The plug has been pulled on Mississippi State’s softball postseason hopes, as the Bulldogs were eliminated from SEC Tournament contention on a gloomy Sunday afternoon. Sunday brought April showers to the campus of MSU, raining out the third scheduled game in the MSU-Alabama series, in which the Crimson Tide (44-8, 22-4) took both games Saturday, earning the season sweep against the Bulldogs (30-28, 4-22).
With Sunday’s action being rained out, and South Carolina’s Sunday victory over Auburn, MSU’s postseason has been washed away.
After a 16-game winning streak to open the season with the school’s best start in program history, MSU softball enthusiasts were hopeful, with talks of the possibility of hosting an NCAA regional in Starkville lingering in the atmosphere.
However, since the beginning of April, the Lady Bulldogs haven’t won a single game, losing a school-worst 20-straight ballgames.
The losing skid has stunned the Bulldogs, as well as their supporters and has confused everyone as to how one season can play host to two totally opposite extremes.
Junior right-hander Kelli Miller took the pitching circle for the first time as a starter this season.
She silenced the Crimson Tide to only five hits, striking out three batters and pitching three scoreless innings to begin the game. Four unearned runs in the fourth inning, however, prompted head coach Jay Miller to give Ragan Blake the nod to replace Kelli Miller in the sixth. Blake was eventually saddled with the loss.
MSU’s offense performed rather well against ‘Bama pitchers Stephanie VanBrakle and Chrissy Owens, chalking up seven hits.
MSU scored one run in each of the first and second innings and added two in the sixth to tie Alabama, 4-4.
The game would go into extra innings, with Alabama scoring on a single in the eighth to take the first game of the series, 5-4.
Courtney Bures and Lindsay Hunley led the Dawgs offensively, both having two-for-four outings at the dish in Game One.
Leadoff batter Nakita Boyce, however, accounted for the squad’s three RBIs.
Frustrated after not being able to complete the upset, MSU began Game Two with an underdog mentality again, mixed with a pinch of desperation.
Though starter Stephanie Comeaux allowed a solo home un to Staci Ramsey in the first inning, MSU battled back in the bottom half of that same inning to retake the lead, 2-1.
Comeaux, however, allowed three more runs in the third inning to the elite Alabama sluggers, forcing Miller to call upon Blake in the fourth inning to relieve her. Later in the game, Tide leftfielder Jordan Praytor would jack two home runs against MSU pitching.
Miller couldn’t complain about the offensive production in Game Two, either, as six hits lit up the scoreboard on the Bulldogs’ line. It was the three runs, under Alabama’s six, that disappointed Miller when the game was completed.
“We have to keep the ball in the ball park, especially with the wind blowing out like it has. Three home runs was the difference in the ballgame,” Miller said. “When you make a mistake, the good teams will make you pay for it. I thought Alabama did a good job of that today. When we made mistakes, they jumped on them.”
MSU finally closes out their season in May, in Lexington, Ky., against the Kentucky Wildcats, who were also knocked out of SEC Tournament contention with USC’s defeat of Auburn.
The Dawgs will be looking to bite the Cats, mainly in order to prevent their streak from carrying over into next season.