Samantha Ricketts’ first year as the head coach of the Mississippi State softball team officially begins Friday morning in Clearwater, Florida.
At 11 a.m. Friday, the Bulldogs will kick off their 2020 season by facing Missouri State in the first game of the NFCA Leadoff Classic. At 5 p.m. Friday, they’ll play an exhibition with Team USA.
On Saturday, Mississippi State will face Liberty at 11:30 a.m. and Louisville at 2 p.m. The Bulldogs will close out the trip by facing North Carolina State at 11 a.m. Sunday.
So how does Ricketts’ first weekend in charge shape up? Let’s take a look at each of the five games on the Bulldogs’ slate. Home teams are listed last for each contest.
Mississippi State (2019 record: 35-23, 9-15 Southeastern Conference) vs. Missouri State (30-21, 14-11 Missouri Valley Conference), 11 a.m. Friday
The Bulldogs start their 2020 schedule by facing Missouri State of the Missouri Valley Conference. The Bears finished with a winning record in conference play in 2019 but lost in the second round of the MVC tournament to Indiana State.
In the circle, Missouri State is likely to start junior Steffany Dickerson, who went 20-11 with a 2.37 ERA in 2019 and hit .285 with four home runs. Dickerson was named first-team all-Missouri Valley for her efforts.
Third baseman Kyana Mason earned the same honor, but she played her senior season in 2019 and will not return for 2020. Mason hit .388 and started all 51 games, so her graduation is a boon for the Bulldogs.
Mississippi State vs. Team USA (exhibition), 5 p.m. Friday
Facing off with the U.S. Women’s National Team should be fun for Mississippi State fans, though the Bulldogs are probably fortunate the game won’t count in the standings.
But for Ricketts, it may be a family affair: Her sister, former Oklahoma star Keilana Ricketts, is on Team USA’s roster.
So are 17 other former college stars, which will likely make a Bulldogs victory a tough task.
Still, with the hitting prowess of junior catcher Mia Davidson and senior utility player Fa Leilua, Mississippi State will always have a shot.
It just may be a longer shot come Friday evening.
Liberty (40-22, 16-5 Atlantic Sun Conference) vs. Mississippi State, 11:30 a.m. Saturday
To kick off Saturday, Mississippi State takes on a successful program from one of the smaller conferences in Division I.
Liberty went 16-5 in Atlantic Sun play in 2019 and made it to the championship round of the National Invitational Softball Championship, where the Flames lost to UT Arlington and Iowa State.
Twin infielders Amber and Autumn Bishop, who led the team in batting average in 2019 (Amber hit .355; Autumn .352) are back for their senior seasons for Liberty.
But ace pitcher Julia DiMartino, who had a 1.20 ERA in 28 starts in 2019, graduated; so did Chase Cassady, who had a 1.50 ERA and a 15-4 record in 22 starts.
For the Flames, pitching could be a weakness that the Bulldogs’ hitters will gladly attack.
Mississippi State vs. Louisville (35-23, 12-12 ACC), 2 p.m. Saturday
On the surface, Louisville’s 2019 season looks a lot like Mississippi State’s.
Both teams finished with the exact same overall record, after all, despite middling performances in conference play. And both teams were eliminated in NCAA regional competition — the Cardinals lost twice to Northwestern after beating Evansville and besting the Wildcats once.
But while Davidson and Leilua return for the Bulldogs, Louisville lost two of its top three hitters.
Megan Hensley, who led the Cardinals with an on-base plus slugging percentage of 1.071 and also made the second-most starts in the circle, graduated, and so did Sidney Melton, who led the team with a .338 batting average.
Leading starter Danielle Watson is also gone, but senior outfielder Celene Funke, who had the second-highest batting average on the team (.324), will return.
North Carolina State (31-27, 9-15 ACC) vs. Mississippi State, 11 a.m. Sunday
Every NCAA team Mississippi State will play this weekend finished above .500 on the season, but of them, North Carolina State was the closest to that mark.
The Wolfpack struggled to a 9-15 mark in the ACC last season, falling to North Carolina in the semifinals of the conference tournament.
But NC State does return its two top hitters: junior Sam Russ and senior Brigette Nordberg. Russ hit .326 with a .957 OPS in 2019, and Nordberg hit .291 with an OPS of 1.048.
Senior Devin Wallace and sophomore Sydney Nester, who started 54 of 58 games in the circle for the Wolfpack, also return. Wallace had an ERA of 3.47 in 34 starts, and Nester pitched to a 3.37 mark in 20 starts.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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