Friday, April 12
Starkville
6:00 PM
Mississippi State
9
vs
1
#4 Tennessee
State Claims First Top-Five Run-Rule Victory Against No. 4 Tennessee
April 12, 2024 | Softball
STARKVILLE – It was a historic night in Starkville on Friday as No. 16/17 Mississippi State upended No. 4/4 Tennessee, 9-1, in five innings. The game was State's highest-ranked victory in Nusz Park since 2016 and marked its first run-rule victory over a top-five team in program history.
The Bulldogs (29-10, 9-7 SEC) scored in every inning and brought home the final run on a walk-off wild pitch. State's nine runs came home on nine hits, including four doubles.
"Definitely just proud of the team. I thought they were ready for the challenge, knowing what was coming to town," head coach Samantha Ricketts said. "They did a really good job of locking in and preparing all week long. Just a complete game – our offense, our defense, our pitching. It was just really fun to see their confidence continue to grow as we get deeper into the season against these quality top-five opponents."
Aspen Wesley threw the full game and allowed just two hits. The only Lady Vol (30-7, 10-3 SEC) run scored after a leadoff walk to open the game and a two-out single in the first.
Nadia Barbary started State's scoring outburst with a double in the first. Sierra Sacco plated a run in the second, and Brylie St. Clair scored on a wild pitch. Later in the frame, Madisyn Kennedy hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Sacco. State added three more runs on a Kylee Edwards double and a Tennessee error in the third.
"They were just so good all night long. It's what we see in practice. Sometimes people bring up our fielding percentage, we don't worry about the stats of that at all because we know how good we are defensively. Athlete after athlete all around that field, it's really fun to see them all have their moment and go out and do everything they can to make a play for their pitcher on the mound. It was fun to see especially those freshmen up the middle getting better and more confident. Same with Brylie and Sacco, I think just big outs and we needed them from both of them."
Aspen Wesley on pitching with a lead…
"Whenever we get a pretty good lead like that, a run at least, it lets all of us pitchers feel like not all the pressure is on us – even though we shouldn't do that anyways – just having the ball in our hands all of the time. Whenever we do go to offense, and they do score some runs, I think it is very helpful and helps us breathe a little bit."
Salen Hawkins on her diving play up the middle…
"Zac [Shaw] has been hitting a lot of backhands to me, so that definitely helped with getting that ball. I just wanted to really help Aspen out. That's just what I wanted to do. Kylee [Edwards] did a really great job catching that ball. I watched it in slow motion and was like, 'Please catch it.' She did such a great job catching with one hand. I'm proud of her."
Nadia Barbary – Hit her team-leading 15th double of the season … ranked second in the SEC and 15th in the nation for doubles entering the game … now one double shy of the MSU sophomore record (16, Caroline Seitz, 2015) … ranks 10th in MSU single-season history.
Paige Cook – Hit her ninth double of the season and now ranks second on the team … recorded her fourth multi-hit game of the season.
Kylee Edwards – Drove in three RBIs, marking her fourth multi-RBI game of the season … extended her hitting streak to three games, the longest active streak on the team … added her third sacrifice fly of the year.
Salen Hawkins – Singled and scored … now has 20 runs on the year, which ranks fourth on the team … made a diving play up the middle and used a glove flip for the out at second.
Madisyn Kennedy – Drove in her SEC-leading 51st RBI with a sacrifice fly … saw her career-long reached-base streak end at 25 games, which was tied for the 11th-longest streak in school history.
Sierra Sacco – Scored twice … turned in her 12th multi-hit game of the season … also drew a walk and reached on a fielder's choice where the runner was safe to reach in all four trips … matched her career high with three stolen bases.
Brylie St. Clair – Singled and laid down a sacrifice bunt … scored on a wild pitch and scored on a passed ball … added a diving catch in left field.
Ella Wesolowski – Hit her seventh double of the season.
Aspen Wesley - Recorded her career-high 11th win and her sixth SEC victory of the year … now has a career-high 90 strikeouts for the season.
Kiki Milloy walked to open the ballgame. McKenna Gibson and Zaida Puni both grounded out, allowing Milloy to move to third. Rylie West then singled through the left side, scoring Milloy.
