Mississippi State softball faces UAB on the road Wednesday
Mississippi State’s softball team will face UAB in Birmingham on Wednesday at 5 p.m. CT. The game will be streamed on ESPN+. The Bulldogs enter the matchup with an 18-2 record, their second-best 20-game start in program history, behind only a 19-1 record in 2014, according to school officials.
State has dominated the series against UAB in recent seasons, winning all five meetings over the past two years by a combined score of 51-7. Three of those games ended via run rule. The Bulldogs have recorded 37 run-rule victories since the start of the 2024 season, officials added.
The team has been bolstered by strong pitching this season, allowing more than three runs only once — in an 8-4 win over Memphis. They have only trailed by more than one run once, in a 3-0 loss at No. 25 Clemson last Saturday, according to the team’s game notes.
Mississippi State has achieved its highest rankings in program history, sitting at No. 12 in the NFCA poll and No. 13 in D1Softball.com’s rankings. The team has climbed in the polls for three consecutive weeks, officials said.
The Bulldogs’ pitching staff leads the nation in strikeouts (181) and strikeouts looking (42), with team whiff and called strike plus whiff rates also ranking first nationally. MSU allows less than 1.5 runs per game, making it one of four teams with such a stat in the country. Pitchers Alyssa Faircloth, Peja Goold and Leila Ammon rank among the top 10 in fielding independent pitching nationally, according to data.
Offensively, 12 different players have homered this season — a school record — and the team is on pace to hit 78 home runs in the regular season. Morgan Stiles has reached base in 14 of 20 games and scored 10 times in the first inning, helping the team outscore opponents 30-3 in that frame. Kiara Sells leads with 18 RBIs and is on an eight-game hitting streak, with seven extra-base hits during that span.
State has won three of four games at the Tiger Invitational last week, including two via run rule. Sells and Morgan Bernardini each have hits in eight straight games, with Sells batting .636 during her streak. Des Rivera has a seven-game hitting streak, batting .526 during that period. The team has posted eight run-rule wins this year, totaling 37 over the past two seasons.
UAB holds an 11-9 record and is ranked unlisted in major polls. The Blazers are led by head coach Taylor Smartt, now in her second season. They rank fourth in the American Athletic Conference with a .975 fielding percentage and are 17th nationally with 10 double plays turned. UAB’s recent series includes a 23-6 overall record against Mississippi State, with the Bulldogs winning the last two meetings.
UAB’s defense is among the top in the AAC, and freshman Charlee Bennett leads the team in batting average, on-base, and slugging percentage. The Blazers are scheduled to host Mississippi State in Mobile at the Jaguar Classic this weekend, facing New Mexico, Samford, and South Alabama.
Mississippi State will conclude its road stretch with the tournament before returning home next week. Fans can follow updates via the team’s official X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram pages under the handle “HailStateSB.”
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