No. 17 Bulldogs Fall Short In Another Comeback Attempt
No. 9 Gators hold off MSU in the final inning to win 8-5
STARKVILLE – No. 17 Mississippi State pulled off one comeback Thursday against No. 9 Florida, rallying from a 12-6 deficit to win 13-12. The Bulldogs came up short in their second comeback attempt Friday night falling to the Gators, 8-5.
“Ultimately, we gave away too many at-bats in the middle innings,” MSU coach Samantha Ricketts said. “We need to have that focused approach throughout the whole game. It's a good pitcher. It's a good team. We can't give away at-bats and expect to do it in the late innings every week.”
Florida (30-5, 6-2 SEC) scored three runs in the fourth inning and five in the sixth to build an 8-2 lead. Gator pitcher Ava Brown had held the Bulldogs’ (25-8, 6-5 SEC) high-power offense to just two runs and four hits before the seventh inning.
"I thought she did a good job changing her approach. It was tough to sit with one gameplan because every time we went out there, she was leaning on another pitch,” Ricketts said about Brown’s performance. “One inning was all changeups, then it was riseballs, then it was more of that backdoor curve and screwball. Big credit to her. She was hitting her spots. She really did a great job of keeping us on our toes.”
Salen Hawkins led off with a left field single and M Faapito and Sierra Sacco drew back-to-back walks to load the bases for Nadia Barbary. Barbary hit a single to drive in one run and kept the bases loaded for Madisyn Kennedy, who hit a home run in the previous night’s comeback.
Kennedy drew a 3-2 walk that drove in a run and J Blaine drove in a run on a fielder’s choice. Down to their final out, Ella Wesolowski came to bat representing the tying run. However, she lined out to right field to end the game, 8-5.
Josey Marron (8-4) held the Gators’ scoreless through the first three innings, but gave up three runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth inning before Delainey Everett came in to relive her. Everett faced just one batter, who hit a RBI double to left field. Lexi Sosa finished the game inside the circle for MSU.
The Bulldogs started out strong with Ella Wesolowski driving in a pair of runs in the first inning with a single to shallow centerfield.
MSU and Florida wrap up their three-game series on Saturday. The game will air on SEC Network+ starting at noon.