STARKVILLE — Samantha Ricketts started earning her keep very early as the new hitting coach for the Mississippi State softball team.
Ricketts has instilled a positive attitude and a new belief system at the plate.
Both have paid dividends early as MSU is off to a 12-1 start after a 9-3, 10-5 doubleheader sweep of Big Ten Conference foe Penn State on Saturday at the MSU Softball Field.
The three-game series and MSU’s season-opening 14-game homestand ends with a noon start today.
“One of the focuses coming in was our confidence level,” Ricketts said. “We wanted to make sure the girls were at their best mentally before the season started. You have to work hard to make sure the players who are lacking confidence have a better understanding of their abilities.”
A year ago, MSU averaged 4.5 runs per game and was last in the Southeastern Conference with a .257 batting average. With Alexis Silkwood and Holly Ward giving MSU a formidable 1-2 punch in the circle, the Bulldogs knew better offense would be the key to moving into the upper division of the rugged SEC.
“Last year, some players got down,” MSU sophomore third baseman Caroline Seitz said. “Coach Vann (Stuedeman) always talks about the next at-bat being the most important one you take. We want to challenge teams for 21 outs. Even though we have some new players to the program, everybody really started the year off with a positive attitude and that has helped us to this point.”
Ricketts, a four-time All-Big 12 selection at Oklahoma, earned national player of the year consideration while with the Sooners. She came to Starkville after a three-year stint as hitting instructor at Wichita State.
“Softball is just like baseball in that it is a game of failure,” Ricketts said. “What we have been trying to instill is that even you don’t have success in one at-bat, you need to forget about and it focus on the next at-bat. The goal during the fall was to make sure the players did everything they could to be in a position for success.”
In the opener, first baseman Erika Gaul had three hits and three RBIs. One of only four seniors on the team, Gaul has relished a return to the lineup after an injury-plagued junior campaign.
“It is a next-man philosophy for this team this year,” Gaul said. “We knew going into the season we had to better offensively and that we just couldn’t rely on the pitching. Coach (Ricketts) has really brought a new philosophy. It is not as much about fundamental and technique as it is about confidence. If you don’t have a really high confidence level when you step to the plate, it is going to be hard to have success.”
After hitting 34 home runs last season, MSU has 13 through 13 games. Seitz entered the weekend with a conference leading six home runs. A three-run home run by Mackenzie Toler was the big blow and helped the Bulldogs to an early 3-0 lead in the opener.
Penn State (6-6) scored three times in the fourth but was done in by three MSU scores in the fifth and two more scores in the sixth.
“The ability to come back and the ability to keep adding runs has been great for this team,” said MSU sophomore catcher Katie Anne Bailey, who is hitting a team-best .537 with 22 hits. “We always feel like we can come back now. It hasn’t always been the case. In the past, we wanted to come back. We just didn’t know if we could do it offensively.”
In the second game, the Bulldogs rallied from a 5-3 deficit with five runs in the third and two in the fifth. Seitz had three hits and three RBIs, while Gaul added two more hits and two RBIs.
MSU has won three times by a run and twice by two runs in the homestand. While SEC play could put a dent in the Bulldogs’ robust .367 average, Ricketts wants the lessons learned early to be carried over to late in the season when the team is making a push for a fourth-straight NCAA regional.
“As a hitting coach, you want to see improvement in every player,” Ricketts said. “It may be a different area of improvement for each player. That comes with growth and maturity. It comes with more reps. The goals are to get better every day, every game, every month, every season. The girls are working hard to make sure that happens.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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