The one thing lacking from Kaili Smith's all-Southeastern Conference season as a freshman was power.

Maybe she was just saving it for her sophomore season.

This year, the 5-foot-7 outfielder has tripled anybody else on the Mississippi State softball team with nine home runs.

Her batting average has jumped nearly 50 points to .373 and she also leads the team with 43 RBIs and a .712 slugging percentage in 39 games heading into last night's showdown against Mississippi Valley State.

The 2008 Kapolei graduate recorded the biggest hit of her career on Saturday when she blasted a walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 win over SEC rival Kentucky.

“;Coach (Karen) Johns told me to find a good pitch,”; Smith said in a press release after the game. “;Their pitcher had been getting me on the rise ball, and I just found a pitch on the outside corner and took it.

“;That was my first walk-off home run, and it was a good feeling.”;

Her ninth homer of the season set an MSU sophomore record and gave the Bulldogs (21-18, 3-9) a much-needed conference victory.

Smith was named to the Star-Bulletin All-State softball first team four times at Kapolei, where she also was a standout volleyball player.

Her breakout weekend in softball for Mississippi State came last season in Hawaii when she played in the Pepsi Malihini Kipa Aloha Tournament, finishing 8-for-16 with four doubles and four RBIs to earn all-tournament honors.

She was named the SEC freshman of the week for that performance and finished the season hitting .327 with five doubles, a triple, a home run and 24 RBIs in the final 36 games.

This year, she ranks in the top 10 in the SEC in slugging, runs scored, hits, RBIs, triples, home runs and total bases.

The Bulldogs have 17 games left to improve in the standings before the SEC tournament gets under way May 13 in Fayetteville, Ark.