STARKVILLE — Mia Davidson is the gold standard for all position players, particularly catchers, at Mississippi State.
The Southeastern Conference’s all-time home run leader with 92, Davidson helped lead the Bulldogs to their first-ever NCAA Super Regional in her final season. So head coach Samantha Ricketts comparing freshman catcher Ella Wesolowski to Davidson, as she did Wednesday, was not a comment Wesolowski took lightly.
“I remember coming to camps when I was younger and being able to talk to Mia Davidson,” Wesolowski said. “She’s actually been my biggest role model. I’ve looked up to her for forever and that’s one of the biggest compliments I could get.”
Wesolowski is the first MSU freshman to start behind the plate since Davidson, and her offensive performance of late is making the comparison warranted as well. In Sunday’s 15-7 win at Arkansas, Wesolowski finished 3-for-4 and launched a grand slam that was part of a nine-run fourth inning.
She has appeared in 29 of the No. 17 Bulldogs’ 31 games, starting 24 of them, and carries a .379/.423/.591 triple slash into this weekend’s home series against No. 10 Florida.
“To catch at this level, it really is tough. It’s a tough transition to do,” Ricketts said. “She reminds me a lot of Mia just in terms of how mature she is, how she really takes pride in her catching behind the plate. She’s got a great arm, she receives really well, our pitchers really like throwing to her. And then she’s got some power in her bat. She’s a very mature hitter, she works hard, she’s in here all the time getting extra work in.”
Wesolowski grew up well outside the SEC’s footprint in Williamsville, N.Y., a suburb of Buffalo, and spent her weekends driving to travel ball tournaments several hours away. The only player from the Northeast on MSU’s roster was still a top-100 national recruit in her class and is now making an immediate impact in the strongest conference in college softball.
“Throughout the summer in travel ball, I would always play in the South, so I knew what I was getting myself into,” Wesolowski said. “People thought I was crazy for what I did in my area. I’d be traveling every weekend, missing school, traveling to practices, driving hours, and it’s definitely something that was a change and people didn’t understand. But it’s always been my dream, so I made it happen.”
Scouting Florida
The Bulldogs (24-7, 5-4 SEC) welcome in the Gators (29-4, 5-1) for a critical three-game series starting Thursday night. Florida entered Wednesday at No. 19 in the RPI, one spot ahead of MSU, so this series could carry big implications for two teams chasing a top-16 national seed and the chance to host a regional in May.
The Gators’ offense is chock-full of veterans, and with five starters hitting above .400, they boast five of the top six batting averages in the SEC. Shortstop Skylar Wallace, the reigning SEC Player of the Year, may be the cream of the crop, but a pair of transfers in Korbe Otis (Louisville) and Jocelyn Erickson (Oklahoma) have helped elevate Florida’s lineup into one of the best in the country.
Head coach Tim Walton’s team also boasts a staff ERA of 1.17, and all but 2 ⅔ of the Gators’ innings have been thrown by freshmen. Keagan Rothrock is the headliner, with 112 strikeouts in 104 ⅓ innings, but Ava Brown has certainly been no slouch with a 12-1 record and just one home run allowed in 62 ⅓ innings. Florida opened SEC play with a series win at Alabama, then swept Kentucky at home last weekend by a combined score of 26-4.
“Their freshmen are two of the best recruits in the country coming in, and they’ve done a tremendous job surrounding them with a lot of veteran talent,” Ricketts said. “Year in and year out, they do a great job, led by a Hall of Fame coach who knows what it takes to win a national championship and win the SEC. So for us, we’re not treating them like they’re freshmen pitchers. We’re treating them like they’re very talented SEC pitchers.”
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