STARKVILLE, Miss. – Southeastern Louisiana took an early 2-0 lead, but No. 25 Mississippi State scored 10 unanswered runs on the way to a 10-2 victory in non-conference softball action Tuesday evening at Nusz Field.
 
The loss for Southeastern (17-13) snapped a five-game winning streak for the Lady Lions. The nationally-ranked Bulldogs improved to 20-8 overall with the win.
 
Southeastern jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning with a two-out rally. Sophomore Kinsey Nichols blooped a double into shallow left field, which senior Amber Sather followed with a double ripped into the right centerfield gap. Nichols easily scored to give the Lady Lions an early advantage.
 
The Lady Lions padded their lead in the top of the second. Freshman Whitney Sullivan doubled off the left field fence and one out later, sophomore pinch runner Peyton Sutton scored on an RBI single by freshman Angelica Gutierrez to give SLU a 2-0 advantage.
 
MSU got on the board in the bottom of the second inning. Sophomore Carmen Carter led off with a single, then stole second and third, scoring when freshman Caitlyn VanHemelryck uncorked a wild pitch. The next two Bulldogs reached base, but VanHemelryck forced junior Caroline Seitz to ground out to keep the Lady Lion lead at 2-1.
 
Mississippi State tied it up in the bottom of the third inning after loading the bases with no outs. Senior Madison Vige' (1-2) allowed a run to score on a wild pitch, but kept the score tied at 2-2.
 
The Bulldogs took the lead for good in the bottom of the fourth inning. The first five batters of the frame reached against Vige' and senior Taylor Bishop. By the end of the inning, MSU had built a 5-2 lead.
 
Any chance for a Southeastern comeback was ended in the bottom of the sixth inning. MSU touched up Bishop, freshman Peyton Pigniolo and VanHemelryck for five runs to enforce the mercy rule.
 
Southeastern will return home later this week, hosting Stephen F. Austin for a three-game Southland Conference series at North Oak Park. The series opens with a 3 p.m. doubleheader on Friday and concludes Saturday with the 12 p.m. series finale. Live stats and video (LionVision subscription required) will be accessible at www.LionSports.net.