I don’t know how feasible this could be, but has Samantha Ricketts considered having the Bulldogs score 65 runs every weekend for the remainder of the 2024 Mississippi State softball season?
Because I, for one, would find that to be a lot of fun.
That’s pretty much exactly what happened this weekend. MSU managed to score an average of 10.83333333 runs a game across 6 games over the span of four days. And thus, that’s 65 runs in a (long) weekend.
If you want to boil that down and focus in on a typical 3 game series in a weekend, that’s 32.5 runs in a weekend. Not quite as fun as scoring 65 runs in a weekend, but still a lot of fun.
The Bulldogs deserve plenty of credit for this weekend. Let’s go over that a little bit.
Table of Contents
- MSU softball weekend review: The Bulldogs dominated the Bulldog Invitational
- Game 1: Mississippi State 9 – Southern Miss 0 (5 innings)
- Game 2: Mississippi State 12 – Troy 2 (5 innings)
- Game 3: Mississippi State 13 – Alcorn State 2 (5 innings)
- Game 4: Mississippi State 5 – Troy 2
- Game 5: Mississippi State 15 – Alcorn State 0 (5 innings)
- Game 6: Mississippi State 11 – Samford 1 (5 innings)
- High notes and Mississippi State softball highlights from the Bulldog Invitational
- Low moments from the Bulldog Invitational
- Final Thoughts on the Bulldog Invitational
Let’s start reviewing what happened for the Mississippi State softball team. But let’s focus in on recapping things first.
MSU softball weekend review: The Bulldogs dominated the Bulldog Invitational
Here’s what happened in the Bulldog Invitational:
Game 1: Mississippi State 9 – Southern Miss 0 (5 innings)
Ricketts and the Mississippi State softball team got the Bulldog Invitational underway in the best possible way. The Bulldogs kicked off their own invitational tournament with a commanding 9-0 run-rule win over Southern Miss.
Josey Marron led the charge from the circle, tossing a complete game (5 innings, but still) shutout with eight strikeouts. That’s a really solid showing for MSU. At the plate, the Bulldogs’ bats came alive and the scoring started early as State put up 6 runs in the first two innings.
Madisyn Kennedy and Nadia Barbary both managed to hit home runs and the Bulldogs swiped four bases (Sierra Sacco, Riley Hull, Salen Hawkins, and Kylee
Edwards were all involved in the impressive base running).
And of course, MSU came out with a 9-0 win in just 5 innings. That’s a good way to get a weekend started.
Game 2: Mississippi State 12 – Troy 2 (5 innings)
Theoretically speaking, Troy was supposed to put up a better fight against Mississippi State than anyone else involved in the Bulldog Invitational could. And that was definitely not the case for the Trojans in this contest.
Well, briefly, it looked like it might have been that way as the Trojans scored first in the top of the first.
But once the Bulldogs got up to bat, Rickett’s team didn’t waste a single second of scoring as often as it possibly could. And that’s why they scored 8 runs in the first inning, 4 runs in the second inning, and then cruised to their second run rule win of the weekend.
Jessie Blaine’s grand slam, which took place pretty early in the scoring onslaught, was instrumental in breaking this game (and Troy) in the first inning.
Aspen Wesley secured the win in the circle, striking out five in three innings of work and Matalasi Faapito closed things out with a couple of innings of relief work.
Thus, a 12-2 win for State.
Game 3: Mississippi State 13 – Alcorn State 2 (5 innings)
Hey, look, another win over another team from the State of Mississippi. The Bulldogs continued their winning ways as they ran past Alcorn State to the tune of 13-2 in the first game of a double header on Saturday.
Nadia Barbary led things at the plate as she went 2-for-3 with four RBIs and a 3-run home run. Meanwhile, Lexi Sosa shined in the circle and struck out five batters through four innings against Alcorn State.
Hosanna Lindblade got the chance to close the game out and managed to wrap the game up relatively nicely.
It’s pretty clear Alcorn State just didn’t have the sort of pitching that could slow the Bulldogs’ bats down any and Mississippi State clearly had a lot of fun scoring runs.
A 13-2 win is the start of a successful Saturday doubleheader.
Game 4: Mississippi State 5 – Troy 2
And here’s when the Bulldogs got a really decent challenge from the Troy Trojans. Josey Marron got the start in the circle and she did everything she possibly could to keep the Bulldogs in this one.
