STARKVILLE — It took about three innings for Josh Johnson to realize.
The Mississippi State softball team’s pitching coach was tuned into every pitch junior Annie Willis threw in Friday’s game against Mississippi Valley State in the Bulldog Slamboree tournament in Starkville, but he wasn’t looking much at the larger picture.
Until he realized Willis had struck out eight hitters in the game’s first three innings, that is.
“‘Man, that’s eight strikeouts,'” Johnson thought to himself. “‘That’s pretty good.'”
After a pair of errors in the fourth, Willis struck out the side to end the inning. She then made quick work of the Devilettes in the fifth, striking out all three batters. Johnson realized something special was about to happen.
“We were like, ‘OK, we’re on the verge here,'” Johnson said.
Willis came out firing in the top of sixth, striking out the side in order once again. With her 16th punchout of the game, the transfer from Troy tied a Mississippi State record for strikeouts in a single game. With her 17th, which ended the inning, she set a new mark.
“‘The record hasn’t been set yet,'” Johnson thought, wanting more.
Willis’ accomplishment was announced on Nusz Park’s public-address system. Locked in, she didn’t even hear it.
Willis came back out in the seventh and struck out two more hitters in the inning to complete a no-hitter with a remarkable 19 strikeouts, her crowning achievement to date in a Mississippi State uniform. Two days later, she struck out 12 Southeast Missouri hitters in 6⅔ shutout innings as the Bulldogs claimed the Bulldog Slamboree title.
The junior had already impressed in her short time in Starkville, winning the Southeastern Conference co-pitcher of the week award March 2, but her two gems over the weekend solidified it: The transfer from Troy — calm, consistent and capable in the circle — is pitching at an “ace-caliber” level for a Mississippi State team that embraced her right away.
And every time Willis steps into the circle for the Bulldogs, Johnson has the same feeling he did when he watched her dominate Friday.
“Man,” Johnson thinks to himself. “She’s in control.”
A ‘seamless’ transition
When Willis came down to Starkville for her official visit this summer, she knew right away it was the place for her. She already knew her “host” for the day, sophomore outfielder and fellow Alabama native Anna Kate Segars, from playing against her in high school. Segars also played travel softball with one of Willis’ friends in Willis’ hometown of Huntsville. Soon, Willis found even more connections within the team
“A big emphasis we have here is family, and it really just felt like family,” Willis said. “You just know when you know. I got here, and I just had that feeling.”
Her visit was on a Monday; that Wednesday, she picked up the phone and called head coach Vann Stuedeman. The 2018 Sun Belt Conference freshman of the year was in, picking the Bulldogs over Louisville, UAB and other offers.
“I was looking for somewhere I could grow as a person and get that opportunity again,” she said. “This was just presented to me, and it was just something that I felt like was in my path, so I took it.”
Soon after accepting, though, Willis found out she would be playing under first-time head coach Samantha Ricketts, who took over for Stuedeman in July. The new coaching staff was different, Willis said — “but it’s a good different.”
“I feel like this team has been able to adjust,” she said. “We’re going with the flow, going with the punches. It’s been awesome playing under (Ricketts). She’s an amazing head coach.”
Under Ricketts’ leadership and in part thanks to Willis’ talent, the Bulldogs have excelled in nonconference play, boasting a 24-3 record through Tuesday. Ricketts has also created a new atmosphere Johnson called a “breath of fresh air” — important for transfers like Willis. The Bulldogs always spend time together outside of softball, are active on social media and often talk about the positive attitude inside the Nusz Park clubhouse.
“I’m not sure that she had that same culture at Troy,” Johnson said. “I think she just really enjoys what we’re doing here. I don’t think it was hard for her at all. I think she was accepted right away. She’s a good kid, so it’s easy. She’s good at school. She just became a really likable person right away, so I think it was a pretty seamless transition.”
Willis described herself as an introvert, but with her fellow Bulldogs, it soon became hard to stay one.
“There’s just something about this team,” she said. “It’s so welcoming, and everyone gets along with everyone. You can’t not have fun around them. You can’t not open up to them. From day one, you just meet them, and you become family, which is why it’s such a big emphasis here.”
‘Go get it’
Johnson had watched Willis’ older sister Meg, also a former pitcher at Troy, take lessons in a cage right next to his own, so he thought he had an idea of what kind of pitcher Annie would be when the two arrived in Starkville together for the fall semester.
He was wrong.
Both Willises are power pitchers, but while Meg worked down in the strike zone, her sister kept her pitches in the middle or up in the zone. Willis throws five types of pitches: a screwball, curveball, change-up, drop ball and rise ball. At Mississippi State, Johnson and the Bulldogs’ staff have placed larger emphasis on the first three pitches, which the team’s Rapsodo tracking data has shown are the most effective.
“When you start to feature those, then you start to get what we’re getting, which is a lot more swings and misses,” Johnson said.
Willis’ pitches typically sit at around 65 to 66 mph, and she occasionally hits 67. That’s an uptick of three to four mph, around the same as the velocity increase all seven Bulldogs pitchers have seen. To unlock that, Johnson said, there were some mechanical adjustments to their windups, but a lot of it was simply approaching pitching with a different mindset.
“What we said was, ‘You’re allowed to throw hard,'” Johnson said. “Go get it.'”
For Willis, that change — coupled with her impeccable command — has made her even more effective. She posted a solid 2.57 ERA as a freshman at Troy and followed up with a 2.75 mark her sophomore year, but so far at Mississippi State, Willis boasts a 9-1 record and a minuscule 0.80 ERA.
“The goal is to stop them from scoring, and I think the coolest thing about what she’s been able to do recently is to not let anybody score, which is huge,” Johnson said.
Willis isn’t alone. Fellow junior Emily Williams has improved as well, posting a 0.46 ERA while pitching more in relief than last season — Willis’ presence has allowed the change.
“It’s been great to have Annie. Just to have another ace to go along with Emily is so huge,” Ricketts said. “They complement each other so well.”
Against SEMO on Sunday, the Bulldogs were able to pull Willis with one out left to get and the tying run aboard, knowing they had another weapon warm in their bullpen.
“The thing is, could Annie have done it? Maybe,” Johnson said. “But why, when you have the other person right there ready to go?”
Willis, Williams and the Bulldogs’ other pitchers know what’s coming up. SEC play — and along with it some of the most potent offenses in the country — starts Friday with a 5 p.m. home game against Kentucky.
But as long as Willis is in the circle, she’ll face the challenge like she would any other game: with all the confidence in the world.
“I don’t really know what to expect, but I’m ready for it, and I feel like we’re ready for it as a team,” Willis said.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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