March 1, 2006

Box Score

STARKVILLE, Miss. - The Samford University softball team concluded an arduous 12-game road trip on Wednesday as the Bulldogs dropped a pair of contests against undefeated Mississippi State 9-1 and 3-1 in non-conference action at the MSU Softball Field.

"I don't think that we played our best today," said Samford head coach Beanie Ketcham. "I thought that we had a hard time making plays in the outfield and we weren't getting any timely hits. Mississippi State has a really good team, but today I thought that we kind of beat ourselves."

Samford (5-12), which has not played a home game since Feb. 15, completed its 12-game road swing with a 4-8 record and will host Drake University on Thursday at 4 p.m. The Bulldogs own a 1-1 record while playing at home this season.

Junior Shelley Stanley was Samford's top offensive performer in Wednesday's doubleheader and finished 3-for-5 at the plate. She also scored a run and added an RBI.

Mississippi State (15-0) extended its school-record winning streak to 15-straight games and remained one of only two Southeastern Conference teams to be undefeated. Tennessee, which is the second-ranked team in the nation, owns a 10-0 record this year.

In the opening game of Wednesday's doubleheader, Mississippi State rallied for five runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to help itself to a 9-1 six-inning victory.

MSU tallied seven hits in the win and took advantage of three Samford errors. Shortstop Courtney Bures led the Bulldogs with four runs batted in on a 2-for-4 performance at the plate. In the fifth inning, Bures capped off Mississippi State's scoring outburst with a three-run home run.

Samford scored one run on five hits in the first game, but left six runners on base. Stanley recorded two of the team's hits and went 2-for-3 in the contest.

In the top of the fourth inning, Samford's Liz Pearse doubled off the right field wall and later scored to trim Mississippi State's early lead to 2-1. With one out and Pearse at third base, Jenna Dempski grounded a ball to third baseman Michelle Kinney, who bobbled it and allowed Pearse to cross home plate.

Mississippi State then countered with a run in the bottom of the fourth inning to extend its lead to 3-1, before the Bulldogs broke the game open with their five-run fifth.

Samford jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the second game on Wednesday, as Stanley powered a deep home run to right field in the top of the first inning.

The blast was Stanley's fourth of the season and was either team's first hit of the ball game. As a junior, she is already ranked second on the school's all-time home run list with 19. With three more home runs, Stanley would surpass current leader Angela Bednark for the all-time lead.

Mississippi State evened the score at 1-1 in the bottom of the third inning.

With two outs and runners on first and second, junior Blair Geddings looped a single into shallow left center field to score Lindsay Hundley from second. MSU had a pair of hits in the inning.

Mississippi State manufactured a run in the bottom of the fifth inning to take a slight 2-1 lead. Katie Johnson reached on an error to lead off the frame and later scored on a suicide squeeze bunt from Hunley.

The MSU Bulldogs would tack on another run in the bottom of the sixth frame to end the game with a 3-1 score.

The Samford University softball team will next be in action on Thursday as the Bulldogs return home to play against Drake in a non-conference matchup beginning at 4 p.m., at Bulldog Field.