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Mississippi State
Mississippi State Handles Lady Vols in Series Finale, 7-1
April 01, 2001 | Softball
Bulldogs Earn School-Record Ninth Straight Triumph
- Box Score
(Apr. 1, 2001) -- Mississippi State concluded a successful visit to Knoxville by smacking three homers during a 7-1 win over the Lady Vol softball team on Sunday, April 1, at Tyson Park. Sophomore Jennifer Pursell (11-8) picked up her fifth consecutive decision by scattering three singles and striking out six.
The Bulldogs (23-16/11-4 SEC) captured all three games of the weekend series to earn its third consecutive Southeastern Conference sweep and keep a stranglehold on third place in the Western Division. In falling for the fourth outing in a row, Tennessee fell to 14-23 overall and 4-10 within the SEC.
Junior All-American Kellie Wilkerson poked a single through the right side of the infield to start the afternoon and the outfielder advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by senior Cheri Smith. Freshman Iyhia McMichael slammed a hard liner that went for double and allowed Wilkerson to come across with the initial run. Tennessee was able to catch McMichael between second and third on a fielder's choice by rookie Jennifer Waterman for the second out and freshman Leigh Ann Ellis retired MSU's Blaire Brown on a grounder to end the frame. 
State squandered an opportunity to break the game wide open in the second, as Ellis worked out of a bases loaded, one-out jam. However, the Bulldogs tallied a run on a RBI single by freshman Krystal Tillman. Sophomore Brooke Best and senior Anna Joyce Lott drew walks to open the inning before Tillman's run-scoring hit. A one-out walk to Wilkerson filled the bases but Ellis responded by fanning Smith and McMichael on strikes to keep the deficit at 2-0.
The visitors from Starkville tacked on a couple more runs in the third, as Brown smacked her fourth homer of the season over the center field fence. Waterman had stoked a single into shallow right before Brown belted Ellis' 3-1 pitch out of the yard.
Consecutive singles by freshman Jennifer Jessup and Wilkerson began the fourth for MSU. The Orange was able to nab Jessup at the plate on the second hit, as the relay throw went from freshman right fielder Nikki Sexton to senior second baseman Melissa Radley and then to junior catcher Adrianna Wilson. A sacrifice fly by Smith enabled Wilkerson to race home with the fifth run.
Tennessee got on the board with one run on two hits and an error in the bottom of the frame. Senior Maura Mollet singled to center and senior Janette Koshell reached on a dropped ball before Radley punched a flare into right to score Mollet. Following a grounder by junior Hannah Low, UT had Koshell on third and Radley at second with just one down. Pursell answered the threat by striking out Ellis and setting down Wilson on an infield grounder to make the count 5-1.
Junior Kasey Whitehead led off the sixth with a pinch-hit homer for her second dinger of the campaign. The shot cleared the 190-foot mark out in left field and came on a 2-2 offering from Ellis. Wilkerson blasted her 12th four-bagger of 2001 two batters later to expand State's lead to 7-1.
Ellis endured the loss to slip to 3-8 after yielding nine hits and six earned runs. The lefty struck out five and walked four batters over six full innings. Sophomore Stephanie Humphrey hurled a scoreless seventh for the hosts. Wilkerson finished 3-for-3 with three runs to pace MSU, while the trio of senior Annie Fletcher, Mollet and Radley had a hit apiece. Mollet was Tennessee's top hitter on the weekend, with a .455 clip (5-for-11).
The Lady Vols resume play on Tuesday afternoon with a doubleheader at #19 South Carolina (23-12-1/7-4 SEC) at 5 p.m. The Lady Gamecocks claimed the SEC Tournament crown last May as the seventh seed and took two of three games from UT at Tyson Park on March 31-April 1, 2000. USC won the first two contests, 7-2 and 4-2, before the Orange and White erupted for a school-record 11 runs in the third inning to post a 16-4 win in the series finale.
