TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Paige Cook barely had to move to catch the soft line drive to third base.
For more than 24 hours, the Mississippi State softball team had played with its back against the wall. MSU faced one elimination game after another, the opponent only getting tougher.
First Howard. Then South Florida. Then Florida State — twice.
But the Bulldogs had beaten them all. They baffled the Bison. Beat the Bulls. Stunned the Seminoles.
An instant after making the catch for the final out, Cook spiked the softball onto the infield dirt.
The celebration had begun.
It could only be described as long-awaited catharsis for a Mississippi State program in need of moments like this. The Bulldogs (37-25, 10-14 Southeastern Conference) won an NCAA regional for the first time ever, and they did it in shocking fashion, beating No. 2 Florida State (54-7, 19-5 ACC) twice in a row on the Seminoles’ home field. Game scores were 5-0 and 4-3.
“To be able to go to our very first Super Regional, there’s really not any words,” Mississippi State coach Samantha Ricketts said. “It was a whole team effort.”
Ricketts’ words rang true. The Bulldogs stayed defensively sound through five games, including the final four — played over 25 and a half hours. Their pitching was dominant against one of the nation’s best. And their mercurial offense came through in the clutch to seal a victory that will live as the program’s finest.
That last part could change next week. Not only did MSU advance to Super Regionals; the Bulldogs will be hosting them.
Mississippi State, a No. 2 seed in Tallahassee, will welcome Arizona to Nusz Park next weekend. The Wildcats were the No. 3 seed in the Columbia Regional but beat host Missouri to advance.
“Right now, we’re going to celebrate this today, and we’ll get back to work,” Ricketts said. “We’re excited for the opportunity.”
Should the Bulldogs win the three-game series, they’ll book a trip to the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City, which begins June 2.
And the way Mississippi State played Sunday, it seems capable of anything.
MSU limited Florida State’s potent offense to three runs over two games. Aspen Wesley tossed a two-hit shutout in the first game, and Annie Willis threw five innings of scoreless relief to earn the win in the winner-take-all contest.
“I don’t even have words for what they did,” Ricketts said. “They’ve been showing us that all year long.”
Willis, a graduate student playing her final season in Starkville, said Wesley approached her before the game with a message.
“I’m not done with you yet,” Wesley promised.
The junior was brilliant in the afternoon game, allowing just three Florida State baserunners all contest. She got a strikeout and two fly balls to negate a leadoff walk in the sixth inning, right after FSU turned a big double play to keep it a 2-0 game and the crowd at JoAnne Graf Field was revived.
Mississippi State added three big insurance runs in the bottom of the inning, and Wesley pitched a 1-2-3 seventh to complete the shutout.
Ricketts turned to her again to start the seventh and final game of the regional, but Wesley finally faltered. She gave up a triple and home run before being removed from the contest without recording an out.
Once again, though, the Bulldogs had their coaches’ backs.
Kenley Hawk limited Florida State to one run in two innings before Willis shut the Seminoles down the rest of the way. The move to start Wesley for the second game was forgotten.
“It didn’t work out,” Ricketts said. “So what?”
Thank Chloe Malau’ulu and a resilient Bulldogs offense for that. Mississippi State put together a key three-run fifth inning in the deciding game to erase a 3-1 deficit and hold on for the win.
Shea Moreno lined an RBI single into right field with the bases loaded, and Malau’ulu took two strikes before chopping the ball up the middle for a go-ahead, two-run single.
Malau’ulu went 7 for 14 in the regional and had a hit in all five games.
“She’s been hot all the time,” catcher Mia Davidson said. “You can always put any pressure on Chloe; she’s going to get it done. She’s one heck of a ballplayer, and you just know she’s going to get it done no matter what.”
The Bulldogs did get it done, even without relying on Davidson, who had just two hits — including a solo home run in Saturday’s first game — in 13 regional at-bats.
MSU had just 11 hits between the two games, but that was enough.
Davidson’s homer opened the scoring in the first game, and Cook drove home a run with a groundout. In the big bottom of the sixth, Jackie McKenna hit an RBI single, Madisyn Kennedy walked with the bases loaded and Riley Hull hit a sac fly.
Matalasi Faapito’s sac fly was Mississippi State’s first run in the deciding game. After she hit it, Florida State pushed its lead back to two with an RBI double by Kaley Mudge.
But MSU rallied in the fifth to pull ahead for good. Kennedy and Brylie St. Clair lined singles, Davidson walked, and Moreno and Malau’ulu delivered key hits.
“I thought they did a great job of picking up the coaches, picking up Aspen for that start,” Ricketts said. “We knew that we were going to have to score quite a few runs anyway.”
Mississippi State did, and Willis did the rest.
She benefited from the second of two instances Saturday in which a Florida State runner left base early and was called out to defuse a jam in the fifth. She stranded a leadoff single in the sixth.
And in the seventh, there was little drama once an infield single was overturned on replay to an out. Devyn Flaherty fouled out, Jahni Kerr lined the ball straight to Cook, and Mississippi State could finally rejoice.
“That’s a great, great program over there,” Ricketts said of FSU. “… To be able to go out there and compete with them — and not just compete but to win and to believe that we could win — I think it’s just a huge moment for this program, for Mississippi State softball and for the Bulldogs.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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