Super Bulldog Weekend is one of the biggest weekends for sports at Mississippi State University (29-13, 4-8 SEC) and it was a big weekend for Softball.
The Mississippi State Bulldogs hosted the South Carolina Gamecocks for the Super Bulldog Weekend series and played in front of bigger crowds than usual since many fans came in from out of town.
“It’s awesome to see all of Starkville out here and playing in front of them, you can’t describe it you just want to go out there and fight until you have no fight left and that’s never going to happen,” Silkwood said. “It’s just fun to go out there and do it not just for the girl next to you, but do it for Starkville, do it for this University, and do it for all the little girls that play softball.”
The series began Friday April 7, as the Bulldogs fell to the Gamecocks by a score of 3-0.
South Carolina’s defense seemed unmatchable.
Bevia Robinson, a junior from Harvest, Alabama, thought they hit well in spite of the tough defense they played.
“I think our team, we hit the ball very well and I mean hats off to them they have a good defense, but I think we hit the ball very well so we’ll come back and we’ll see them again,” Robinson said
This is exactly what the bulldogs did for the second game of the series. Beating the Gamecocks 6-4 in game two of the series, Silkwood had a record breaking game by setting the MSU record of 56-career victories.
“It just means we are unstoppable,” Silkwood said. “We can compete with the best of the best because we are the best of the best.”
This record will accompany the records Silkwood holds for the most strikeouts at 531 and the most completed game at 48.
“I’m just super proud of her”, MSU coach Vann Stuedeman said. “Since day one we said she is a Bulldog through and through. She’ll fight you and fight you and fight you and never go away. That’s all you ask her to do is fight and that shows by setting a career win record for MSU.”
The final game of the series ended in a Bulldog victory and a winning homerun hit from Morgan Bell.
“I think she might have hit that one over to Tupelo”, Stuedeman said. “It was well struck and it was a very big time in the game and it really put us back on top.”
Accompaning Bell with such great offensive play was Calyn Adams, who had a career day by matching a 3-3 performance with three RBI’s and one double. Adding to the offense was Cassady Knudsen, Holly Ward and Silkwood, who each got a hit.
“Hats off to Cassady, Holly, and Silkwood for being able to juggle that and going in and out, that takes some mental toughness”, Stuedeman said. “Coming from behind always shows the grit of your team and the belief they have in one another that no matter the score they can keep fighting and good things will happen”.
The final game of the Super Bulldog Weekend series was the first game to secure an SEC series win of the season.
After taking the Super Bulldog series against South Carolina, the Bulldogs will face the No. 18 University of Georgia Bulldogs (27-12, 2-9 SEC) in Athens Georgia April 14 at 5 p.m. This series will be streamed online on the SEC Network+.
