A challenging non-conference schedule has helped pave the way for the Mississippi State softball team to make three straight NCAA regional tournament appearances.
The Bulldogs continue to fight to join the upper echelon of the Southeastern Conference. While making that transition, the quality wins outside league play have help ensure the necessary Ratings Percentage Index number needed to make postseason play.
MSU will continue the quest to bolster the non-conference win column this weekend when Southland Conference foe Southeastern Louisiana and Big Ten for Penn State come to town.
MSU will face Southeastern Louisiana at 2 p.m. today and then face Penn State in a noon doubleheader Saturday and 1 p.m. single game Sunday at the MSU Softball Field.
“This is a big weekend for our team,” MSU head coach Vann Stuedeman said. “We are excited about being back at home and playing in front of our fans. The last game was a disappointment, so we are looking forward to another chance to play.”
MSU won its first nine games before suffering a 4-3 loss to Illinois in the final game of the February Freezer Sunday afternoon. During the win streak, the Bulldogs rallied to victory late three times. However, a 4-0 Illinois lead proved too much to overcome in the weekend finale.
“We have a lot of confidence going at the moment,” MSU sophomore catcher Katie Anne Bailey said. “When you win a couple of games with comebacks, it gets everybody on the team excited. We feel like we can always come back no matter what the score is. That’s a good feeling to have.”
Bailey is off to the team’s best start at the plate. Through 10 games, she is hitting .581 with 18 hits in 31 at-bats. Bailey is seventh in the conference in hits.
Sophomore third baseman Caroline Seitz has also picked up where she left off a year ago. A freshman all-American last season, Seitz is only hitting .243 but is second in the league with five home runs.
“Even though we have a lot of young players, we feel like we can surprise some people this year,” Seitz said. “Everybody has a real good attitude. We had some success last year and now we know what it takes to win games in the conference.”
Last season, MSU won three of its eight conference series, including series wins against Top 5 foes Tennessee and Alabama. This season, MSU will play four conference series at home — No. 8 Georgia, No. 23 Texas A&M, No. 1 Florida and No. 10 Tennessee. The only ranked conference foe faced on the road is No. 18 Missouri.
Thus, the importance to win games at home early and often is magnified.
“It is a challenging grind ahead of us no doubt about it,” Stuedeman said. “The main thing is getting better each week. We feel like have built a home-field advantage and we really need to take advantage of that.”
In the circle, sophomore Alexis Silkwood is second in the conference with six wins. Silkwood is 6-0 with a 2.28 earned run average. Freshman Holly Ward is 3-0 and 3.50.
Southeastern Louisiana enters the contest at 4-3 overall after Wednesday’s contest with Alcorn State was canceled. Penn State is 6-4 after 3-2 showings in both the Florida Atlantic Kick-Off Classic and the Texas A&M Invitational.
After the weekend, MSU will hit the road for the first time this season with six straight games away from campus.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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