Mississippi State softball is on a roll out of the gate in 2026.
The Bulldogs are now 10-0 to start the season, the program’s best record through 10 games under head coach Samantha Ricketts, and continue to rise in nationwide rankings.
“We’re excited about the potential to continue to build on (the 10-0 start),” Ricketts said after the weekend slate. “Seeing a lot of good things early on and a lot of things we want to continue to work on.”
MSU was back in Starkville last week after beginning the season on the road at the Getterman Classic in Waco. Strong pitching and hitting continued, and the Bulldogs swept through invitationals on the road and at home to stay unbeaten on the year.
“Being able to be at home for a couple of weeks is nice and nice to get back to practice and continue to fine-tune,” Ricketts said. “Knowing that we’re going to continue to play quality teams, and it’s just going to get tougher down the stretch for us, we know we can’t take anyone lightly. I like the way we responded to some challenges we gave to the group after yesterday. We came out and scored every inning, and just really set the tone and finished strong on the weekend the way we wanted to.”
With the latest weekend of results, MSU climbed to No. 13 in the Softball America poll, No. 14 in both the NFCA and D1 Softball polls, and No. 18 in the USA Softball poll.
Snowman: Alex Wilcox Memorial Weekend
MSU hosted its annual Alex Wilcox Memorial invitational last weekend, bringing three teams to Starkville for three days of action at Nusz Park.
The Bulldogs began the weekend with a pair of run-rule wins on Friday, 9-1 against Murray State and 8-0 against Rutgers. They had a tougher time against the Scarlet Knights on Saturday, but won 7-2 thanks to a pair of tie-breaking home runs from Abby Grace Richardson and Kalani Sells in the bottom of the sixth inning. Pitchers Peja Goold and Alyssa Faircloth split the matchup, with Goold recording the win and the closeout.
The second game of the Saturday doubleheader saw MSU take on North Texas. The Bulldogs fell behind 1-0 at the top of the third inning, but drew level in the bottom half with a home run from Kiarra Sells. Kinley Keller gave them the lead in the fourth inning and extended it to 3-1 with another hit in the sixth.
Leila Ammon threw her first complete game against North Texas on Saturday, tying a career-best with 10 strikeouts as MSU got the win.
The Bulldogs finished the weekend on Sunday with another strong performance from Keller, who recorded three hits and 2 RBI in a 10-2 run-rule win over North Texas. Richardson, Morgan Bernardini, Anna Carder, Gabby Schaeffer and Morgan Stiles all got in on the hit parade to contribute to the scoring as well, rounding out a prolific weekend for the team.
“They were swinging it,” Ricketts said. “(Richardson) has just looked great all year for us and continues to deliver. She’s just so consistent and then plays first, right and left all in one game for us. The two freshmen just got some experience, Kinley Keller and Gabby Schaeffer. They’re such phenomenal athletes, and they’re going to be really good for this program and for the future. It was just good to see them get more comfortable and aggressive on the bases, use their speed, play some good defense. Kinley’s turned into a double machine, so it’s fun to see her get out there and do what we know she can do because she’s going to have a bright future for us.”
Keller’s big weekend saw her named SEC Co-Freshman of the Week, as she went 8-11 at the plate with four doubles in five games. She has the longest active hitting streak on the team and is averaging .667 so far on the season.
MSU will look to stay unbeaten in its next outing against Memphis at 4 p.m. today. The team will host the Bulldog Invitational this weekend, opening play against Belmont at 12:30 p.m. Friday.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 24 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 24 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
