MSU softball falls to No. 2 Washington, 6-1; Preps for elimination contest

SEATTLE, WA (WLBT) - Washington’s Morganne Flores homered twice to lead the Huskies (46-7) to a 6-1 victory over Mississippi State softball (34-21) in the winner’s bracket contest to open Saturday’s Seattle Regional action at the Husky Softball Stadium.

Mississippi State will look to keep its season alive in an elimination contest against the winner of Fordham-Seattle at 10 p.m. CT on Saturday night.

Flores homered earlier with a two-run bomb in the first, but senior Kat Moore answered right back with a solo bomb of her own to cut the lead to one run. The Huskies went on to score five unanswered runs to advance to the Seattle Regional finale.

Junior Candace Denis was the lone Bulldog to turn in a multi-hit performance as she added two singles on the night. Moore delivered the Bulldogs lone run with her second-inning homer.

Sophomore Emily Williams tossed the complete game as she fell to 14-9 on the season. Williams allowed six runs off nine hits and a lone walk and a hit by pitch. The right-hander struck out three.

Washington’s Sis Bates led off the bottom of the first with a bunt single before Flores put the Huskies out front with a home run to left field. Sophomore Emily Williams immediately settled down and forced three straight fly ball outs to limit the damage.

Moore immediately responded, leading off the top of the second with a solo homer to left field to cut Washington’s lead to 2-1, but the Huskies answered in the bottom of the inning. After Emma Helm led off the bottom of the second with a double down the right field line, Washington used two groundouts to second to manufacture a run to push their lead back to two.

Bates and Flores struck again in the bottom of the third as Bates singled up the middle and Flores homered to straightaway center to push Washington’s lead to 5-1.

Washington added an insurance run on the bottom of the sixth with three straight singles, including an RBI single to right field from Taryn Atlee.

Mississippi State try to make noise in the top of the seventh with back-to-back singles from Denis and redshirt sophomore Montana Davidson, but a pop up to second and game-ending double play silenced the Bulldogs.

SEATTLE REGIONAL SCHEDULE

Friday, May 17 Game One: Mississippi State def. Seattle, 5-3 Game Two: Washington def. Fordham, 2-0 Saturday, May 18 Game Three: Washington def. Mississippi State, 6-1 Game Four: Seattle vs. Fordham – 7:30 p.m. CT Game Five: Mississippi State vs. Game 4 Winner – 10 p.m. CT Sunday, May 19 Game Six: Washington vs. Game Five Winner – 8 p.m. CT Game Seven: If Necessary – 9:30 p.m. CT

TOURNAMENT CENTRAL

Fans can visit GoHuskies.com for the latest news on the Seattle Regional, which includes the regional schedule, ticket information, parking information, stadium maps and more.

WATCH LIVE

Alex Perlman and All-American and Arizona softball alum Kenzie Fowler will have the call for every game of the Seattle Regional. Saturday’s contest will be streamed on WatchESPN and the ESPN app. Any assignment to a ESPN linear channel will be announced at a later time.

Game Five: Mississippi State vs. Winner of Seattle/Fordham

LIVE STATS

NCAA softball will have live and interactive stats for every game of the NCAA Tournament via its website. Fans can access live stats for each contest of the Seattle Regional through the interactive bracket by CLICKING HERE.

ADMISSION

Fans looking to make the journey to Seattle to cheer on the Bulldogs can purchase all-session and single-game tickets while supplies last. Ticket prices and additional information can be found at GoHuskies.com.

WEATHER

Saturday: 70 Degrees – Partly Cloudy (10%)

Sunday: 64 Degrees – Scattered Showers (70%)