Jackie Joseph & Michigan State Softball finish the FIU Panther Invitational splitting its two games on Sunday

. MSU rallied for six runs in the top of the eighth inning to post a 9-3 win in extra innings over Ole Miss in the first game of the day, but fell 4-0 in a

. MSU rallied for six runs in the top of the eighth inning to post a 9-3 win in extra innings over Ole Miss in the first game of the day, but fell 4-0 in a time-shortened five-inning contest in the nightcap to host school Florida Atlantic.

On the weekend, Alyssa McBride extended her streak of reaching base safely to 18 games, while pushing her hitting streak to 11 contests. Both McKinzie Freimuth and Destinee Luna went a 2-for-5 on the day, each with a double, and senior Stephanie Sanders also had a pair of hits on the day. Pitcher Kristina Zalewski picked up the win in game one, going 7.1 innings with 10 strikeouts against just two walks.

The Spartans will be back in action, starting spring break with four games at the University of Central Florida tournament next Saturday and Sunday.

Michigan State 9, Ole Miss 3 (8)

Michigan State avenged a 4-3 loss to Ole Miss on Saturday, posting a 9-3 victory in eight innings in the rematch of the teams on Sunday morning. The Spartans used a six-run top of the eighth to improve to 10-7 overall, winning its second straight after snapping a four-game skid.

MSU last won an extra inning game last March, downing Toledo 6-5 at the Indiana Classic. MSU had dropped its only extra-inning affair this season, a 3-2 loss to San Diego. The victory also halted Ole Miss’ six-game winning streak, dropping the Rebels to 12-5 on the season.

The six-run eighth matched MSU’s biggest inning of the season, as the Spartans also posted six runs in the second inning against Utah State two weeks ago in a 9-1 victory. The nine runs also matches MSU’s best in a game this season. MSU scored nine runs on just six hits on the day, taking advantage of three Rebel errors in a three-hour marathon contest.

In that big eighth inning, Shanin Thomas was hit by a pitch to lead off, and Sanders singled to move her to second base. McKenzie Long reached on an error by the shortstop, loading the bases. Pitcher Emily Gaitan retired pinch hitter Sydney Heath for the first out of the inning, but Destinee Luna and Sarah Gutknect reached on back-to-back fielder’s choices, and coupled with an error by shortstop Grayce Mayjam, pushed across three runs to make it 6-3 MSU with just one out. Alyssa McBride followed with a single to center, keeping alive her 17-game streak of reaching base safely, scoring Luna to push MSU’s lead to four runs. After Lea Foerster struck out, McBride stole second, leaving runners in scoring position for McKinzie Freimuth. Freimuth singled to third, scoring Gutknecht. While Thomas was at the plate with two outs, the Spartans executed a double steal, scoring McBride from third for the sixth MSU run of the inning. Thomas grounded out to end the inning, but the damage had already been inflicted.

In the bottom of the inning, the Rebels had designs on staging a rally of their own. Zalewski got Alyssa Invergo to strike out looking, but Paige McKinney followed with a single to put a runner on base. Kaff replaced Zalewski at that point, as the redshirt freshman exited after throwing 131 pitches, striking out 10 and walking just two. Kaff struck out the only two batters she faced, getting both Courtney Syrett and pinch hitter Natalie Martinez to go down swinging to end the game.

Stephanie Sanders went 2-for-4 with an RBI, while classmate McKinzie Freimuth also went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI.

The game was a low-scoring affair, as the teams had to scratch and claw to get runs across in the first seven innings. Ole Miss put a run on the board in the bottom of the first, as Elantra Cox led off with an infield single, stole second, and moved to third on an Allison Brown sacrifice bunt. One out later, Bri Payne came through with a two-out single down the left field line, scoring Cox for the 1-0 lead. After Alex Schneider walked to put a pair of runners on base, Zalewski struck out Alyssa Invergo to end the inning with minimal damage.

The Spartans tied the game in the top of the fourth. Pitcher Madi Osias hit Freimuth, and Thomas moved her to second with a sacrifice bunt. Stephanie Sanders followed with a single up the middle, scoring Freimuth and allowing the senior to move to second on the throw. Long walked to put a second runner on base, but a flyout and a strikeout by Osias ended the inning.

