Cowbell Corner

Bulldogs Show Poise as Mississippi State Reaches Best Start Since 2014

Seven runs in the third inning powered Mississippi State to an 8-4 win over Memphis, highlighting a calm, confident 11-0 start.
Taylor Hodges|
Mississippi State sophomore Leila Ammon winds up for a pitch in Wednesday's game against Memphis in Starkville.
Mississippi State sophomore Leila Ammon winds up for a pitch in Wednesday's game against Memphis in Starkville. | Mississippi State Athletics

Sometimes you learn a lot about a team by how it reacts when the script gets flipped. Memphis scored first, Mississippi State didn’t, and nobody in maroon seemed bothered.

Wednesday’s 8-4 win over Memphis pushed the Bulldogs to 11-0, their best start since 2014, and what stood out wasn’t the record as much as how normal everything felt even when the game didn’t open the way they wanted.

Memphis scored first. Mississippi State didn’t. Nobody flinched.

“I thought we did a good job early on about not pressing when they scored first and we didn't score the first couple innings,” Bulldogs’ coach Samantha Ricketts said. “It was a really good response to make some adjustments there in the third.”

The third inning is where the whole night settled into place.

Gabby Schaeffer reached from the bottom of the order. Morgan Stiles got hit. Suddenly there were runners, and Kiarra Sells stepped in looking for one pitch and one pitch only.

“I know that, lately, I haven't been producing runs or doing my job, so I really focused on that,” Sells said. “There was a specific pitch that I was looking for… I was attacking what was there.”

She got it. Three‑run homer. Lead flipped.

Four batters later, Morgan Bernardini delivered the loudest swing of the day, a grand slam that turned a tight game into one Mississippi State could manage instead of chase. Seven runs in the inning. Eleven hitters to the plate. No panic, no rush, just a lineup taking what it was given.

That’s been the theme so far. Mississippi State scores a lot of runs but it never looks like it’s trying to force the issue.

Even when Memphis answered with three runs in the fourth on back‑to‑back homers, the response stayed steady. Leila Ammon came back in and settled things. Peja Goold closed it out without letting anyone reach base.

“It gives me a lot of confidence that my coaches rely on me if the game is getting tight or the other team is getting the momentum a little bit,” Goold said. “I can take it back.”

Ricketts put it simply.

“She (Goold) just commands it, settles things down and just provides such a different look,” Ricketts said. “I just love her confidence.”

Nothing about this start feels like it hinges on one thing going right. The power is there (Sells now leads the team with four homers, Bernardini picked up her first) but so is the patience. Thirteen walks Wednesday. Five or more runs in 10 of 11 games. Traffic on the bases from every part of the order.

The 11-0 record matters because it hasn’t happened here in more than a decade. But what matters more is how unremarkable the path to it looked: smooth and calm.

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Taylor Hodges
TAYLOR HODGES

Award-winning sports editor, writer, columnist, and photographer with 15 years’ experience offering his opinion and insight about the sports world in Mississippi and Texas, but he was taken to Razorback pep rallies at Billy Bob's Texas in Fort Worth before he could walk. Taylor has covered all levels of sports, from small high schools in the Mississippi Delta to NFL games. Follow Taylor on Twitter and Facebook.

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