After a rocky start to the weekend, No. 1 Texas Longhorns softball clinched its third Southeastern Conference series win against the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

For the first time in Starkville, Texas got runs on the board first. At the top of the first, junior outfielder Ashton Maloney tripled to left field. When sophomore outfielder Kayden Henry took on the bat as the next one in the lineup, she followed on Maloney’s footsteps and tripled to center field to run her teammate in.

“What we talked about this morning was trying to find a way to get ahead early in the game, because we are confident in Teagan (Kavan) being out there and her abilities to limit opposing offenses,” head coach Mike White said. “We went into a little bit of a lull, offensively, during the middle innings, but found a way to explode back in the top of the fifth, so we did a good job of creating some distance between us and them.”

Senior utility Mia Scott kept the momentum going as she flied out to left-field, bringing Henry home. Texas finished the first with a 2-0 lead as sophomore pitcher Teagan Kavan stopped the Bulldogs from getting any runs on the board.

The game took a slow pace for the next three innings as neither team scored. At the top of the fifth, Texas finally got this running again.

In a similar fashion from the first inning, Henry’s batting allowed Maloney to run home, and Scott brough Henry to the second run of the inning. This time, Scott also got her name up the board as graduate infielder Joley Mitchell homered to center field. Scoring four runs in five hits and leaving junior infielder Katie Stewart on base, Texas opened a six run lead.

In the bottom of the inning, Kavan got it done quickly as the Bulldogs failed to get any hits.

The Longhorns sealed the win in the top of the seventh as Stewart doubled to left center to allow freshman infielder Shylien Brister to get just her sixth collegiate run.

Mississippi State finally managed to put a couple runs on the board, but it was too late. Down 7-2, the Bulldogs dropped their first series of the season.

Texas will take on another away series next weekend as it faces unranked Missouri in Columbia.

“It’s about us and the attitude we bring,” White said. “We have to have that killer attitude, because every team in this conference is very good and we have to bring our best stuff and if you don’t, you get beat and that’s evident, so we have to be prepared for that. We have another road series coming up at Missouri. They’re tough, so we have to be prepared for that one.”

Mississippi State baseball has lost a third straight SEC series to begin the 2025 season.

The Bulldogs (16-12, 1-8 SEC) were swept at No. 6 LSU (26-3, 7-2) this weekend. They lost 8-6 on Thursday, 2-1 on Friday and 17-8 on Saturday. It is tied for the worst start to SEC play in coach Chris Lemonis’ seven seasons. 

Here’s what we learned about MSU from the series.

Mississippi State baseball is not an elite SEC team

The Bulldogs have had three tests against top SEC teams and failed all of them. They were swept at home by No. 7 Texas, lost two of three games at No. 9 Oklahoma and now were swept again.

The expectation is for Mississippi State to compete at that level, but it hasn’t since the 2021 national championship. The Bulldogs are 1-11 in Quad 1 games this season with only three wins against opponents with a .500 or better record as of Sunday.

The schedule lightens up next weekend with unranked South Carolina (17-11, 1-7) visiting Dudy Noble Field. That will be a test of how low Mississippi State is in the SEC.

Pico Kohn can’t solve all of Mississippi State’s problems

Pico Kohn has been the bright spot for Mississippi State. He gives MSU a chance to win each game he pitches, but isn’t getting enough help.

The reigning SEC Pitcher of the Week was sharp again on Friday, pitching five innings with two earned runs, eight strikeouts, five hits and no walks. His 2.66 ERA ranks sixth in the SEC among qualifying pitchers, and he’s tied for the conference lead with 40.2 innings pitched.

Mississippi State is 12th in the SEC in runs scored, ninth in runs allowed and 14th in fielding percentage. Mississippi State doesn’t have a solid second starting pitcher.

On Thursday, MSU’s bullpen blew a 6-2 lead. MSU struck out 18 times in Friday’s game. On Saturday, starting pitcher Karson Ligon couldn’t make it out of the first inning as the Bulldogs fell behind 8-0. 

Mississippi State is 4-10 in games decided by three runs or less. 

Hunter Hines has improved since benching

Starting first baseman Hunter Hines was benched for two games of the Astros Foundation College Classic one month ago because of his cold bat. Since then, he’s been significantly better.