MSU then pulled ahead with another run in the top of the fifth. Freimuth, who scored the tying run in the previous inning, smacked a two-out double to left center, scoring Jacquie Reiser, who walked to lead off the inning.

In the bottom of the sixth, Miranda Strother led off the inning with a single to left, stole both second and third, and then scored on a sacrifice by Payne, knotting the score at 2-2. Schneider followed with a single, Invergo reached on a fielders choice, and Paige McKinney singled to center – but Invergo stopped at third as McKinney advanced to second on the throw. Zalewski walked Syrett to load the bases, but Majam grounded out to first to get the Spartans out of the inning, as the Rebels left the bases loaded.

Tied 2-2 heading into the final frame, Destinee Luna led off the top of the seventh with a single through the right side on a full-count pitch. Reiser sacrificed her over to second, and Luna then moved to third on a wild pitch with just one out. McBride hit a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Luna to give MSU the 3-2 lead. Lea Foerster reached on an error to give MSU another baserunner, but Freimuth flied out to center to end the top half of the frame.

The Rebels countered in the bottom of the frame, as Cox smacked a leadoff triple, and Brown followed with an infield single to short. Strother delivered the third straight hit of the inning, singling to center to score Cox and move Brown to third. Once again, Zalewski worked out of the jam with minimal damage, getting Payne and Schneider on a groundout and popout, respectively, to send the game to extra innings.

Florida International 4, Michigan State 0 (5)

In a time-shortened game, MSU struggled to find its offense and came out on the short end of a 4-0 decision against host Florida International. Since MSU’s game against Ole Miss earlier in the day went more than three hours, the Spartans’ second game only lasted five innings due to time restrictions. MSU is now 10-8 overall, posting a 2-2 record on the road this weekend.

MSU had just a pair of hits in the shortened contest, but one was by left fielder Alyssa McBride, extending her streak to 18 consecutive games reaching base safely as well as pushing her hitting streak to 11 straight games.

FIU plated runs in the first and second innings against freshman starter Bridgette Rainey. In the first, Rebekah Sanchez singled followed by a Ashley Leon bunt, putting the lead two runners on base. Rainey walked Stephanie Texeira to load the bases, and a balk sent Sanchez home for the first run of the game. Rainey worked out of the bases-loaded jam, however, limiting the FIU lead to a single run. In the second, Krystal Garcia led off with a single, she was sacrificed to second, and Ashley Belans followed with a single down the line that scored Garcia to double the Panthers’ lead. Meanwhile, the Spartans left the bases loaded in the bottom of the first and stranded two more in the second, wasting a leadoff double by Destinee Luna.

In the third inning, FIU added two more runs to push their lead out to 4-0. Pinch hitter Dominiqe Grossman produced a one-out single to right, then stole second. After Rainey got the second out of the inning by getting Garcia to pop up to short, Alemia Lopez doubled to left scoring Grossman, at which point Valerie Kaff entered to replace Rainey. Belans came back to the plate and stroked her second hit of the day, doubling to center and scoring pinch runner Marissa McGregor for the 4-0 FIU lead. Kaff got Sanchez to strike out swinging to end the inning and the FIU threat.

In the bottom of the third, Stephanie Sanders worked a full-count walk with one out, but was extinguished at second as McKenzie Long grounded into a fielder’s choice. Long was stranded on the basepaths as the pitcher Corinne Jenkins got Stoffer to fly out to left.

Kaff worked a quick top of the fourth, facing just four batters and throwing 12 total pitches, allowing only a single to right by Gabby Spallone, but the Spartans went down as quickly in the bottom of the frame, with a lone hit coming from the bat of Alyssa McBride to extend her hitting streak to 11 games. Dani Goranson came in to throw the fifth to relieve Kaff, getting a pair of infield groundouts as well as getting Garcia to foul out to Stoffer behind the plate. Jenkins worked an equally efficient fifth, recording a pair of strikeouts and an out in foul territory in left field.

The teams started play in the sixth inning, but with the 3:15 game curfew to allow the Spartans to catch their return flight to East Lansing, the game reverted to the last complete inning of play to make it a final 4-0 score.

Michigan State returns to Florida next weekend to begin Spring Break, playing four games at the University of Central Florida next weekend.