The Mississippi State Lady Bulldogs softball team began a five game home stretch on Tuesday night with a mercy rule victory over the University of Alabama-Birmingham Blazers.
The Bulldogs scored early and often on their way to an 11-1 win.
MSU scored in every inning of the game with the heart of the lineup doing most of the damage.
The three, four and five batters went a combined five for seven, knocking in eight runs and scoring six.
Bulldog pitcher Stephanie Comeaux pitched all five innings in the shortened game, allowing only one run and striking out four.
The first blast of the night came in the second inning with MSU already leading 4-0.
Freshman shortstop Courtney Bures stepped to the plate with two runners aboard.
Bures launched a long drive over the center field wall for her 12th homerun of the season.
Bures leads the team in homeruns for the season and was happy with her patience at the plate.
“We really had to wait for a good pitch at the plate and sit back on the ball instead of rushing and getting ahead of the ball,” Bures said.
Bures finished the game going three for three with a double, scoring three runs and driving in three.
Mississippi State’s record improved to 11-0 when Bures strokes a homer. Their overall record goes to 26-11.
The second blast of the day came off the bat of senior Jennifer Jessup. The leftfielder sent a three run blast over the left field wall in the fourth for her sixth home run of the year.
The homer pushed the score to an 11-1 Bulldog lead that would remain as Comeaux shut down the Blazers in the top of the fifth to end the game.
Jessup improved her batting average to .355 for the year going one for two.
The senior was pleased with her homer but more pleased with her team.
“We needed to come out here and hit the ball like we did today,” Jessup said. “It really helps our confidence going into the game Thursday and the series with Arkansas this weekend.”
Coach Jay Miller was also pleased with his team’s performance at the plate.
“It gets your confidence back up,” Miller said. “It’s a good confidence builder to get back in the swing of things, put some runs on the board and hit the ball hard.”
Miller was also pleased with the way his team pushed the score up and stayed focused.
“We’ve been working on trying to keep the pressure and keep swinging the bats,” Miller said. “That’s the goal, and we did that tonight.”