Salen Hawkins, Mississippi State’s starting second baseman as a freshman this past spring, is in the transfer portal, she confirmed to The Dispatch.
Hawkins batted .294 with three home runs, three doubles and 26 RBI in 136 at-bats, though without much power, she did have the second-lowest OPS of the Bulldogs’ starting position players.
She was excellent in the field, teaming with shortstop Kylee Edwards to form an all-freshman double play combination. On Apr. 12 against Tennessee, Hawkins dove to her backhand side to spear a sharply-hit ground ball up the middle and flipped it with her glove to Edwards covering second base for a force out. Edwards caught the flip with her toe just barely touching the base, then fired to first and nearly completed a spectacular double play.
Hawkins is originally from Southern California but moved to Phoenix in 2021 and played travel ball for the Arizona Storm. The No. 21 middle infielder in her class according to Extra Inning Softball committed to MSU after her senior year of high school in July 2023.
Four other Bulldogs players — junior outfielder Saleyna Daniel, sophomore catcher Gabby Coffey, junior infielder Jadyn Burney and freshman catcher/infielder Megan Davidson — are all in the portal as well. Burney, a junior college transfer, had the most playing time of that quartet, appearing in 52 games mostly as a pinch-runner and defensive replacement. Despite just five at-bats, Burney scored 20 runs in her first year with MSU.
Daniel hit safely in four of her eight at-bats with a double and two runs batted in, Davidson was 2-for-4 on the season and Coffey went hitless in six at-bats. Burney and Davidson both grew up in Mississippi, while Daniel and Coffey are both from Texas.
The Bulldogs finished the season 34-20 including a 12-12 mark in Southeastern Conference play, their first time finishing .500 or better in the SEC since 2007. MSU returned to the NCAA Tournament after a one-year absence and won its opening-round game against Cal State Fullerton at the Stanford Regional, but lost to host Stanford and the Titans the next day.
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