Softball: Mississippi State falls twice Saturday, bows out of NCAA Tournament

In the end, the bats never woke up.

A year after Mississippi State finished last in the Southeastern Conference in both batting average and on-base percentage, the Bulldogs boasted one of the SEC’s top offenses for much of 2024. But starting with a mid-April loss to South Alabama, MSU entered Saturday averaging a mere 1.5 runs per game over its last 10 contests.

The Bulldogs scored just one run, total, in a 2-1 loss to No. 8 Stanford and a 7-0 defeat to Cal State Fullerton on Saturday as their season came to a premature conclusion in the NCAA regionals.

“It’s always tough when you see a season come to an end,” head coach Samantha Ricketts said. “That’s not how we hoped this weekend would go, but overall, there’s a lot to be proud of with this group, particularly the senior class and what it took for us to get back to this point. The work really started a year ago when we didn’t hear our name last year. We knew that wasn’t up to our standard and what we’ve been working so hard to build.”

MSU (34-20) held the Cardinal to just two runs on six hits in the winners’ bracket game, but against the nation’s ERA leader in NiJaree Canady, those two runs were enough for Stanford. Center fielder Sierra Sacco touched up Canady for a solo home run on the first pitch of the fourth inning, just her second long ball of the year. Other than that, though, MSU managed just two singles in the game.

The Cardinal (46-14) opened the scoring in the second when Bulldogs third baseman Nadia Barbary made an errant throw to first base after fielding a bunt, putting the leadoff batter at second. Jade Berry followed with an RBI double to give her team the lead, and Ava Gall’s solo homer an inning later put Stanford ahead by two. Canady struck out 13 MSU hitters and issued just one walk to make sure the lead stood up.

“She’s a great pitcher. We knew there were going to be strikeouts,” Ricketts said. “We knew she was going to be tough. We can do a little bit better job of swinging within our game plan and our approach because you’re not going to get a whole lot of mistakes with a pitcher like that (in the circle).”

Cal State Fullerton, after losing to the Bulldogs on Friday, defeated Saint Mary’s in Saturday’s first elimination game, so MSU and the Titans met again Saturday night with a trip to the regional final on the line. Sophomore Josey Marron, making her first career postseason appearance, held Fullerton scoreless through four innings, but the Bulldogs likewise could not crack the scoreboard against Titans ace Haley Rainey.

Like Marron, Rainey relies on her drop ball to generate ground ball outs, giving MSU a different look after facing the flamethrowing, rise ball specialist Canady earlier in the day. Rainey issued five walks but surrendered just three hits in six shutout innings before Leanna Garcia closed out the Bulldogs’ season in the seventh. MSU was 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

Fullerton (39-19) put up a seven-spot in the bottom of the fifth to turn a scoreless game into a blowout. Hannah Becerra’s infield single drove in the game’s first run, Peyton Toto singled in two more and then Colby McClinton broke the game wide open with a grand slam off Aspen Wesley, who had relieved Marron following Toto’s hit.

An eight-member senior class — Wesley, Paige Cook, Brylie St. Clair, Madisyn Kennedy, Matalasi Faapito, Kat Wallace, Lexi Sosa and Aquana Brownlee — has played its final game with the Bulldogs. But MSU had three underclassmen starting in the infield this season, a freshman behind the plate and youngsters Marron and Delainey Everett as part of the pitching staff, so the foundation to build on this year’s success is there.

“We’re really excited about the future of this program, and we’ve brought in such great athletes the last couple of years,” Ricketts said. “You see the young talent, the freshmen up the middle that we’ve had and behind the plate mixed with those fifth-year seniors. It was just really special. They had a great chance to learn from those upperclassmen with a lot of experience, and they’ll be able to pass it on next year to another big recruiting class we have coming in.”

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