STARKVILLE — There are a lot of softballs piling up on Highway 182 these days.
At least, that’s what it looks like to Mississippi State softball coach Samantha Ricketts when she watches her star duo, junior catcher Mia Davidson and senior utility player Fa Leilua, take their swings.
“Mia and Fa are special, and especially having two of them, it’s really fun to watch,” Ricketts said Thursday during the team’s preseason media availability. “It’s impressive even when you see it every day. You just kind of stop and go, ‘Wow. That was insane. They hit that onto the highway.'”
It’s nothing new for Davidson and Leilua, who combined to hit 48 home runs, leading all Southeastern Conference duos last year. Fully aware of their leadership role in presiding over the Bulldogs this season, they’ve embraced it.
“I think for them it’s just trying to teach and share, because they do realize that they can’t do it themselves and that they’re going to need seven other hitters around them,” Ricketts said. “They’re going to need the pitchers. They’re going to need the defense.”
And while Davidson and Leilua keep etching their names in the Bulldogs’ record books, they know it’s not about them.
“They want to do it for the team,” Ricketts said. “They’re about, ‘I want to do whatever I can for the team to win.’ If that means putting down a bunt, that’s what they want to do — even though I’m not going to let them.”
Knowing they might not see as many hittable pitches as most players, Davidson and Leilua will have to keep calm and rely on their teammates.
“We’ve just gotta keep our heads cool and just take what they give us and trust the team, because we know the team can do it just as well as we can,” Davidson said.
Davidson has high expectations for her junior year — something the senior half of the Bulldogs’ star duo loves to see.
“We push each other, and it’s pretty cool just to have someone like that making you want to be better,” Leilua said.
Here are some other storylines to follow before the Bulldogs’ season begins Feb. 7 at the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Clearwater, Florida.
Kennedy, St. Clair among freshmen making an impact
Neither Ricketts nor Davidson can believe that shortstop Madisyn Kennedy is really in her first year of college.
“She’s a true leader,” Davidson said. “It’s like she’s not even a freshman.”
Kennedy, a graduate of Macon East Academy in Montgomery, Alabama, is playing beyond her years with a smooth glove and a commanding presence.
“She looks like a junior or senior out there,” Ricketts said. “It’s been really fun to watch.”
Kennedy has impressed so much that Ricketts has penciled her in as the team’s starting shortstop, though she will hit near the bottom of the order for now.
Brylie St. Clair, whom Ricketts described as a “smooth lefty infielder,” is also likely to see immediate playing time.
St. Clair, who hit a cool .604 for Sand Rock High School in Alabama her junior year, “has a cannon in the outfield,” Davidson said — and she’s an extremely talented slap hitter, too.
Houston, Mississippi, product Aquana Brownlee is locked in a “battle” for the starting spot at second base with senior Lindsey Williams, Ricketts said. Both she and Habersham Central High School (Cornelia, Georgia) product Paige Cook will play multiple positions.
Freshmen pitchers Aspen Wesley (Neshoba Central High School) and Kenley Hawk (Palestine-Wheatley High School, Arkansas) are likely to see time out of the bullpen and may start midweek games, Ricketts said.
Rounding out the lineup
Plenty is set in stone about the Bulldogs’ 2020 starting lineup.
Senior outfielder Candace Denis will lead off, setting the table for Davidson and Leilua.
“I think she’s kind of an X-factor for our offense,” Ricketts said of Denis. “Opposing teams don’t know how to play her. She can do a little bit of everything.”
Behind that powerful top three, there’s a lot still up in the air. With the departure of outfielder Kat Moore, who hit behind the Bulldogs’ “Big Two” last season, Mississippi State is in search of protection.
“That’s gonna be a big hole for us to fill there,” Ricketts said.
Anna Kate Segars could help plug that hole. The sophomore from East Lawrence High School in Moulton, Alabama, hit .171 in just 35 at-bats in 2019, but Ricketts likes the contrast she provides as a left-handed hitter.
Now a junior, outfielder Carter Spexarth is another likely starter and possible middle-of the order-hitter. She hit .227 in 47 games last season and has seen her game take a step up in the past month.
“Her power and her confidence level are really starting to skyrocket,” Ricketts said.
Malau’ulu or Mia’s sister Montana Davidson are other candidates to offer protection for the Bulldogs’ star duo. Senior Christian Quinn is challenging Segars and Malau’ulu for a starting outfield spot, Ricketts said.
Williams leads pitching staff again
After starting 26 games on the mound for Mississippi State last season, junior right-hander Emily Williams is back as the Bulldogs’ primary starter.
Despite serious control issues — Williams walked 148 batters to 156 strikeouts in 171.2 innings pitched last season — she posted a solid 2.90 ERA in 2019. This season, she’s trying to better that mark.
“Leading the staff for us, she’s really done a good job of homing in on the strike zone, working on her pitches and adding a few more,” Ricketts said.
Now a sophomore, lefty Grace Fagan has similarly added to her arsenal. She posted a 3.40 ERA in 80.1 innings her freshman season, striking out 64 batters.
Fagan will play a big role, and so will Troy transfer Annie Willis, a junior right-hander who struck out 104 batters to just 38 walks last season at the Alabama school.
“You’re gonna see a lot of her,” Ricketts said.
Senior right-hander Alyssa Loza — the hardest thrower on the team — will hold down a high-leverage relief role, and the freshman Hawk and Wesley will see time there. Denis will also command some innings on the mound, Ricketts said.
Ricketts ready for tough SEC
Even transfers were transfixed when Mississippi State played in the SEC tournament last May in College Station, Texas.
“The tournament’s fun because ESPN uses it as a tune-up for the College World Series,” Ricketts said.
She said the Bulldogs’ newcomers, not used to playing in the SEC, realized, ‘Okay, this is pretty cool.’
That’s what it’s like playing in the SEC, a conference in which every weekend series has the atmosphere of a super regional — that’s how Ricketts sees it, anyhow.
“The SEC’s tough every year,” she said. “Looking at it, you never know who’s gonna be at the top and who’s gonna be mixed in at the middle and the bottom, because it changes. It can change based on one player, one pitcher, one team. I think you never really know what to expect.”
Alabama is a presumptive favorite, but the Bulldogs, who went 9-15 in conference play last season, can’t afford to overlook any SEC squad.
“Every year, top to bottom, you can never have an off week in our conference,” she said.
In her first year as head coach, Ricketts already has that lesson down. Formerly an assistant focusing on hitting and recruiting, she was promoted to associate head coach in the summer of 2018. One year later, after Mississippi State announced that head coach Vann Stuedeman would not return, the head job went to Ricketts.
“I think I just look at it as (an) opportunity, and for me, I know what a blessing it is to step into this role, especially in a program that I helped build and I know the team and the players and the recruits and everything,” she said. “For me, I look at it definitely more as a blessing: just doing what I can to continue us on the path that we’ve built and continuing to keep us as a strong presence in the postseason and beyond and take the next step.”
The Bulldogs’ season ended in the Seattle Regional of the NCAA tournament, as they beat Seattle University twice but lost twice to host Washington. In the opposing Huskies, Ricketts saw a model she wants her program to emulate.
“If we want to move on and take this program to levels that it hasn’t been to before, we want to perform like that Washington team,” she said. “I think they kind of got to see that next level of what we’re working for.”
That starts with accountability up and down the line — from freshmen to seniors; from coaches to players. Only with that can Mississippi State reach the next level it wants to attain.
“For us it’s, ‘How do we build? How do we get better? How do we bring in the next group that are better than the ones who are here?’ Ricketts said. “I think that’s always our mindset moving forward.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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