True Maroon

Per MSU Media Relations

STARKVILLE, Miss. – Mississippi State junior left fielder Jessica
Cooley belted home runs in back-to-back innings Tuesday night as the
Bulldog softball team (29-19) defeated Memphis (19-34), 9-1, in six
innings at the MSU Softball Stadium.

“It was a lot of fun out here tonight,” Head Coach Vann Stuedeman
said. “Cooley was able to finish it off early for us, which is good
since we are preparing hard for finals and need to go to bed early.”

Cooley finished the night 2-for-4 with four RBIs, two round-trippers
and two runs scored. Fellow All-SEC candidate Brittany Bell was not far
off in production, going 2-for-3 in the leadoff spot with a three-run
dinger of her own and two runs. Last week’s SEC Player of the Week
Ka’ili Smith went 1-for-3 with a pair of two-out RBIs.

Reigning SEC Pitcher of the Week Stephanie Becker earned the start for
the Bulldogs, throwing one scoreless inning. Fellow junior southpaw
Kylie Vry replaced her in the second and went the distance, giving up
one unearned run in 5.0 innings of work to improve to 9-6 on the 2012
campaign..

Holding a narrow 2-1 lead, State went to work offensively in the bottom
of the fifth frame. Senior right fielder Brittany Gates was hit by a
pitch to lead off the inning, before stealing second during sophomore
center fielder Jessica Offutt’s at-bat. Offutt then joined her on the
basepaths with a full-count walk. With two on and nobody outs, Bell used
her power to hide a 2-2 pitch in the trees beyond left field for a
monstrous three-run homer. For the first time in the Vann Stuedeman era,
MSU hit back-to-back jacks, as Cooley stepped up next and deposited a
3-2 offering over the wall in left for a solo four-bagger.

Up by five runs in the bottom of the sixth, the Bulldogs kept barking
with a leadoff walk by sophomore shortstop Erin Nesbit. In the next
at-bat, pinch hitter Ashley Phillips was hit by a pitch to put a pair of
Starkville’s own on base. Cooley, fresh off her parking-lot bomb in
the fifth, ended the game by detonating a 2-2 pitch over the wall in
left for a three-run home run.

Starkville's Team now travels to Hattiesburg Wednesday for a 6 p.m.
matchup at in-state foe Southern Miss at the Southern Miss Softball
Complex. For more information on the Bulldogs, follow the softball
program on Twitter at @MStateSB as well as Facebook at
Facebook.com/MStateSB.

POSTGAME NOTES
● The Bulldogs have won 10-consecutive games against
non-conference opponents, their longest stretch since the 2008 squad won
12 in a row. Starkville’s Team has won 10 of its past 11 games
overall.
● Mississippi State earned its eighth run-rule victory of 2012
Tuesday, giving State its most game-shortened wins since the 2008 squad
won 13 via the run rule.
● Jessica Cooley’s 15th home run of the season is one behind the
SEC lead and currently ranks third in school history for a single
season.
● Cooley is now just three home runs shy of Iyhia McMichael’s
single-season school record of 18 in 2004, and is currently on pace to
break the school record for home runs per game (0.31).
● The junior from Birmingham, Ala., joins former MSU four-time
All-American Kellie Wilkerson as the only two Bulldog softball players
to ever hit two home runs in a game on three separate occasions.
● Brittany Bell was hit by a pitch for a school-record and
SEC-leading 19th time this year, which ranks inside the top 10 for a SEC
player all-time in a single season.
● Bell’s school record 49 career hit by pitches is third in SEC
history and first all-time at Mississippi State.