But Troy’s pitching staff did well to cool off the bats that burned them the night before. Mississippi State couldn’t get any sort of scoring going on Saturday afternoon.
Until the bottom of the 5th inning, that is. Then things heated up at the plate. And it was a lot of fun.
The Bulldogs got on the board thanks to a passed ball. Just a bit of luck and some good base running and MSU was able to take a nice little lead over Troy late in the game.
But then the Bulldogs managed to get a few base runners on. One at every base, to be exact. And then Kylee Edwards launched a grand slam of her own. And while Troy would try to fight back, there was no overcoming that.
Aspen Wesley came in to shut the door, earning her second save of the season. Josey Marron picked up her sixth win and the Bulldogs once again demonstrated their ability to come through in tough situations.
A 5-2 win and a 4-0 record through the first four games of the Bulldog Invitational.
Game 5: Mississippi State 15 – Alcorn State 0 (5 innings)
Mississippi State softball just simply continued to dominate in the Bulldog Invitational once Sunday rolled around as the Bulldogs once again dashed past Alcorn State in a 15-0 victory in Sunday’s first game.
The Bulldogs were patient and did well to draw 15 walks as the Alcorn State pitching staff struggled to find the strike zone. Jessie Blaine and Kylee Edwards each had solid performances as they both hit home runs in this one.
Freshman pitcher Delainey Everett made her first career start and she happened to throw a complete game (5 innings) shutout with four strikeouts.
15-0 in this one. 5-0 on the weekend. On to the final contest: a matchup with the Samford Bulldogs.
Game 6: Mississippi State 11 – Samford 1 (5 innings)
And here’s the fifth run rule victory of the weekend for Samantha Ricketts and the Mississippi State Bulldogs. MSU managed to defeat Samford 11-1 in just five innings.
This game was a 1-1 tie into the third inning, but the MSU Bulldogs broke it open as they scored five runs in the third (partially thanks to Madisyn Kennedy and her 3-run home run as well as Salen Hawkins and her 2-run homer).
Josey Marron got another win on the weekend as she allowed one unearned run and just a couple of hits in four innings of work.
And thus, a 6-0 run through the weekend for the MSU Bulldogs.
High notes and Mississippi State softball highlights from the Bulldog Invitational
You remember that home run from Salen Hawkins? Well, she had a little help (and Samford had a little bad luck) on it. But hey, it’s still a lot of fun for the Bulldogs here:
Powerful home runs that bounce off your team’s scoreboard are a lot of fun as well:
Hawkins displayed some really impressive athleticism here:
Grand slams are great:
LOOK AT THIS DIVING PLAY:
This was a good weekend for the Bulldogs because this section could be impossibly large. There’s just so many highlights and great moments from a weekend in which Mississippi State managed to outscore its foes 65-7.
Low moments from the Bulldog Invitational
None. There’s absolutely none.
If you have noticed by now, over the weekend, the Mississippi State softball team absolutely demolished everything in its path and that includes a really respectable Troy Trojans softball team.
The Bulldogs just simply could not be stopped by any of their foes over the weekend.
I guess the closest thing to a “low” from this weekend was how the Trojans managed to challenge the Bulldogs in their second meeting, but Mississippi State really showed plenty of resilience and the Bulldogs won a tough contest.
Look, MSU played a lot of games this weekend. Six games. Four days. That’s a lot. You don’t see that from baseball teams. It’s a lot. And MSU managed to get through all of that without losing once.
Once again, kudos to Samantha Ricketts and her Miss. State Bulldogs.
Final Thoughts on the Bulldog Invitational
This is exactly the sort of weekend Mississippi State needed ahead of getting SEC play started. Going 6-0. Boosting the resume up a bit. Getting some solid wins. Showing off the ability to score runs by the dozen and also shut folks down in the circle.
Perfect weekend.
Mississippi State has a pretty big series up ahead starting on Friday as SEC play gets started with the Ole Miss Rebels.
Can you imagine how wonderful and weird it’d be to have the Egg Bowl played in like mid-October?
Anyways. Mississippi State didn’t get caught looking ahead. When the games got out of hand, they played a number of backups and showed some serious roster depth. The Bulldogs also didn’t once take their foot off the gas.
They just kept scoring and kept winning.
And that’s really exciting to see. Miss. State softball fans should be thrilled with the way the Bulldogs look right now.
The Underdog Tribune 
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