Nearly 11 months after the Mississippi State softball team last played a game against another school, head coach Samantha Ricketts has realized something.
The Bulldogs have practiced enough.
“We are beyond ready to get back on the field,” Ricketts said Thursday. “There is nothing else they can do or cover. … It’s just time to get back out there.”
Mississippi State will get that chance Saturday, opening a long-awaited 2021 season with a doubleheader against Miami (Ohio) beginning at noon. When the Bulldogs emerge from the dugout at Nusz Park, 338 days will have elapsed since their last game: March 11, 2020, at Southern Miss.
That’s a long time, but Ricketts said Thursday her players have learned to be appreciative at the ability to return to play rather than frustrated by the season they missed.
“It’s just more of an attitude of gratitude out there and taking advantage of every opportunity we get because we know how it goes when one day it’s there and the next day it’s gone,” Ricketts said.
Last season — Ricketts’ first as head coach — the Bulldogs went 25-3, tying for the national lead in wins. They finished 2020 ranked in the top 25 in the country and will start the 2021 season there, too.
Ricketts said it’ll be up to Mississippi State to navigate a spring likely to be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Bulldogs will undergo a round of testing for the virus on Friday, and Ricketts said the lack of certainty with respect to which players will be in the lineup or in the circle on any given game day won’t be easy.
“Can we handle the grind of a 56-game season with the unknown of who’s going to be in and out every week?” Ricketts said.
Early returns, at least, have been encouraging. When Ricketts scheduled a seven-week fall practice slate, she expected the Bulldogs to lose at least two weeks to the pandemic. But Mississippi State got onto the field every single day.
Three times a week, Bulldogs hitters took live at-bats against the team’s eight pitchers. When the team reconvened in January, Mississippi State’s batters were actually ahead of its pitchers, the reverse of what Ricketts said is a typical trend.
“They’re tired of seeing our pitchers, and our pitchers are tired of throwing to them,” Ricketts said. “We’re just ready to see somebody else across the field from us.”
The RedHawks, who finished the abbreviated 2020 campaign with a 12-8 record, pose the first test. Miami struggled to score, averaging just 3.25 runs per game, but its pitching staff allowed just 3.15 runs per contest. The RedHawks eked out a 2-1 win over Iowa and lost 1-0 to Indiana in a game where the Hoosiers scored the lone run in the bottom of the seventh.
Ricketts said she hopes Mississippi State can develop more depth on offense this season around star catcher Mia Davidson and first baseman Fa Leilua. She expects breakouts from senior designated player Carter Spexarth and junior outfielder Anna Kate Segars and expects players such as sophomore outfielder Brylie St. Clair and fifth-year senior outfielder Christian Quinn to set the table for Davidson and Leilua.
“I’m hoping that we’re going to see a more solid lineup from top to bottom,” Ricketts said.
The Bulldogs’ pitching staff, one of the best in the country in 2020, returns its octet of star hurlers. Seniors Emily Williams and Annie Willis will again be counted on to be Mississippi State’s aces, while junior Grace Fagan and fifth-year senior Alyssa Loza will play key roles in what Ricketts called a “four-headed monster” in the circle.
They’ll deal with a Miami lineup returning senior outfielder Morgan Lott (.375 average in 2020) and junior infielder Allie Cummins (.333 average, .619 slugging percentage, three home runs) in the three-game series. An 11:30 a.m. first pitch Sunday will wrap up a weekend for which Ricketts and the Bulldogs have waited long enough.
“We’re just ready to see them back out there, to see them competing and enjoying themselves and working together as a team,” Ricketts said.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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