Mississippi State hit Mia Williams with the first pitch of the game, and Texas Tech never let the moment go. In its first Women’s College World Series game in program history on May 28 at Devon Park, the Red Raiders used that opening hit-by-pitch as a spark on the way to an 8-0, five-inning victory over Mississippi State.
Williams, who had already been hit five times in the previous three games, reached base again when Alyssa Faircloth’s first pitch of the bottom of the first inning clipped her. Jackie Lis followed with a two-run home run, and Texas Tech had the early lead it needed. The timing mattered because this was not just any postseason game; it was the Red Raiders’ first stage moment at the Women’s College World Series, and Williams was already a player opponents had been unable to keep off the bases by force of contact. For Texas Tech, the opening at-bat fit a pattern that had been building since the super regionals, where Williams was hit five times by Florida, her former school. That stretch had made every brush with the ball feel personal inside the dugout, and Lis said as much after the game, saying teammates took it personally when Williams was hit and that they stepped up in those moments.
Mississippi State coach Samantha Ricketts pushed back on any suggestion of intent, saying, “They know it wasn't on purpose. We know it wasn't on purpose,” and added that the first inning showed the kind of pressure-filled edge that can take over a game. Still, Texas Tech kept turning those moments into damage. In the fifth inning, Peja Goold walked Williams, Des Rivera tried to pick her off and hit her in the head with the ball, and the ball bounced into the camera well behind the base, allowing an umpire to award Williams two bases and move her to third. Lis then singled her home, Kaitlyn Terry added another RBI single, and Mihyia Davis followed with a hit that scored Taylor Pannell, with Terry coming home on a throwing error. By then, the result was long decided and the message was plain: Texas Tech’s offense fed off every opening, while Mississippi State could not recover from the first one. Mississippi State was scheduled to play Texas in an elimination game on May 29 at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN2.