No. 4 Tennessee 1, No. 16 Mississippi State 0
Bottom 1
Sierra Sacco walked before Nadia Barbary doubled down the left-field line to score her.
No. 4 Tennessee 1, No. 16 Mississippi State 1
Bottom 2
Salen Hawkins and Brylie St. Clair opened the inning with back-to-back single. Sacco then singled off the third baseman, scoring Hawkins. Meanwhile, St. Clair advanced to third on a fielding error by the left fielder after the ball got through. Sacco stole second. She advanced to third on a wild pitch as St. Clair scored. With one out, Madisyn Kennedy hit a sacrifice fly into foul ground in right field, scoring Sacco.
No. 4 Tennessee 1, No. 16 Mississippi State 4
Bottom 3
Ella Wesolowski doubled to right-center field, and Kat Wallace came in to pinch run. Paige Cook then doubled to left field, advancing Wallce to third. Kylee Edwards doubled to left-center field, scoring both runners. Hawkins reached and advanced to second on a throwing error by the pitcher, allowing Edwards to score.
No. 4 Tennessee 1, No. 16 Mississippi State 7
Bottom 4
After Blaine drew a leadoff walk, Kiarra Sells came in to pinch run. With one out, Cook singled to right center and advanced on the throw as Sells reached third. Jadyn Burney came in to pinch run for Cook at second. Edwards hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Sells.
No. 4 Tennessee 1, No. 16 Mississippi State 8
Bottom 5
Aquana Brownlee walked to open the frame after coming in to pinch hit for St. Clair. St. Clair then reentered to run at first. Sacco singled through the right side, advancing St. Clair to third. She then scored on a walk-off wild pitch.
No. 4 Tennessee 1, No. 16 Mississippi State 9
For more information on the Bulldog softball program, follow on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and Instagram by searching "HailStateSB."
The Bulldogs (29-10, 9-7 SEC) scored in every inning and brought home the final run on a walk-off wild pitch. State's nine runs came home on nine hits, including four doubles.
"Definitely just proud of the team. I thought they were ready for the challenge, knowing what was coming to town," head coach Samantha Ricketts said. "They did a really good job of locking in and preparing all week long. Just a complete game – our offense, our defense, our pitching. It was just really fun to see their confidence continue to grow as we get deeper into the season against these quality top-five opponents."
Aspen Wesley threw the full game and allowed just two hits. The only Lady Vol (30-7, 10-3 SEC) run scored after a leadoff walk to open the game and a two-out single in the first.
Nadia Barbary started State's scoring outburst with a double in the first. Sierra Sacco plated a run in the second, and Brylie St. Clair scored on a wild pitch. Later in the frame, Madisyn Kennedy hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Sacco. State added three more runs on a Kylee Edwards double and a Tennessee error in the third.
Quotables
Samantha Ricketts on the Bulldog defense tonight…"They were just so good all night long. It's what we see in practice. Sometimes people bring up our fielding percentage, we don't worry about the stats of that at all because we know how good we are defensively. Athlete after athlete all around that field, it's really fun to see them all have their moment and go out and do everything they can to make a play for their pitcher on the mound. It was fun to see especially those freshmen up the middle getting better and more confident. Same with Brylie and Sacco, I think just big outs and we needed them from both of them."
Aspen Wesley on pitching with a lead…
"Whenever we get a pretty good lead like that, a run at least, it lets all of us pitchers feel like not all the pressure is on us – even though we shouldn't do that anyways – just having the ball in our hands all of the time. Whenever we do go to offense, and they do score some runs, I think it is very helpful and helps us breathe a little bit."
Salen Hawkins on her diving play up the middle…
"Zac [Shaw] has been hitting a lot of backhands to me, so that definitely helped with getting that ball. I just wanted to really help Aspen out. That's just what I wanted to do. Kylee [Edwards] did a really great job catching that ball. I watched it in slow motion and was like, 'Please catch it.' She did such a great job catching with one hand. I'm proud of her."
