Mississippi State’s College World Series championship was clearly the big story in local sports during the past year, but there were plenty of other good stories to be found. Here, in no particular order, are some of the top achievements and most intriguing storylines from the past  year:

MSU wins College World Series

Maroon and white seemed to become the official colors of Omaha, Nebraska, for two weeks in June.

Mississippi State fans made the trip to the College World Series by the thousands, and they were rewarded with the first national championship in a team sport in school history.

The Bulldogs defeated Vanderbilt in the best-of-three championship series to bring home the CWS title. Pitcher Will Bednar won the Most Outstanding Player award with three strong starts, including a 15-strikeout game.

In bracket play, Mississippi State emerged from a four-team grouping featuring Texas, Tennessee and Virginia. The Bulldogs beat the Longhorns and came back to nip the Cavaliers, setting up a rematch with Texas. Needing to win once in two games, Mississippi State booked its berth in the championship series with a walk-off single by Tanner Leggett.

The Bulldogs, the No. 7 overall seed, swept through the Starkville Regional and beat Notre Dame in three games in super regionals.

Bednar was a first-round draft pick of the San Francisco Giants, while SEC player of the year Tanner Allen, center fielder Rowdey Jordan and pitchers Christian MacLeod and Eric Cerantola were all high-round draft picks.

Caledonia football makes historic playoff run 

Caledonia High School began playing football in 1956. In more than 60 years, the school recorded 49 losing seasons, had never won a state title, had never won a region title and had never even won a playoff game.

While those first two remain goals, the Cavaliers took care of the third one in style in 2021.

Caledonia, which never had more than seven wins in a season before 2021 — and hadn’t managed that since 1989 — went 11-3. They opened the postseason with a 31-24 win over Kosciusko and followed that up with dominant second-half performances in victories over Pontotoc (27-8) and Louisville (27-7) to reach the MHSAA Class 4A semifinals. 

The ride ended there with a controversial 34-27 loss to Senatobia in which a bizarre measurement led to the winning touchdown, but the season will be remembered for a long time. With some of the most enthusiastic fans around, the Cavaliers under third-year coach Michael Kelly made not one but several statements and left the impression that, despite graduation losses, playoff victories no longer will be rare in Caledonia.

Owls find their place in SLIAC

Just a few years after bringing back intercollegiate sports, Mississippi University for Women found a conference to call home.

In June, the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference accepted The W’s application, and the Owls will begin play in the SLIAC in 2022-23.

The SLIAC includes Blackburn College, Eureka College, Fontbonne University, Greenville University, Principia College, Spalding University, Webster University and Westminster College. Four are in Illinois, three are in Missouri and one is in Kentucky. Commissioner Dick Kaiser noted that Columbus is 434 miles from St. Louis when the announcement of The W’s acceptance was made.

“The President’s Council and the conference office obviously realize that MUW does not fit into the current geographic footprint of the other conference institutions, but everyone felt the opportunity to gain another quality member of such a high academic profile and a complete sports program was worth our efforts to be creative with our scheduling and championships,” Kaiser said.

MSU women’s basketball coach steps down

The college basketball world suffered a shock Oct. 12 when Mississippi State women’s basketball coach Nikki McCray-Penson suddenly stepped down, citing the resurgence of health issues she said she hoped were behind her.

McCray-Penson had coached the Bulldogs for just one season after taking over for Vic Schaefer. Her team struggled in the 2020-21 season, missing the NCAA tournament and declining a WNIT bid.

Doug Novak, hired as an assistant on McCray-Penson’s staff in September, took over as the Bulldogs’ interim head coach. Novak had plenty of experience coaching men’s basketball, most recently at Bethel University, but he was put in charge of a women’s college program for the first time.

Novak’s team has posted a 9-3 record through nonconference play and starts its SEC schedule Monday.

West Point plays in sixth straight title game

They might have been stopped short of reclaiming a state title, but the West Point High School football team reached the MHSAA Class 5A championship game for a remarkable sixth consecutive year.

The Green Wave fell to Picayune in Hattiesburg, but another successful season added to the impressive record the team has compiled during its run. West Point reached the final with convincing wins over Ridgeland (40-7) and Vicksburg (42-6) and a 20-14 victory over Neshoba Central.

West Point went undefeated on the field during the regular season, cruising to the Class 5A, Region 1 title. Overall, the Green Wave outscored their opponents 429-166 and scored 40 or more points seven times.

