There was a problem at Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar and Grill in Oklahoma City on Wednesday evening.
Two non-Mississippi State alumni had infiltrated an MSU alumni event set to celebrate the program’s first Women’s College World Series appearance.
The two men sat on the right side of the bar, blending into the crowd with a perfect disguise of maroon and white. Any geographical ties? Nope. One of the culprits, a New Yorker-turned-Floridian. The other joined his partner in crime by way of the Pacific Northwest. Maybe just lifelong State fans? No, not that either.
Even though the duo had not spent their college days in Starkville or grown up rooting for the Bulldogs, their ties to MSU’s squad were stronger than most at the bar on Wednesday. Their daughters were two of the 25 who had made State athletics history.
“Come on,” Glenn Schaeffer, father of freshman infielder Gabby Schaffer, said when asked how proud he was of his daughter, throwing his hand in the air as if he was shooing off the question as a stupid one.
“I’m super proud,” Dean Goold, father of Peja Goold said.
And the two have plenty to be proud about. Outside of the fact that Peja Goold and Gabby Schaeffer will be enshrined as part of the first MSU team to reach a WCWS, the two have made significant impacts on State’s historical season.
Gabby Schaeffer has started 29 games as a freshman, including four in the NCAA tournament. She has four home runs and nine RBIs on the year. Peja Goold is one of State’s key arms in the circle, starting the most games on the team (26). She has a 2.36 ERA and 181 strikeouts and was named SEC Newcomer of the Year by USA Today and a Second Team All-American by Softball America.
Goold’s stellar season earned her a spot on a professional roster. She received a golden ticket in April, signifying a spot in the Athletes Unlimited Softball League draft pool, and was picked 10th overall, a feat Glenn Schaeffer was quick to praise.
“His daughter got the golden ticket,” Glenn Schaeffer said. “How great can that be for that family?”
Dean Goold tried to shut him down, saying this week wasn’t about his daughter, it was about the team. Despite his best efforts, Glenn Schaeffer couldn’t be stopped.
“His daughter, in her senior year, transferring in (from Chattanooga), receives a golden ticket,” Glenn Schaeffer said. “They flew in at the LSU game … and gave his daughter, on the field, the golden ticket. How great is that?”
Dean Goold said the moment Peja Goold got drafted was one he was not sure would ever be possible.
“We never ever imagined we would be in this situation,” Dean Goold said. “We weren’t sure she could play at the SEC level, and then to be able to do well enough to get drafted to the pros has been an absolute blessing.”
‘A scrappy little team’
After praising Peja Goold, it was time for the two to talk about this year’s State squad. First, the pitching.
“We’ve got four arms that are very talented, and the other teams don’t know who to prep for at this point,” Dean Goold said.
It’s true, the Mississippi State pitching staff has been one of the best in the country. Junior Alyssa Faircloth was named a second team All-American by D1Softball, sporting a 2.47 ERA. Junior Delainey Everett’s gutsy performance in Game 3 of the Norman Super Regional propelled State to a 6-0 win against the Sooners. Sophomore Leila Ammon, whose father, Charles, sat next to Dean Goold at the bar, has started 11 games for the Bulldogs with a 1.85 ERA.
Next, the pair discussed what Glenn Schaeffer called MSU’s identity – “a scrappy little team.”
“We’re right where we should be, and I like where we are because no one is expecting anything from us and that’s the best place for the girls to be,” Dean Goold said.
Finally, the pair talked about the effect head coach Samantha Ricketts has had on the team.
“She really breeds this type of (familial) environment,” Glenn Schaeffer said of Coach Ricketts. “Its a very different environment when you’re coming from a different SEC team or any other team on how they deal with their players. It’s not vicious, it’s not brutal. It’s one family.”
MSU family was felt all over Toby Keith’s bar on Wednesday. Dozens of maroon-clad State fans drank, ate and chatted with fellow Bulldog faithful in preparation for Thursday’s game against Texas Tech.
Michael Richardson is a three-time graduate of MSU and is the assistant director for volunteer engagement for the MSU Alumni Association. He, like many following this season’s State run, has adopted the underdog mentality.
“We’ve always been an underdog in just about everything we do, but we always do it with poise, with grace and with passion, and we ring the cowbells like no other,” Richardson said.
Richardson said some of the first people to approach him Wednesday night were parents of players on the team. He said that the support State fans have shown throughout this run has had a positive effect on the players and their families.
“For those parents to see the support, the love, the just the admiration that the Mississippi State fans have for their daughter, that means the world,” Richardson said.
After a bit more softball talk, and a bit of jawing with a man sporting a baby blue shirt and a trucker hat that simply said “THE ‘SIP,” the duo got back to the original question of the pride they feel for their daughters.
“We’re super proud of the girls, but I think it’s just been a magical season because the girls play for each other,” Goold said. “They’re playing for one another, they’re playing selflessly, they’re having fun, they’re loose, and they’re showing a lot of heart.”
Jake is the Mississippi State athletics reporter for The Dispatch.
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