The Bulldog Round Robin Sunday afternoon ended just as planned for the softball dogs.
After a 5-4 loss Friday night to SIU-Edwardsville and a postponement because of rain Saturday, Mississippi State improved to 7-1 with two wins Sunday over SIU-Edwardsville, 5-0, and Mississippi Valley State, 3-2.
Both games featured strong pitching performances from MSU. In the first game, junior Kylie Vry chalked up her fourth complete game of the year recording 10 strikeouts to one walk and allowing only two hits.
It was a far cry from Vry’s performance Friday, where she was bounced from the game after only two innings, leading to a surprising loss.
“We all just wanted to come in here today and show what we really had. We didn’t show all that we really had on Friday,” Vry said.
Offensively for the Bulldogs in the first game, senior designated player Brittany Bell started things off in the first inning with a solo home run to left field. With the home run, it placed Bell tied atop the SEC lead with four. She finished the game 1-for-2 with one RBI and a walk.
In the bottom of the third, after back-to-back singles by sophomore Jessica Offutt and senior Ka’ili Smith, junior Shelby Fisher notched her first career home run over the right field wall, swelling MSU’s lead to 4-0.
The Bulldogs added another run on a passed ball in the sixth inning, scoring junior Jessica Cooley and Vry closed the deal  half an inning later, finishing off her near-flawless performance.
In the second game of the doubleheader, Stephanie Becker tried to outdo her counterpart and almost did, giving up only two runs on four hits while striking out seven and walking no one in another complete game effort.
The junior southpaw improved to 3-0 on the young season but said she still has more to learn.
“We just wanted to take it as positive, the learning experience. All in all I think it was a great defensive effort,” Becker said.
MSU walked away from both games yielding only two runs on six hits while only committing one error.
Leading the offensive charge again for the Bulldogs was Bell, tripling in the first inning and later driving home a run on a double to left center in the third.
After the Devilettes tied the game 2-2 on a double by catcher Xiomara Perez in the sixth inning, Smith answered for MSU in the bottom half with a single to center scoring teammate Erin Nesbit.
The run proved decisive as Mississippi State walked away with two hard-fought wins. Smith ended the day 1-for-3 but with perhaps the biggest hit of the game.
“I couldn’t do it without the three other runners in front of me,” Smith said. “I always like pressure situations; I knew I was going to come through.”
Even after a strong start to the season, head coach Vann Stuedeman said she still sees areas her young squad could improve upon.
“Each game we learned something new. We could get a little bit better at running the bases; we have to improve in that area,” she said.
MSU travels to Clearwater, Fla., to play in the Leadoff Classic this weekend in hopes of improving an already impressive start to its season.