The Bulldog softball team capped off an impressive week on Sunday as it opened with the team scoring a No. 21 ranking in the ESPN/USA Today Top 25.The week also saw the Bulldogs go 6-0 and improve their overall record to 11-0 for just the second time in school history. The week ended with Mississippi State hoisting the Bulldog Round-Robin trophy, as well as having four players named to the all-tournament team, one of whom was named Most Outstanding Player.
Not all the wins on the weekend came easily. Three of the five games found Mississippi State trailing in early, but each time the Bulldogs found a way to come back. Senior Courtney Bures attributed this to confidence.
“When we get down, it’s just a different feeling, like we know that we’re gonna win,” she said. “We’re gonna come back, and it really doesn’t matter what the other team does.”
MSU head coach Jay Miller said he thought the confidence came with strong leadership.
“Our seniors just don’t let people not be confident,” he said.
Bures’ leadership did not end with her confidence. She also made a statement at the plate, hitting .400 on the weekend with a home run and four runs batted in. Her efforts earned her Most Outstanding Player honors. Joining her on the all-tournament team were centerfielder Hayle Guess, pitcher Misty Flesher and first baseman Sammie Jo Bailey. Flesher earned two wins on the weekend, one in relief and one a complete game three-hit shutout of Wright State. Bailey batted .375 on the weekend, adding four RBIs and a home run. Guess’ case for the all-tournament team was made primarily on Sunday, when she made several clutch catches in centerfield and drove in the final game’s winning run.
The Bulldogs’ first game on Friday was a 4-0 decision over Wright State. Catcher Chelsea Bramlett had a game-leading two RBIs, while leftfielder Nakita Boyce added another RBI and scored twice.
In Friday’s nightcap, the Bulldogs defeated the Southern Illinois Salukis by a 7-3 score. Bailey got the scoring started in the top of the first inning with a two-run home run. Guess followed suit in the fourth, hitting a solo shot at almost the same spot in left field. Junior Kelsey Nurnberg picked up the win, despite missing practice on Thursday due to flu-like symptoms.
In game one on Saturday, Nurnberg had the first start of the season in which she did not receive a win. She allowed three runs in the first inning and was replaced in the third by Misty Flesher. Flesher allowed two in the seventh to tie the game at five. State scored the deciding run in the bottom of the eighth inning on a single by sophomore Jessie Bailey. Freshman Elizabeth Woolven went the distance and picked up the decision in a 5-2 Mississippi State win over Wright State in game two on Saturday. Her first collegiate start began on a rocky note, as she allowed two unearned runs in the first inning.
“I was nervous, of course, but I knew I had a great defense behind me,” Woolven said of her first start.
The Bulldogs bounced back, answering the Raiders’ two runs with two of their own in the home half of the inning. They added a run each in the third, fifth and sixth innings while allowing none.
The weekend ended in a thrilling comeback on Sunday, as SIU’s Nikki Waters shut out State through four innings, while the Salukis plated a run each in the first two frames. The Bulldogs finally broke through and tied the game in the fifth, sparked by a Chelsea Bramlett triple.
The Salukis came back and regained the lead in the top of the sixth. After a double steal and an RBI groundout by Bures tied the game, Guess ended the game with an RBI single.