STARKVILLE – More than 4,800 Starkvillians came out to Nusz Park for a historic weekend for Mississippi State softball. The Bulldogs took one game in a series defeat to No. 1 Tennessee, but more than that, they took away the confidence that they could hang with anyone.
The Bulldogs backed that up on Wednesday with a shutout 4-0 win over UAB, improving to 28-4 overall ahead of the first SEC road trip of the season.
Starting pitcher Alyssa Faircloth mowed down the Blazers, recording 14 strikeouts in her first solo shutout while allowing just two hits.
“(Faircloth) wasn’t quite as sharp on some of her pitches she normally is early on, and a big credit to her, she really just kind of pushed through it. She continued to fight,” MSU head coach Samantha Ricketts said. “She was talking and working with Coach (Taryne Mowatt-McKinney) in the dugout in between innings. I think it came down to just trusting herself and what her and Coach T have done. She got out there and continued to get stronger every inning and mix pitches. She found a lot of pitches that maybe she didn’t have total control over early. When she’s got all of them working like she did toward the end, she’s a really tough matchup because she can throw a lot of different pitches at different speeds at hitters.”
Where Ricketts would have liked to see some more production was on offense. The Bulldogs managed just three runs all weekend against the Vols, enough to take Game 2 in a series full of quality pitching, but struggled again to get on top of the Blazers until late in the night.
“We do like to score in late innings, but we’re not opposed to also scoring early,” Ricketts said, half-joking. “It just kind of felt offensively like a little bit of the pressure we were putting on ourselves over the weekend in the Tennessee series carried over tonight. I think we were just making the moment too big and not playing Mississippi State softball and relaxing.”
The Bulldogs might need some more runs in Athens, facing a Georgia team that ranks 18th in Division I in scoring.
“Another Top 25, quality opponent,” Ricketts said. “We try to treat every SEC weekend like a Super Regional, getting ourselves in that mindset and knowing we’re going to be on the road in front of another team’s crowd. It’s us against the world, and that’s a mindset they do a good job of.”
Addisen Fisher is set to be a problem for MSU as one of the best pitchers in the conference, holding an ERA of 1.81 in eight appearances, but the pitching edge going into the matchup belongs to MSU. Faircloth ranks 28th in the nation in ERA, while teammates Peja Goold and Leila Ammon are both in the Top 5 in the country, along with Belmont’s Maya Johnson and Tennessee’s Karlyn Pickens and Sage Mardjetko. The Bulldogs have faced all three of those pitchers this year, giving MSU’s batters quality learning opportunities at the plate.
Ricketts is confident her squad can apply those lessons to practice. It’s something the team has worked on ramping up to the start of the SEC season, and the head coach knows the importance of getting it right against a high-scoring UGA squad.
“They’ve got a really great offense, they swing the bat with a lot of power,” Ricketts said of Georgia. “They also have a lot of arms they can throw at us. It’s going to take a total team effort. It’s going to take the pitching like we had this weekend, quality defense, and timely hitting. The goal is obviously to see that a little bit sooner. It’s something we’ve been working through since South Alabama, but full confidence in our offense and ability. A lot of really good hitters and athletes who just need to relax a bit and trust themselves.”
The two sets of Bulldogs will meet at 5 p.m. today in Athens on SEC Network, airing just before MSU baseball takes on Vanderbilt.
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 40 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 40 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
