Mississippi State Settles In, Shuts Out UAB Before SEC Road Test

Some nights are about style points. Wednesday was not one of those nights. Mississippi State just needed to win, settle in and move forward.

The Bulldogs did exactly that with a 4-0 shutout of UAB, and the fact that Alyssa Faircloth turned in one of the best outings of her career was more of a pleasant extra than the main storyline. But you won’t hear anyone complaining about it.

Mississippi State had to grind for five innings before anything broke open. The offense had chances but never quite found the big swing early. Then the sixth inning arrived, and everything finally clicked.

"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," Bulldogs’ coach Samantha Ricketts said. "I think we were just making the moment too big and not playing Mississippi State softball and relaxing.”

Tatum Silva ripped a leadoff double, Abby Grace Richardson moved her over, and Morgan Stiles punched the first run across.

From there, the Bulldogs kept the pressure on. Morgan Bernardini drew a bases-loaded walk, and Taylor Troutman delivered a two-run single that gave the Bulldogs the breathing room they had been chasing all night.

Count 'em up! @alyssaf_28 twirls her first complete-game shutout as a Bulldog!#HailState pic.twitter.com/wp6IMYnZrs
— Mississippi State Softball (@HailStateSB) March 19, 2026

“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,” Ricketts said. “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."

That four-run burst was enough because Faircloth had already taken care of everything else.

She matched her career high with 14 strikeouts and allowed only two infield singles. It was her first solo shutout at Mississippi State and her fifth double-digit strikeout game of the season.

Considering she entered the year with only one such outing in her career, her jump this spring has been hard to miss.

“I went into this game working on some things,” Faircloth said. “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.”

But again, the bigger picture is simple. Mississippi State needed to handle business at home, and it did.

The clean defense, the late-inning execution and the steady presence in the circle all added up to the kind of midweek performance that keeps a season on track.

Now the Bulldogs head to Georgia for a three-game SEC series.

The challenge ramps up again, but Wednesday gave them what they needed most: a win, a little momentum and a reminder that they can control a game when it matters.