Constant improvement is what Mississippi State head softball coach Jay Miller stresses to his team throughout each week.
Though his Lady Bulldogs (25-7, 2-1) are ranked 22nd in the nation, Miller is still on the lookout for what can be done to keep the victory ship on course.
The ship’s co-captains, pitchers Ragan Blake and Stephanie Comeaux, now a combined 25-5 on the season with a 0.80 ERA, joined forces once again Tuesday night to knock off the Delta Devilettes of Mississippi Valley State (6-22) by scores of 5-0 and 6-3 in an evening doubleheader.
Blake took the circle for the first game against the Devilettes, allowing only one hit in her six innings pitched. She struck out 12 batters, matching her career high in game strikeouts for the fourth time this season.
Mississippi State was led offensively by right fielder Sammie Jo Bailey, who drove in two of the Dawgs’ five runs on a two-for-three outing at the plate.
The Dawgs were able to jump ahead of MVSU early, scoring four runs in the first two innings.
The Delta Devilettes put up more of a fight in the second game. Comeaux took the circle for the Dawgs, and pitched through two and a half innings of scoreless softball. MSU finally drew blood in the bottom of the third inning, scoring two to give Comeaux an emotional boost. She then went on to strike out seven en route to her 13th victory on the year.
“When we get hits and runs, I feel a lot better in the circle,” Comeaux said. “However, when we don’t, I know that I have to work harder to prevent the other teams from scoring. Just the insurance helps mentally, but not having it makes me work harder physically.”
Comeaux nearly pitched her 12th complete game of the year against MVSU, but junior relief pitcher Sara Hickerson was called on to take over in the fifth.
After Hickerson allowed two hits and two earned runs, Comeaux returned to pitch the rest of the game.
“We didn’t play to our best ability,” she said. “We slacked off. I know that we weren’t playing against the best team out there, but that shouldn’t matter.”
Sophomore all-American shortstop Courtney Bures led the Bulldogs’ offensive show, driving in two of MSU’s runs and scoring one herself.
“I was disappointed in the way we played offensively,” Miller said after the doubleheader. “I thought we had a lot of opportunities, but we kept making the same mistakes over and over again. Any time you get two wins, though, it’s good, especially mid-week.”
Through both games against MVSU, the entire bottom of MSU’s lineup, below the fourth spot, accounted for zero RBIs. Callye Williams’s solo homer in the first game at Arkansas last weekend marks the last time that a player that bats below the four-spot has chalked an RBI. The offense continues to struggle.
“We’ll work on our specific offensive areas,” Miller explained after the last game of the doubleheader. “We have some kids who are two anxious, we have some kids that are chasing bad pitches and letting good pitches go by, so we’ll just have to evaluate individually.”