BY BEN WAIT
STARKVILLE — Vann Stuedeman won’t soon forget this loss.
Between having runs taken off the board, tying the game in the seventh and having multiple chances in extra innings, the Mississippi State softball coach feels like this one slipped away.
MSU caught enough breaks, but couldn’t capitalize and lost 5-2 in 12 innings to No. 11 LSU Saturday night in front of a record crowd of 1,612 at Nusz Park to even up the Southeastern Conference series.
“Going into the extended innings we had multiple chances to score the winning run and it’s a tough game to lose,” Stuedeman said. “A lot of things went our way and it just didn’t show up on the scoreboard.”
The Tigers (31-13, 6-11 SEC) got a sacrifice flyout from Sandra Simmons in the top of the 12th inning and added two more runs to even up the series. The Bulldogs (23-19, 3-11) went down 1-2-3 in the home half of the inning.
MSU took a 1-0 lead into the seventh after Mackenzie Toler doubled home a run in the sixth, but Bianka Bell hit a leadoff solo home run to tie things at 1. Stuedeman brought in Alexis Silkwood for Regan Green, who got the only batter she faced in the sixth to leave the bases loaded.
“I just thought Regan would give us a really good chance because they haven’t seen her and I knew that they would have a good plan against Silkwood,” Stuedeman said. “I just thought we needed to stick with Regan and unfortunately it didn’t pan out right there.”
Silkwood got the first batter she faced but gave up an RBI double to Sahvanna Jaquish to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead. The Bulldogs evened things up at 2 on a wild pitch in the home half, but Sarai Niu popped out with the bases loaded to send the game to extra innings.
Bulldog starter Holly Ward pitched into the fifth, but gave up back-to-back singles and was pulled. Cassady Knudsen retired the first two batters she faced but then gave up a two-run single to Kellsi Kloss. The designated player was pinch run for in the fourth and was never officially reentered back into the lineup and Stuedeman pointed it out the umpire and Kloss was ruled out taking the two runs off the board.
After throwing a complete game four-hitter in Friday night’s 7-2 win, Silkwood (3-6) threw 5 1/3 innings in relief to take the loss. She gave up four runs (all earned) on seven hits. She walked five and struck out one.
The Bulldogs stranded 12 runners to the Tigers’ 20. Toler and Calyn Adams each had two hits for MSU, while Simmons led LSU with three. Bell, Kloss, Jaquish and Emily Griggs all had two hits.
The Bulldogs look to clinch their first SEC series 3:30 p.m. Sunday (SEC Network).
“We’ve had so many heartbreaking things not go our way this year and then when we get some bounces that go our way, we aren’t able to pull it out,” Stuedeman said. “Hopefully they bring toughness Sunday, they bring a mind-set that they’re ready to dominate and ready to bring it. They’re a resilient group of girls.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.