STARKVILLE — Mississippi State junior shortstop Reggie Harrison likes the mind-set of her team entering Southeastern Conference softball play.
“We are just at a good place right now,” Harrison said. “Everybody is contributing. This team is really close. When one player succeeds, we all succeed. We are ready to start conference play and see what we can do. We feel like we can surprise some people.”
MSU won its 15th straight game with a 2-1 win over Troy Tuesday night at Nusz Park. The victory allowed the Bulldogs to finish the homestand with a 7-0 mark. The game was also played on national television with the SEC Network showing the audience there is plenty of fight in the 2017 Bulldogs.
“Anytime you win, you feel good,” MSU head coach Vann Stuedeman said. “We were able to string some wins together on the homestand. That’s a good thing. Championship teams win games on a consistent basis. You have to go back-to-back. You have to win games, series, tournaments. There is a lot to be proud of in relation to what we accomplished the last couple of weeks.”
SEC play begins with a three-game series this weekend at No. 6 Texas A&M (19-1), starting Friday. The Aggies received two first-place votes in Tuesday’s USA Today/NFCA Division I rankings.
MSU (19-3) won three conference games last season. The challenge has been to put away memories of that finish and to focus on making a run this season.
“From a mental standpoint, we are in really good shape,” MSU junior pitcher Holly Ward said. “This league can be very unforgiving. You don’t forget about last year. You learn from it.”
MSU still has work be done offensively. However, the pitching staff has more than taken up the slack. The opposing team was held to either no runs or one run in six of the seven games on the homestand.
Ward (4-1) threw her third complete game of the season Tuesday night, while lowering her ERA to 1.12.
Troy (11-12) had multiple chances to score in the first two innings but failed to do so. The Trojans broke through in the sixth inning but Ward kept her composure to work out of a jam that inning and to work out of another one in the seventh inning.
“Really huge that she finished the game,” Stuedeman said. “There were so many points last year where the game could go either way and things happened against us. Holly had all of her pitches working so we had enough confidence to leave her out there.”
After Troy scored in the sixth inning, Stuedeman and the rest of the infield came to the circle.
“You could see that look in my teammates’ eyes that they had confidence in me to get the job done,” Ward said. “That is really big. When they believe in you, you believe in yourself more.”
Ward allowed six hits and worked around five walks by striking out seven. The Bulldogs did not have to use ace Alexis Silkwood, who will most likely throw twice this weekend in College Station, Texas.
Offensively, the Bulldogs did enough.
Bevia Robinson and Kat Moore drew back-to-back walks to start a two-run first inning. Robinson stole her 14th and 15th bases of the season and quickly got to third base. Harrison followed with an RBI-single and Caroline Seitz reached on a fielder’s choice, forcing in another run.
“Whatever it takes,” Harrison said. “We have been on the other end where we lost games like this. The win streak has given everybody more confidence. It may just be one big hit. We just have to make sure we get what we need.”
The Bulldogs are hitting .301 as a team but averaging 4.5 runs per game. Both numbers are much better than last season’s. However, the schedule takes a big turn this weekend.
Texas A&M will be the second through fourth games against a ranked opponent for MSU this season.
“It’s a marathon not a sprint, we talk about that all the time,” Stuedeman said. “Now, that the team has gotten a taste of winning again, they want that to continue.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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