STARKVILLE — The Mississippi State softball team hits five home runs Friday en route to a 9-5 and a 12-1 victory in five innings against Illinois at a doubleheader at Nusz Park.
MSU’s second three home run game helped it improve to 19-3.
Due to rain sweeping through Starkville area on Saturday, the conclusion of the game between MSU and UMass Lowell has been pushed back to 1:30 p.m. today.
The game will resume with MSU holding a 5-0 lead in the top of the third with one Riverhawk on first base and one out.
MSU scored in the top of the first on an RBI single by senior Carmen Carter. It capitalized on three walks in the bottom of the second to score four runs on two hits.
Starting pitcher Emily Williams threw 2 1/3 innings before the game was suspended. Williams had allowed one hit and two walks. She had struck out four.
On Friday, senior Morgan Bell slugged her second grand slam of her career in the second game against Illinois.
Seniors Holly Ward (8-2) and Cassady Knudsen (7-1) threw complete games and combined for 11 strikeouts.
MSU scored early and often in Game 1. Junior Kat Moore led off the first inning with a single to second base before freshman Mia Davidson returned to her slugging ways with a home run to deep center field. After junior Sarai Niu reached on a one-out walk, senior Carmen Carter hit her first home run to make it 4-0.
MSU added to the lead in the second thanks to five hits. Redshirt junior Bevia Robinson and Moore sparked the big inning with back-to-back, one-out singles before Davidson slugged a double to left center to plate Robinson. Senior Reggie Harrison cleared the bases with a home run to left field to make it 8-0.
Ward (8-2) kept Illinois off the board for the first three innings, but the Illinois manufactured a run in the fourth with a couple singles and infield groundouts to cut the deficit to 8-1.
The Bulldogs answered in the home half of the inning. Back-to-back singles by Niu and Heimberger and a walk to Carter loaded the bases. Bell’s RBI walk accounted for the Bulldogs’ final run.
Illinois scored two runs on two hits and two errors to cut the deficit to 9-3 in the fifth.
In the seventh, Illinois led off with three singles to make it 9-4. After Davidson threw a runner out on a steal attempt and an infield grounder brought another run, Niu snagged a ground ball down the line and made the play for the final out.
Ward scattered 10 hits and allowed four earned runs. She walked two and struck out six.
In Game 2, Illinois scored in the top of the first, but MSU answered with four runs in the bottom half of the inning.
In the second inning, Dorsett singled and scored on Davidson’s second home run of the doubleheader.
In the bottom of third, Carter slugged her first triple of the season and scored on a wild pitch.
The Bulldogs loaded the bases in the fourth on a Davidson double and walks to Harrison and Niu. Heimberger was hit by a pitch to extend the lead to 8-1. Bell delivered the final blow with a grand slam down the left-field line.
Knudsen (7-1) allowed five hits and struck out five in five innings.
n No. 7 Texas A&M 7, No. 19 Ole Miss 0: At College Station Texas, Ole Miss managed only three hits in losing Game 2 of the season-opening Southeastern Conference series.
Freshman Anna Borgen took the loss for Ole Miss (13-6, 0-2 SEC). She allowed three runs on five hits in 3 1/3 innings. Morgan Bruce came on in relief in the fourth and threw two innings. Ava Tillmann got the final two outs.
Ole Miss will look to salvage a win in the series finale at 1 p.m. today (SEC Network).
n On Friday, No. 19 Ole Miss scored five runs in the final two innings but lost to No. 7 Texas A&M 8-6 at the Aggie Softball Complex.
Kaitlin Lee (8-2) allowed six runs and seven hits in 3 2/3 innings. Brittany Finney went 1 1/3 innings and gave up two runs on two hits. Freshman Ava Tillmann allowed one hit but struck out two in one inning.
Kaylee Horton singled in each of her first three at-bats. Gabby Alvarez’s two-run home run in the fifth was the second of the redshirt freshman’s career.
With her three-run home run in the seventh, Autumn Gillespie broke a four-way tie for the team lead in home runs, giving the redshirt sophomore three on the season.
n Alabama 6, Boston College 3; Alabama 7, Fordham 2: At Tuscaloosa, Alabama, After throwing a no-hitter Friday, senior pitcher Alexis Osorio turned in another dominating performance Saturday at the Easton Crimson Classic.
Osorio tied an NCAA record for strikeouts in a seven-inning game with 21 in the 7-2 victory over Fordham, which followed a 6-3 win over Boston College.
“It’s not often that you get to be part of history,” Alabama coach Patrick Murphy said. “Today was awesome. She’s been great for four years. She looked similar to last year’s opening game against Coastal Carolina where she threw a perfect game with 19 strikeouts. Fordham is a good hitting team. To do that against them after giving up the home run was even more impressive.”
Osorio (5-3) got into some early trouble in the game against Fordham (5-13), allowing two runs in the top of the first on a two-run home run. She was dominant from that point on, retiring 21 of the 26 batters she faced via strikeout. This breaks her previous Alabama (16-5) school record of 19 set in a perfect game on Feb. 10, 2017 at Coastal Carolina and ties the NCAA record for a seven-inning game, originally set by Cal’s Michele Granger on March 22, 1991 against Creighton. With today’s game, Osorio now owns five of the top seven single-game strikeout totals in program history.
Sophomore Bailey Hemphill went 3-for-3 with three RBIs, including a two-run home run. Freshman Kaylee Tow and sophomore Elissa Brown had two hits.
Against Boston College (8-12), Tow had a season-high three hits in the leadoff spot, including her fifth home run of the season. Hemphill also homered as part of a 2-for-4 day.
Freshman Madison Preston (5-1) went the distance for the win in the circle, allowing three runs on five hits.
n On Friday, Murphy earned his 1,000th win at Alabama when Osorio threw a no-hitter in a 5-0 win against Boston College.
Alabama rounded out the day with a 4-3 victory against Fordham.
A number of Southeastern Conference coaches, including Murphy, have 1,000 wins between multiple coaching stops, but Murphy is the first to earn 1,000 at a SEC program.
“I think it’s a product of great athletes, great assistant coaches, and great staff,” Murphy said on his milestone. “We have had great young ladies here for 22 years, and they do exactly what they are asked to do.”
The no-hitter was the 35th in Alabama history and the seventh for Osorio (4-3). Her seven no-hitters, four solo and three combined, are the second-most for any Tide pitcher, only trailing Kelsi Dunne (2008-11) with 10.
Against Boston College, Osorio struck out 11 to tie a season high. She walked one and hit one.
Sophomore Gabby Callaway went 2-for-2 and drove in three runs. Junior Merris Schroder also had two hits. Sophomore Elissa Brown scored two runs.
Alabama fell behind early against Fordham but rallied to tie it in the second inning and then take the lead in the third on a solo home run by junior Reagan Dykes.
Senior Sydney Booker and freshman Maddie Morgan combined for four hits. Morgan drove in two runs.
Junior Courtney Gettins (6-1) threw 4 1/3 innings for the win, while freshman Madison Preston struck out five in 2 2/3 innings for her first save.
n Southern Mississippi loses doubleheader to Western Kentucky: At Hattiesburg, the Southern Miss softball team kicked off Conference USA play with 11-3 and 4-1 losses to Western Kentucky.
The losses dropped the Golden Eagles to 9-14.
The Black and Gold combined for eight hits, including junior Samantha Papp’s second home run of the season in Game 2.
Samantha Robles started Game 1 and pitched 4 1/3 innings before Jade Lewis came in relief to finish the fifth. In Game 2, senior Kim Crowson pitched a complete game. She allowed three earned runs and struck out three.
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