Despite a losing record in conference play, a former college softball standout coached an unseeded team to a regional win on the road last weekend thanks to two upsets over a national seed.
That sentence could apply to Mississippi State or to Arizona.
Opponents in this weekend’s NCAA Super Regional at Nusz Park, the Bulldogs and Wildcats bear some striking similarities.
But only one team will make it to the Women’s College World Series next week in Oklahoma City.
It will either be MSU, playing in its first-ever Super Regional, or Arizona — one of college softball’s blue bloods, even in the midst of a relative down season. The Wildcats come to Starkville with a 36-20 record and an 8-16 mark in the Pac-12; the Bulldogs enter with a 37-25 record and a 10-14 Southeastern Conference mark.
Arizona emerged from the Columbia Regional, hosted by No. 15 overall seed Missouri, while Mississippi State pulled a historic upset of No. 2 Florida State. The Bulldogs won four consecutive elimination games on Saturday and Sunday to win a regional for the first time in program history.
Arizona, the No. 3 seed in its regional, beat Illinois before taking down the host Tigers twice. The Wildcats are coached by Caitlin Lowe, in her first season after taking over for longtime coach Mike Candrea; Lowe played for the Wildcats from 2004 to 2007.
Both Lowe and Mississippi State coach Samantha Ricketts, who starred for Oklahoma from 2006 to 2009, were finalists for the USA Softball Player of the Year Award in 2007.
But both lead different teams stylistically. Arizona ranks in the top 20 nationally in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, runs per game and home runs per game.
The Wildcats have five hitters with an OPS over 1.000. Allie Skaggs’ is Arizona’s best batter with a .374/.464/.822 slash line and 23 home runs, one ahead of Mississippi State’s Mia Davidson.
Sharlize Palacios has a 1.206 OPS and 19 home runs, while Carlie Scupin is close behind with a 1.197 mark and 18 long balls. Jasmine Perezchica leads Arizona in batting average at .389.
But all those bats couldn’t offset some poor pitching by the Wildcats. Arizona’s top two pitchers, Devyn Netz and Hanah Bowen, have ERAs of 3.68 and 3.80, respectively; the team’s 3.80 ERA ranks 157th nationally and seventh in the nine-team Pac-12.
Arizona lost its first eight conference games before righting the ship, winning two of its final four series. The Pac-12 does not hold a conference tournament, although that will begin in 2023.
The Wildcats and Bulldogs played six of the same teams this season; Arizona went 3-6 in those games, while MSU went 4-9. Both teams played Alabama, UCLA and Oklahoma; neither won a single game.
Arizona won its game against Loyola Marymount, which MSU beat once and lost to once. The Wildcats lost a nonconference game to Kentucky — a team that won two of three from the Bulldogs — and beat Missouri twice. The Tigers lost two of three to MSU at Nusz Park in April.
The Wildcats snuck into the NCAA tournament field as the second-lowest No. 3 seed, a considerable change from their usual success. Arizona’s eight national championships are second to only UCLA; the team has made a Super Regional every year but 2013 since the current format was adopted in 2005.
Mississippi State, of course, has had far less success. The Bulldogs set a program record by simply playing a winner-take-all game for a regional title on Sunday; they’ve never hosted an NCAA Regional, let alone a Super Regional.
So despite the similarities between the two teams, Arizona is significantly more battle tested. Time will tell if that will help the Wildcats this weekend.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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