Mississippi State Athletics
STARKVILLE, Miss. – In front of more than 500 fans Sunday afternoon, the Mississippi State softball team cruised to a 9-0 shutout victory against the University of Mobile in the second game of its fall exhibition season. State tallied 14 hits at the plate, while holding the Rams to just two.
“It is always great to get the young players in their uniforms because we are such a young team with 14 underclassmen,” head coach Vann Stuedeman said. “It was nice to be home in front of our friends, family and students.”
Junior center fielder Loryn Nichols served as the table setter at the top of the lineup, finishing with three singles, two runs and a pair of stolen bases. Sophomore third baseman Caroline Seitz also tallied multiple hits, finishing 2-for-3 with a double, RBI and a run. Senior first baseman Erika Gaul and freshman first baseman Morgan Bell hit back-to-back home runs.
In the circle, freshman right hander Holly Ward earned the start, throwing four hitless innings. Fellow freshman Cassady Knudsen tossed two hitless innings, while sophomore southpaws Alexis Silkwood and Mackenzie Toler recorded shutout appearances.
“To have a convincing win today was a real positive,” Stuedeman said. “There is still a lot of room for growth.”
Deadlocked in a scoreless tie in the bottom of the fourth, MSU plated seven runs on six hits. The home team began the bottom half of the stanza with a leadoff double by Seitz and a walk by Toler. Following a sacrifice bunt by sophomore catcher Katie Anne Bailey, redshirt sophomore Olivia Golden shot a line drive to right field, which was misplayed by the Ram defender. Both runs scored on the error, putting Golden on third.
With a two-run lead, sophomore Amanda Ivy singled through the left side as Golden tapped the dish. Leading 3-0, Gaul hit a two-run home run to straightaway center field to extend the lead to five. Bell then cranked a dinger to the same place as Gaul for her first homer in Maroon and White. A RBI single by senior Ashley Phillips rounded out the scoring in the fourth.
State’s final two runs came in the sixth when both junior shortstop Kayla Winkfield and Nichols scored on errors on separate miscues by the Mobile defense.
Starkville’s Team returns to action Sunday, Oct. 5, at 1 p.m. for a home doubleheader against East Mississippi Community College. Admission is free at the MSU Softball Stadium. For more information on the program, follow the team on Twitter, like the squad on Facebook and join Stuedeman’s group on Instagram by searching for “HailStateSB.”
