STARKVILLE – For the 10th time this season, Mississippi State claimed a run-rule victory on Wednesday night, defeating North Alabama, 10-2, in five innings. The Bulldogs collected four doubles and a homer in the game and did the majority of its scoring in a six-run fourth.
Mia Davidson drove in the first four runs of the day with a two-run homer in the first and a two-run double in the second. In the fourth, Paige Cook and Jackie McKenna both doubled in two runs with two more scoring on a Davidson grounder and a Matalasi Faapito single.
“That’s a very good offensive team, we knew coming in, and we wanted to make sure that we were treating it that way,” head coach Samantha Ricketts said. “That is a big part about midweeks, that we are going after it, ready to attack and expecting to get everyone’s best efforts. North Alabama is a good team. They have a solid pitching staff and a strong offense. We went after them with Kenley Hawk to start, knowing that they were going to come out swinging. I thought that she did a good job. A little wild there at the beginning but she settled in and was able to get us out of some jams and had some quick innings to follow up. I liked her performance, and the offense got her some support early on, which really helped too.”
Eight of nine Bulldog starters collected a hit in the ballgame and seven scored a run.
Kenley Hawk picked up her sixth win of the year in the circle, which is double her career total entering the year. Hawk struck out six batters across 4.0 innings while allowing just one hit. Faapito closed the game, facing six hitters in the fifth.
Quotables
Samantha Ricketts on Kenley Hawk…
“She has stepped up and just doing a great job. She is attacking the zone and can use a variety of pitches and speeds. She is going to have a big role for us especially moving forward into SEC play.”
Samantha Ricketts on another run-rule victory and building momentum…
“Yes, hopefully. Our conversation has been about continuing to learn from our preseason games and gradually increasing and getting better every outing. That has been the goal, and the last week or so, we are seeing a more settled in approach. We are hoping we can do that moving forward and be playing our best softball when we want to.”
Mia Davidson on Kenley Hawk’s pitching…
“She was good. She didn’t hit me any tonight. She’s been outstanding these past couple of weeks, and she’s really come full circle. It’s great to see.”
Kenley Hawk on what was working well…
“I think just mixing pitches inside and outside with Mia [Davidson], just doing same thing we’ve been doing but more focused. That probably worked best. Coming off the shutdown inning and getting back into the dugout, I think that helped the energy a lot.
Quick Hitters
Have Mercy – MSU has won 10 games via run rule this year, which is tied with 2014 for the Bulldogs’ fourth-most in single-season history.
Paige Cook – Doubled home two runs.
Mia Davidson – Became the 13th player in NCAA softball history to hit 80 career home runs … collected five RBIs, coming one shy of her career high set earlier this year … homered and doubled in a 2-for-3 night.
Chloe Malau’ulu – Went 2-for-2 with two singles and a walk. Jackie McKenna – Double to score two runners.

Shea Moreno – Went 1-for-2 with a double and a sacrifice bunt.

Scoring Recap
Bottom 1
Riley Hull drew a leadoff walk before Mia Davidson hit a two-run home run.
North Alabama 0, Mississippi State 2

Bottom 2
Jackie McKenna walked to open the inning and went to second on a sacrifice bunt. With two outs, Hull singled and took second on the throw as McKenna moved to third. Davidson doubled both runners home.
North Alabama 0, Mississippi State 4

Top 3
Kalli Daniel led off with a walk. Following a strikeout, Lexie Harper and Sidney Bevis both walked to load the bases. After a second strikeout in the inning, Emma Broadfoot walked to score Daniel.
North Alabama 1, Mississippi State 4

Bottom 4
Shea Moreno doubled to open the frame. Addison Purvis then pinch hit and reached on catcher’s interference. Brylie St. Clair re-entered to run at first. Hull grounded out to first base, advancing Moreno and St. Clair to second and third. Davidson hit a grounder to shortstop, but Moreno scored on the throw home. With runners on first and third, Matalasi Faapito singled through the left side to score St. Clair and push Davidosn to second base. Phoebe Florian pinch ran for Faapito before Chloe Malau’ulu walked to load the bases. Paige Cook doubled off the top of the wall to score Florian and Davidson. Following a strikeout, McKenna also doubled to score Cook and Malau’ulu.
North Alabama 1, Mississippi State 10

Top 5
Haven Kirby singled to center field to lead off. With one out, Bevis singled to push her to second. Hailey Jones hit a grounder to the shortstop, but everyone was safe when the throw went to third. Broadfoot reached on a fielder’s choice to third base that was nearly a game-ending double play. Bevis was tagged out heading to third, but when the throw to second for the double play was wild, Jones advanced to third and Kirby scored.
North Alabama 2, Mississippi State 10

On Deck
Mississippi State opens conference play this weekend at No. 3 Florida. The Bulldogs and Gators will play in the SEC’s showcase Saturday-Monday series with all three games airing on SEC Network. The series opens at 11 a.m. CT on March 12. Saturday’s game will be played at 3 p.m., and the Monday night finale is set for 6 p.m.

Follow the Bulldogs
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