Chloe Malau’ulu’s parents have been waiting for this.
When the Mississippi State senior outfielder returns home to California this weekend for the Bulldogs’ season-opening tournament, her family will be ready.
That’s because Malau’ulu is set to face off with her sister Thessa, a sophomore infielder for No. 3 UCLA, when the Bulldogs and Bruins meet at 3 p.m. Saturday in Irvine, California. The Malau’ulu family has already planned to sell T-shirts with their last name on it — the “M” being replaced by a Mississippi State logo and a UCLA logo in place of the “U.”
Additionally, the Malau’ulus’ cousin, Tiare Jennings, will be in town with No. 1 Oklahoma, which faces Mississippi State at 8:30 p.m. Friday.
“It’s going to be a party,” Chloe Malau’ulu said.
Given all the storylines involved when the Bulldogs head west for a four-game swing to open the 2022 season, it might as well be. Malau’ulu will play against her sister and her cousin. Infielder Shea Moreno will face her former school in UCLA. Head coach Samantha Ricketts, once a star at Oklahoma, will face the Sooners yet again.
Oh, yeah, and Mississippi State will play two top three teams in the country — on back-to-back days.
“For us, it’s a great time to go out there, to use it as a measuring stick to see where we stand,” Ricketts said. “It kind of gives us an idea coming home what we need to work on.”
Mississippi State had two similar trips in 2020, beginning its season in the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Clearwater, Florida, before heading to Palm Springs, California, for an event later in February.
The Bulldogs lost games to Oregon and BYU as well as an exhibition with Team USA. Besides the national squad, though, their 2022 event offers greater competition.
Oklahoma and UCLA were the top two seeds in the 2021 Women’s College World Series. The Sooners eliminated the Bruins in bracket play before defeating Florida State in three games for the national title.
OU is led by star senior Jocelyn Alo, who returns for another year after hitting .475 with a .566 on-base percentage and a slugging percentage of 1.109 in 2021.
The Sooners are coached by Patty Gasso, who coached Ricketts from 2004 to 2008 at Oklahoma and won her fifth national title last year. Ricketts said Gasso has been a mentor to her throughout her coaching career and can call Gasso when the Bulldogs are struggling or she needs advice.
Mississippi State played Oklahoma in a rescheduled game last April 10 in Ruston, Louisiana, falling 9-0 on the run rule in five innings. But Ricketts will be glad to see Gasso and the Sooners again.
“It’s almost like a front-row seat,” Ricketts said. “It’s pretty cool when you look at it that way. That was my coach, that was the one I looked up to, and now I’m across from her in the other dugout.”
That will be the same for the Malau’ulu sisters when MSU meets third-ranked UCLA. Chloe Malau’ulu said she’s glad to be able to play on a big stage less than an hour from her hometown of Long Beach with her family in attendance.
“We’re just really excited to play against each other — just to have fun on the field,” she said. “This is what we’ve grown up doing.”
Like the Sooners, the Bruins won’t be easy to beat. UCLA went 47-7 last season, including 19-2 in the tough Pac-12. Pitcher Rachel Garcia (1.39 ERA in 136.1 innings last season) has moved on, but fellow hurler Megan Faraimo (1.10 ERA in 133.1 innings) returns for 2022.
“That opening weekend, I don’t think it can get much tougher than playing the No. 1 and No. 3 team in the country in two days,” Ricketts said.
The Bulldogs don’t just play Oklahoma and UCLA while they’re on the West Coast, though. They open the season at 3 p.m. Friday against Loyola Marymount and play LMU again at 11 a.m. Sunday at the Lions’ home park in Los Angeles.
“We’re preparing for LMU the exact same way that we are for Oklahoma and for UCLA,” Ricketts insisted.
Loyola Marymount went 22-21 last season with a 10-5 mark in West Coast Conference play. The Lions played twice at UCLA, losing both games.
While Mississippi State plans to hold serve against LMU, the Bulldogs teams that take the field for the first and the fourth games of the weekend might not look all that similar.
“I’m kind of known for mixing up my lineups and trying different matchups, and you’re going to see a lot of that as well,” Ricketts said.
It might be needed as the Bulldogs face the toughest competition they’ll see all season. MSU will play a series at No. 2 Alabama in April and travel to No. 6 Florida, No. 19 Kentucky and No. 22 Tennessee, but the Bulldogs won’t face two top-three teams in as many days.
Not after Saturday, anyway.
“We’re excited to go out there, see where we stand and come back and use that to propel us forward really knowing that after the first week, we’re not going to have another weekend that tough, no matter what we do,” Ricketts said.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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