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Cowbell Corner

Timely Hits, Big Defensive Stop Power Mississippi State to Series Win

The Bulldogs leaned on clutch offense and composed pitching to hold off South Carolina 4-3 and take the series heading into a trip to Florida.
Taylor Hodges|
Mississippi State softball infielder Morgan Stiles readies a throw to first base in a SEC game against No. 23 South Carolina.
Mississippi State softball infielder Morgan Stiles readies a throw to first base in a SEC game against No. 23 South Carolina. | Mississippi State Athletics

Mississippi State didn’t make it easy on itself Monday night, but the Bulldogs walked out with a series win and a reminder that this group knows how to answer pressure.

A 4-3 win over No. 23 South Carolina wrapped up the weekend and showed a little bit of everything this team has leaned on all year.

Paige Ernstes set the tone early with a solo shot in the second. It was her first of the season, and it gave Mississippi State a quick lead in a game that never really settled into a rhythm.

"I took the first two pitches inside. Then, I knew that she was going to try to tunnel in her rise ball along with that to try to make it seem like the same pitch,” Ernstes said. “I was just thinking, 'I'm going to get on top of it and just hit a line drive,' and it went out.”

South Carolina punched back in the fourth with a solo homer of its own, and for a moment it felt like the night might drift into one of those tight, low-scoring SEC grinders.

Instead, the Bulldogs finally broke through in the fifth.

Anna Carder opened the inning with a double, her first extra-base hit of the year, and the whole frame seemed to loosen up from there.

A Gamecock error helped move runners along, and Xiane Romero made sure it mattered with a two-run double to left center. It was her first multi-RBI game of the season and one of the biggest swings of the night.

“I think that was my first at-bat that I was pretty calm,” Romero said. “He called this strike up and in, and I didn't really like that so I kind of just got my foot down early and swung my hardest.”

Kiarra Sells followed with a single, and Nadia Barbary brought Romero home with a simple groundout that did exactly what the moment needed. Suddenly the lead was three.

South Carolina didn’t go away. The Gamecocks loaded the bases in the sixth and cut the lead to one on a double from Lexi Winters.

They nearly tied it, too, but Kalani Sells came up with her first career outfield assist and threw out the runner at the plate. It was the kind of play that changes the whole feel of a game.

Mississippi State needed every bit of pitching it could get, and the trio of Peja Goold, Leila Ammon and Alyssa Faircloth handled the night with a steady hand.

Goold gave the Bulldogs four solid innings in her third SEC start, allowing just one run and striking out five without a walk. Ammon took over in a tie game and earned her eighth win by navigating the fifth and sixth.

Then Goold returned in the seventh to close it out and pick up her third save of the year. It wasn’t flashy, but it was composed, and it was exactly what the moment called for.

Now the Bulldogs turn the page quickly. A trip to No. 3 Florida is waiting, and the schedule gets weird with an early Saturday start on SEC Network.

Mississippi State heads into it with a series win in hand and a lineup that seems to be settling into a rhythm again. It wasn’t perfect, but it was the kind of win that travels.

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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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