Mississippi State Softball Sweeps No. 23 Ragin' Cajuns

The 6-0 Bulldogs pulled off their first wins against ranked competition by talking a midweek doubleheader against Louisiana.

On the even of Valentine's Day, Mississippi State's impressive start to the 2024 season in softball got a little sweeter when it swept No. 23 Louisiana in a doubleheader at at Nusz Park.

State won the opener 9-1 in six innings, and came back and took the second game Tuesday evening, 2-1. With the wins, the Bulldogs improved to 6-0. 

Aspen Wesley and Joey Marron, who struck out five in 7.0 innings while scattering five hits in the nightcap, both had complete-game wins. 

"I'm really proud of the team and the way they played today," head coach Samantha Ricketts said. "I think starting in the circle, both Aspen and Josey, just really did such a great job sticking with their game plan."

She added: "I mean, they're a strong team. They play well in their conference, the postseason, a Super Regional team a year ago. It was a good test for us, and it's something that we know matters a lot going into the end of the year, even though it was early on in the first week of playing for us that we had to really lock in for."

Mississippi State jumped on Louisiana in Game 1 with three runs in the first inning and two more in the second. Nadia Barbary went 3-for-4 with a double, Aquana Brownlee drove in two runs, and Jessie Blaine was 2-for-4 with an RBI double.

Blaine added a two-run double in Game 2. 

Sam Landry pitched both games for Louisiana (4-3). 

They Said It ... 

Samantha Ricketts on State's offensive success against Louisiana's Sam Landry: "Yeah, I think we've got a really good mix of veteran hitters with some really talented young ones, and especially the vets at the top of the lineup. I think they really did a good job of buying into the plan and not getting too big, and I think we prepared for her. You know, credit to Landry. She changed her plan up after the second time through and gave us fits the rest of that game. She's a great pitcher, can throw a little bit of everything, but I thought they did a good job attacking in the plan of what we were looking for and getting some good, some good barrels on her." 

Jessie Blaine on Nadia Barbary hitting ahead of her in the lineup: "I love hitting after Nadia. She has big at-bats. She comes in with big energy, and I love to keep that going after she sparks it up." 

Nadia Barbary on the one-two punch of herself and Jessie Blaine: "I know that I can do what Jessie can do, and Jessie can do what I can do. Having us both side by side like that can produce runs for the team."

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