MORE: Mississippi State didn’t try to injure JuJu Watkins, USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb says

He’s on a team-best seven-game hitting streak. Hines batted 4-for-8 with five walks, two home runs, two RBIs and four runs against LSU. He’s now one home run away from tying Will Clark for the second most career home runs in program history. 

Hines’ batting average has risen from .211 on March 2 to .306 after Saturday.

Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@gannett.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.

Updates on governor vetoes, bills becoming law

As the 2025 session draws near to its April 6 conclusion, lawmakers will have dozens of opportunities to restore voting rights to some of Mississippi’s citizens.

As of March 28, about 60 or so bills had been filed with the Legislature requesting restoration of individual voting rights.

The process to file such bills with the Legislature is tedious and often unknown to many people who want to have their voting rights restored after being disenfranchised for committing certain felonies.

First, a disenfranchised person must request a lawmaker, typically from their district, to file a bill with the Legislature. Then, if approved, that bill would be put through the legislative process, including passing several committees, both chambers and by the governor, who has the option to veto a restoration bill.

There was effort early in the session to restore voting rights to certain nonviolent felony holders who had served their sentencing terms, but it died on the House calendar after House Constitution Chairman Price Wallace, R-Mendenhall, said he was given no indication the Senate would take the idea seriously.

Tax cut bill signed: Mississippi governor signs income tax elimination bill. How are you affected?

Disenfranchisement has its roots deep in the soil of Jim Crow. During the 1890 constitutional convention in Mississippi, the practice was adopted to prevent Black voters from reaching the polls, according to Clarion Ledger records and reporting.

“There is no use to equivocate or lie about the matter. Mississippi’s constitutional convention of 1890 was held for no other purpose than to eliminate the (explicative) from politics,” Former Gov. James K. Vardaman said of the decision years later. Other Southern states soon followed with similar laws, as reported by the Clarion Ledger.

Today, about 68,000 people are disenfranchised in Mississippi, according to the Sentencing Project, a nonprofit. Of them, more than 50,000 committed nonviolent felonies, which would have been the primary focus of the disenfranchisement legislation.

Governor vetoes Medicaid tech bill

Last week, Republican Gov. Tate Reeves vetoed his second bill of the legislative session, a piece of legislation meant to make changes mostly to a supplemental payment program for hospitals participating in the state’s Medicaid program.

Referred to as the Medicaid Tech bill, it typically addresses making changes to the state’s Medicaid program and also makes sure the state’s Medicaid program falls in compliance with federal guidelines.

This year’s bill would, among other things, have expanded some funding for hospitals in that program, Reeves said, and allowed for some out-of-state hospitals to participate in the program, which he said was impossible.

Medicaid: As Mississippi session passes halfway point, Medicaid expansion looks unlikely. See why

After the veto was read to the Senate on Friday, Senate Medicaid Chairman Kevin Blackwell, R-Southaven, recommitted the bill to committee for further work, which gives lawmaker an opportunity to send the bill back to Reeves with various amendments.

Happenings at the legislature last week

While Reeves has now vetoed two bills this session, plenty of others have made it past his desk and onto the books as new law.

This week alone, Reeves allowed a bill to establish presumed Medicaid eligibility for pregnant women pass without his signature. Reeves also signed a bill into law that established paid parental leave for primary care givers working in government.

Reeves also signed the Safe Solicitation Act, a bill that requires panhandlers to obtain a $25 permit to solicit donations at specific locations from 9 a.m. to sundown.

The bill had seen some debate in the legislature between Republicans and Democrats. Advocates of the bill have said the legislation would help to address safety concerns with homeless people soliciting donations on roadways.

homeless bills this session: Anti-homeless bills pass MS House. See what they would do

Opponents have said the bill would do nothing to address helping people who are homeless but only punish them for being so.

If anyone who panhandles violated the provisions in the law, they could be convicted of a misdemeanor that carries a fine of up to $500 or be imprisoned at a county jail for no longer than six weeks.

Grant McLaughlin covers the Legislature and state government for the Clarion Ledger. He can be reached at gmclaughlin@gannett.com or 972-571-2335.