STARKVILLE — The moment itself was rather anticlimactic, as selection shows frequently are, but Mississippi State’s upperclassmen are savoring it nonetheless.
A year after the Bulldogs were the only Southeastern Conference team left out of the NCAA Tournament field, MSU is back in the postseason and will head to Palo Alto, Calif., for regionals hosted by No. 8 seed Stanford, starting with a first-round game Friday against Cal State Fullerton.
“It was definitely nice just to be confident going in, because we know all of our hard work has gotten us to this point,” fifth-year senior outfielder Paige Cook said. “We’re just ready for the chance to show it off.”
The Bulldogs (33-18) were picked to finish last in the SEC in the preseason coaches poll without a single player on the preseason all-conference team. They finished 12-12 in SEC play, their first time finishing .500 or better in the conference since 2007, and landed three players on either the all-SEC first team or second team.
A strong run in non-conference play that included wins over Clemson, Utah and UCF, coupled with a 9-7 start to the SEC schedule, put MSU in contention to host a regional for the first time in program history, but the Bulldogs stumbled a bit down the stretch, losing midweek games to South Alabama and Samford and dropping their first SEC Tournament game against South Carolina. Still, MSU was a lock to make the field of 64 come Selection Sunday.
“We had our moments this season. We know where we can improve for next season,” head coach Samantha Ricketts said. “I looked a lot to the Puerto Vallarta tournament in Mexico and beating some top-15 ranked teams early on, just helped solidify (that) we are good enough, we’ve worked hard, we’re a solid team that can go and compete with anyone.”
With eight fifth-year players on the roster, the Bulldogs are a veteran group, but they also have had three freshmen in the starting batting order for almost the entire season — and at key positions, too, with Ella Wesolowski behind the plate, Kylee Edwards at shortstop and Salen Hawkins at second base.
Their three transfer additions all made big differences as well. Jessie Blaine has put up a .319/.460/.529 triple slash; Sierra Sacco gets on base nearly half the time, is a perfect 19-for-19 on stolen base attempts and has played error-free defense in center field; and Lexi Sosa has a 1.53 ERA over 12 appearances covering 36 ⅔ innings.
Still, this is a team replete with experience. Fifth-year Aspen Wesley closed the regular season by winning each of her last three starts, allowing just three earned runs in 21 innings. The lineup is anchored by Cook and shortstop-turned-first baseman Madisyn Kennedy, who leads the SEC in slugging percentage and is second in home runs and fifth in runs batted in.
“We’ve played some of the best teams in the nation, and a lot of them are hosting,” Cook said. “Knowing that we’ve been playing the best, we can carry that over.”
MSU played all five teams that finished above the Bulldogs in the SEC standings and managed to win two out of three at Arkansas, going along with series wins against Georgia, South Carolina and Ole Miss. All 13 SEC teams heard their names called Sunday evening during the selection show, and the top two overall seeds — Texas and three-time defending national champion Oklahoma — will join the conference next year.
The road to Oklahoma City starts Friday with the Titans, a team MSU defeated back in February at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Southern California. The host Cardinal, led by one of the nation’s top pitchers in sophomore NiJaree Canady, will be tough to beat.
“It’s just a great way for (the seniors’) last season to conclude. We’re not done yet, and I know that postseason experience they have from their first couple years is going to be a big part of what we do this week,” Ricketts said. “Their goal was to leave Starkville and leave this program better than they found it, and they’ve absolutely accomplished that with what they’ve done the last few seasons.”
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