TEMPE, Ariz.–Mississippi State (2-0) rallied for 12 runs on 11 hits in a fifth-inning explosion as the Bulldogs overcame a 4-0 second-inning deficit to defeat Texas Tech (3-4), 12-4, in abbreviated innings Friday afternoon at the Fiesta Bowl Tournament. Five different Mississippi State players recorded two hits apiece with Kasey Whitehead pacing the bunch with a four-RBI showing on a 2-for-3 tally, including a three-run home run in the fifth. Iyhia McMichael, Lindsay Nelson, Blaire Brown and Krystal Tillman also posted 2-for-3 showings for State.
Whitehead (2-0) came on in relief of starter Jennifer Nelson in the fourth and worked three innings of no-hit ball, striking out a pair of Red Raiders, to earn her second victory in as many outings.
Jennifer Nelson allowed just one earned run through four innings, but got the no decision.
Texas Tech utilized three first-inning errors by the Bulldogs to plate a pair of unearned runs in the first frame, then utilized a pair of stolen bases and timely hits to take a 4-0 lead after the second inning. State got its first hit of the ballgame off the bat of McMichael with two outs in the fourth before Texas Tech starter Megan Stines (0-2) allowed the floodgates to open in the following inning.
Mississippi State got five consecutive hits to begin the fifth and climb to within one, 4-3, on an RBI single by Jennifer Jessup, then knotted the game up at four two batters later on a suicide squeeze bunt by Kate Jaspers that brought Whitehead home from third. McMichael’s two-run triple with the next at-bat chased Stines from the mound with a 6-4 deficit, but reliever Megan Ayres allowed five more consecutive hits, including Whitehead’then s walk-off homer that invoked the mercy rule.