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Cooley Goes Yard Twice As MSU Softball Run-Rules Memphis

  • 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.

    Paul Jones

  • Just an AWESOME performance by the softball team tonight!!!

    SnakePlissken

  • softball team is really building a great program

    love Vann

    $50 bet with Rebels10 - Best of 3 Egg Bowls Results 2012 - 2013 - 2014 - **the $50 goes to others schools athletics dept**

    msudawg12