The Mississippi State softball team picked up its second SEC win in walk-off fashion Saturday against Auburn to give the Dogs momentum heading into Tuesday night’s game against the Jackson State Tigers.
The Tigers are coming off a 2-1 series victory against Alabama A&M over the weekend and are 19-21 overall on the season. This mid-week game will be key for the Bulldogs as they have struggled so far in SEC play and need to win all the non-conference games they can. MSU still has a solid overall record at 21-12 and will look to improve upon that record Tuesday night here in Starkville at 6 p.m.
The Bulldogs avoided a series sweep with the walk-off win Saturday. State dropped the series, losing both games of the double-header on Friday, though. The team bounced back strong with one of its more resilient efforts of the season, battling back from a 1-3 deficit to score three runs in the final inning. The game concluded with a walk-off hit by sophomore Briana Bell.
After the game, Bell said the team never gave up hope.
“One of our mottos is late innings are our innings,” Bell said.  “During the last at bat, I was just trying to stay calm and take the same mindset I use with every other at bat.”
Bell’s hit brought in the winning run, but the biggest play of the game might have been junior catcher Sam Lenahan’s two-run homer to right field that tied the game at three in the seventh inning. Julia Echols singled two at bats before to get on base and set up the game-tying hit.
Lenahan said she was just looking for a good pitch, and she got one.
“I just wanted to get some runs up on the board because our pitchers had been doing such a great job of keeping us in the game,” Lenahan said. “I just put a good swing on a good pitch, and it went over the fence.”
Lenahan now has eight home runs on the season, just one shy of the team lead held by Logan Foulks. Bell has crushed six homers on the year.
Lenahan does lead the team with 31 RBIs, however.
Perhaps lost in all of the excitement was Alison Owen, who pitched another stellar game to move to 11-5 on the year with a 1.57 ERA. Despite the Tigers scoring three runs, she only allowed one earned and gave up just four hits and struck out nine batters. Her timely pitching all throughout the evening allowed the Bulldogs to hang around all game and eventually strike at the end to win.
Owen said she fully trusted her teammates and the defense behind her, even when there were errors committed.
“It’s softball – things happen. We’re not going to be perfect, but it’s the way we responded after that that really matters,” Owen said. “It doesn’t affect me if a mistake is made because I know they’ll make that play the next time. I trust them 100 percent.”
Head coach Vann Stuedeman said she was pleased with the fan support for the game.
“Our fans were incredible today. They were cheering, and the place was packed, and that really helps.” Stuedeman said. “It was really, really fun to hear the crowd erupt like that when we hit that home run and then the walk-off.”
After hosting JSU Tuesday, the Dogs will play UAB in Ridgeland, Miss., Wednesday before taking on Florida on the road this weekend.