottom 2
With one out, Gabby Schaeffer walked. With two outs, Sells homered to left scoring Schaffer.
UT Martin 0, No. 12 Mississippi State 3

Bottom 3
Morgan Bernardini doubled to lead off the inning, and Gretta Grassel pinch ran for her. With one out, Schaffer singled to right, scoring Grassel. She then stole second. Paige Ernstes pinch hit and singled to right. She advanced to second and Schaeffer scored on an error in right field. Sells doubled to left scoring Ernstes.
UT Martin 0, No. 12 Mississippi State 6

Bottom 6
Stiles reached on a fielding error by the shortstop to open the inning. Ally Supan came into pinch run and advanced to second on a flyout to right field. Abigail Stevens pinch hit and advanced Supan to third with a groundout. Kinley Keller singled to center, scoring Supan.
UT Martin 0, No. 12 Mississippi State 7

Next Up

MSU will host No. 23 South Carolina for its annual Monday night series this weekend. The series begins on Saturday, March 28 at 2 p.m. CT. Sunday and Monday night's games will air nationally on SEC Network with both starting at 6 p.m.

Saturday is the Bulldogs' annual Think Pink game, and Sunday will be MSU's Faculty/Staff Appreciation game. Mississippi State University faculty and staff can purchase tickets for Monday night's game at discounted rates using the promo code sent to their campus email address.

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