STARKVILLE — Mia Davidson looked down at the table, running teary eyes over the softball covered in red dirt.
The Mississippi State catcher clutched her prize from a historic day at Nusz Park: the ball she’d sent over the fence in the second inning Friday against Central Arkansas. Former Bulldog Caroline Seitz tracked it down for Davidson in the dark and the cold amid the trees and bushes behind the wall.
Davidson stared at the ball that marked her latest milestone: the Southeastern Conference softball career home run record. She struggled to put its meaning into words.
“It’s a great accomplishment,” she said. “I’m going to cry.”
It wasn’t the first time Davidson got emotional after hitting her 71st and 72nd home runs as Mississippi State (4-4) split games with Southern Illinois and UCA on Friday. The Bulldogs lost to the Salukis 4-3 before run-ruling the Bears 11-3 in six innings.
But Davidson was the story. She hit a home run in each game, tying Florida’s Lauren Haeger for the SEC mark with the first long ball and leaving Haeger’s record in the dust with the second.
“It felt amazing,” Davidson said of her record-breaking two-run homer. “I was jumping around the bases the whole time.”
Her excitement soon turned to emotion when she saw the video the team played in commemoration of her achievement. In the dugout, Davidson’s Bulldogs teammates surrounded her.
“They all came and gave me a hug,” she said. “I think some of us started crying together. It was amazing. It was an amazing feeling.”
Davidson hit a solo home run in the sixth inning against SIU to tie the SEC record, her second homer of the season and the 71st of her career.
The fifth-year catcher playing her final collegiate season wasn’t long in breaking the tie with Haeger in what coach Samantha Ricketts called “a huge accomplishment that I know means a lot to her.”
“Even moving forward, I’m not sure if she realizes how long lasting that impact is going to be that she’s had on this program,” Ricketts said.
Davidson might not realize it yet. All she wanted Friday night was a chance to celebrate with her team, particularly her sister Montana, also playing her final year for the Bulldogs.
And Davidson has the perfect gift idea for Montana’s 24th birthday, which was Thursday: the softball with which she set her latest record.
“I might give it to her for her birthday, but I doubt she’d want it,” Davidson said. “Just having her there and sharing that moment with her was really special.”
Bulldogs bats come alive against UCA
Matalasi Faapito hit a home run in her first at-bat with Mississippi State, but the rest of her season had been rough.
The New Mexico State transfer was 0 for her next 11 after her two-run homer against Loyola Marymount on Feb. 11. She resolved to put her cold spell behind her.
“I just knew it was in the past, and I just needed to go up from there,” Faapito said.
She did just that with a three-run home run as part of a five-RBI night for the Bulldogs against Central Arkansas.
Faapito broke a 1-1 tie with her long ball to right in the bottom of the first before Mississippi State posted a second consecutive four-run frame in the next inning.
She ended the game in the sixth with a two-run double that put MSU ahead by eight runs, triggering the mercy rule. Faapito came a couple feet short of her second home run of the night.
“It was good to see her get back in there and do what she does, which is just drive the ball out of the park,” Ricketts said. “That second one is probably out any other day with any other weather.”
Seven of the Bulldogs’ starters had a hit, including two for freshman Riley Hull and three for junior Madisyn Kennedy. Mississippi State also drew five walks, leaving constant traffic on the base paths.
“I think from the get-go, we were just on fire,” Davidson said. “Everybody from one through nine was hitting the ball and taking walks, doing what they’ve got to do to make sure we won.”
It was a needed response after MSU lost at home to Southern Illinois for the second straight season. The Salukis snapped the Bulldogs’ 17-game winning streak early in 2021 and foiled them again Friday afternoon.
SIU broke a 1-1 tie in the fifth inning on an RBI double before a two-run single added to the lead. Shea Moreno singled to get a run back for Mississippi State and Davidson homered, but the Bulldogs came up a run short.
Still, they rebounded well against the Bears to earn a split on the day.
“I thought we came out much better in Game 2 — the way we needed to in Game 1,” Ricketts said. “I thought they came out ready to attack in Game 2, and that’s what we were looking for at the start of the day.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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