Quick Hitters
Notable Night At Nusz – Tonight's victory is the Bulldogs' highest ranked win at home since defeating No. 3 Auburn, 6-3, on March 19, 2016 … it is also the first time State has run-ruled a top-five team in program history … the run-rule is State's 14th of the year, which breaks the program record set in 2008 … it is MSU's 11th ranked win of the year, which is also a new program record.Nadia Barbary – Hit her team-leading 15th double of the season … ranked second in the SEC and 15th in the nation for doubles entering the game … now one double shy of the MSU sophomore record (16, Caroline Seitz, 2015) … ranks 10th in MSU single-season history.
Paige Cook – Hit her ninth double of the season and now ranks second on the team … recorded her fourth multi-hit game of the season.
Kylee Edwards – Drove in three RBIs, marking her fourth multi-RBI game of the season … extended her hitting streak to three games, the longest active streak on the team … added her third sacrifice fly of the year.
Salen Hawkins – Singled and scored … now has 20 runs on the year, which ranks fourth on the team … made a diving play up the middle and used a glove flip for the out at second.
Madisyn Kennedy – Drove in her SEC-leading 51st RBI with a sacrifice fly … saw her career-long reached-base streak end at 25 games, which was tied for the 11th-longest streak in school history.
Sierra Sacco – Scored twice … turned in her 12th multi-hit game of the season … also drew a walk and reached on a fielder's choice where the runner was safe to reach in all four trips … matched her career high with three stolen bases.
Brylie St. Clair – Singled and laid down a sacrifice bunt … scored on a wild pitch and scored on a passed ball … added a diving catch in left field.
Ella Wesolowski – Hit her seventh double of the season.
Aspen Wesley - Recorded her career-high 11th win and her sixth SEC victory of the year … now has a career-high 90 strikeouts for the season.
Scoring Recap
Top 1Kiki Milloy walked to open the ballgame. McKenna Gibson and Zaida Puni both grounded out, allowing Milloy to move to third. Rylie West then singled through the left side, scoring Milloy.
No. 4 Tennessee 1, No. 16 Mississippi State 0
Bottom 1
Sierra Sacco walked before Nadia Barbary doubled down the left-field line to score her.
No. 4 Tennessee 1, No. 16 Mississippi State 1
Bottom 2
Salen Hawkins and Brylie St. Clair opened the inning with back-to-back single. Sacco then singled off the third baseman, scoring Hawkins. Meanwhile, St. Clair advanced to third on a fielding error by the left fielder after the ball got through. Sacco stole second. She advanced to third on a wild pitch as St. Clair scored. With one out, Madisyn Kennedy hit a sacrifice fly into foul ground in right field, scoring Sacco.
No. 4 Tennessee 1, No. 16 Mississippi State 4
Bottom 3
Ella Wesolowski doubled to right-center field, and Kat Wallace came in to pinch run. Paige Cook then doubled to left field, advancing Wallce to third. Kylee Edwards doubled to left-center field, scoring both runners. Hawkins reached and advanced to second on a throwing error by the pitcher, allowing Edwards to score.
No. 4 Tennessee 1, No. 16 Mississippi State 7
Bottom 4
After Blaine drew a leadoff walk, Kiarra Sells came in to pinch run. With one out, Cook singled to right center and advanced on the throw as Sells reached third. Jadyn Burney came in to pinch run for Cook at second. Edwards hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Sells.
No. 4 Tennessee 1, No. 16 Mississippi State 8
Bottom 5
Aquana Brownlee walked to open the frame after coming in to pinch hit for St. Clair. St. Clair then reentered to run at first. Sacco singled through the right side, advancing St. Clair to third. She then scored on a walk-off wild pitch.
No. 4 Tennessee 1, No. 16 Mississippi State 9
Next Up
The Bulldogs and Lady Vols continue the series at 2:30 p.m. CT on Saturday. It is All For Alex day in the SEC, and both teams will join the rest of the SEC in wearing teal uniforms to honor the late Alex Wilcox, who played at State in 2018, and her fight with ovarian cancer. The game will be broadcast nationally on SEC Network.For more information on the Bulldog softball program, follow on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and Instagram by searching "HailStateSB."