Good Friday brought some good fortune to Jay Miller and his MSU softball Bulldogs, as the sixth-year head coach earned his 200th victory at MSU over the weekend.The No. 21 Bulldogs (26-9, 4-5 SEC) also snagged Miller’s 201st and 202nd MSU victories as they completed a sweep over the Mississippi Rebels (15-15, 0-9 SEC). Prior to the sweep, MSU boasted a meager 1-5 SEC record.
“It’s huge for us to get a few wins under our belt in the SEC, especially before we head to LSU,” said junior first baseman Sammie Jo Bailey, of Lithonia, Ga. “SEC wins are always big.”
Bailey went 2-for-4 on Saturday and accounted for two of MSU’s runs on the day.
The Dawgs beat the Rebels Friday by scores of 5-3 and 3-2, and then 8-3 on Saturday.
Senior shortstop Courtney Bures, of Haymarket, Va., went 3-for-4 on the contest, touching the plate twice, while freshman designated player Courtney Nesbit, of Acworth, Ga., went 2-for-3.
Freshman hurler Misty Flesher picked up her ninth win of the season after allowing only two earned runs, striking out four.
The second game of the doubleheader found State in some trouble.
Junior pitcher Kelsey Nurnberg opened the game allowing two runs in the first inning; Ole Miss would hang on to the 2-0 lead throughout most of the game.
At the end of a rally started by a Nakita Boyce single, Bailey delivered a two-RBI single to tie the game. The sixth inning would end in a tie. Boyce once again pulled through in the clutch, driving in Hayle Guess for the go-ahead run.
Nurnberg, who pitched the complete game, would strike out two of the final three Rebel batters to end the game, earning the one-run victory.
“Other than three pitches, we got great pitching all day,” Miller said. “The kids did a great job of battling at the plate in the second game. Nakita came up with a big hit, and Sammie Jo had a huge two-out hit with runners at second and third.”
Guess hit the jackpot at the plate Saturday, going 4-for-4 and accounting for five of MSU’s eight runs.
MSU had to dig out from a 2-0 deficit once again in the third game of the series but did so more easily, as the Dawgs came back to tie the game in the second inning, then added more runs in the innings that followed.
Nesbit had another strong performance, going 2-for-3 with two RBIs.
Misty Flesher earned her second win of the series, allowing one earned run in her six innings pitched.
Flesher, who hails from Lone Grove, Okla., said she wasn’t really familiar with the MSU/Ole Miss rivalry before she got to Starkville but was introduced to it quickly when she arrived in the fall. Because she was familiar with the similar Oklahoma/Oklahoma State rivalry, she said she knew the magnitude of these games.
“The wins were great for us,” Flesher said. “It puts us right back on track for succeeding in the SEC. It’s a big rivalry, and it made us excited to get out there and win.”
Miller said that though his team started out slow win-loss-wise in the SEC, he still wasn’t disappointed in the way it played.
“We hit the ball up and down the lineup, and we were good offensively,” said Miller. “Pitching’s always been great all year.