West Point has won at least 10 games each year since 2015 and has gone 7-0 in region play in five of those seasons. During the postseason, the Green Wave have posted a 24-3 record during that span, including four consecutive state titles from 2016-2019.

That recent success has left coach Chris Chambless with an overall playoff record of 41-10. And while nothing beats bringing home the trophy, the accomplishments during the past six years speak for themselves.

MSU volleyball makes NCAA tournament for first time

The Mississippi State volleyball team isn’t historically known for its success.

The Bulldogs had never made the NCAA tournament and typically finished toward the bottom of the SEC, if not last.

This year, Julie Darty Dennis’ team flipped that on its head.

Darty Dennis earned SEC coach of the honors for leading the Bulldogs to a 25-6 record, a 16-2 mark in conference play and a second-place finish in the league. Mississippi State broke into the AVCA top 25 for the first time and even won at Florida, its first victory over the Gators in 54 tries.

The Bulldogs found success thanks to all-SEC selection Gabby Waden as well as libero Lilly Gunter, outside hitters Callie Minshew and Shania Cromartie and other talented players.

Their season ended in heartbreak, though, with a five-set loss to Hawai’i in the first round of the NCAA tournament in Seattle.

New AD brings vision to Columbus High School

When John Davis went to Starkville High School in the early 2000s, the Falcons were “neck and neck” with the Yellow Jackets in track and field and a fearsome rival in basketball. In football, Columbus was Starkville’s chief competitor — surpassing even the well-known South Panola juggernaut in Batesville.

It was a heyday for Columbus High sports that Davis remembers well. Now, as the school’s new athletic director, his vision is to make the Falcons feared again across Mississippi.

“It’s always been to where some of the best athletes in the state are from Columbus,” Davis said. “It’s just we’ve got to get back to teaching the fundamentals and getting them out for every sport.”

While the school’s basketball team have won titles, the baseball and softball teams have long struggled, and a football team that appears to be on the upswing has won just eight games in four years. So achieving the success Davis hopes — annually competing for district championships and often making bids for state titles as well — in every single sport the Falcons offer won’t happen right away.

“It’s going to take some time,” Davis said. “It’s a long process, and we’re chipping away at it right now.”

New faces in athletics at The W

It was a very busy year off the field at The W. It wasn’t all that long ago that the athletic department was in turmoil, with a former athletic director reassigned after former employees and former student-athletes described in a Dispatch investigation a “toxic culture” in the department and accused the administration of ignoring the situation.

Enter Jennifer Claybrook, who brought 10 years of experience as an athletic director at LaGrange College — after 19 as the school’s softball coach — to the position as AD at The W when she was hired in June. With the Owls transitioning into NCAA Division III, there was plenty of work to do. 

One of the jobs was hiring, and several key people have been brought in since Claybrook’s arrival. They include men’s basketball coach Dean Burrows, volleyball coach Halee Hensley, baseball coach Scott Mularz and SID Dave Beyer. Combined with the coaches already in place, the staff at The W seems ready for the school’s debut on the NCAA stage.

MSU softball SEC winning streak leads to NCAAs

It looked like a lost season for the Mississippi State softball team.

The Bulldogs started SEC play with an 0-13 record, sinking to the bottom of the standings. They came close in most of their conference games but could not seem to get over the hump.

Until, finally, they did.

Mississippi State snapped its skid and ultimately closed the regular season on a seven-game conference win streak, earning the No. 9 seed in the SEC tournament and dispatching rival Ole Miss. The Bulldogs made the NCAA tournament, heading to the Stillwater Regional and making it to the regional final.

There, MSU lost to regional host Oklahoma State, marking the end of an illustrious college career for standout first baseman Fa Leilua. But star catcher Mia Davidson and Co. will return in 2022 hoping to build on last season’s success.

Heritage wins MAIS 5A football championship

Heritage Academy (13-1) scored six consecutive touchdowns en route to a 51-21 win over Copiah (10-3), winning the Class 5A title for the second time in three years.

Senior wide receiver Mitchell Woodard caught three touchdown passes from junior quarterback Mack Howard, who finished with a whopping six scoring tosses in the Patriots’ rout. Trey Naugher, Eli Dement and Luke Fisher also caught touchdowns from Howard, who threw the ball all over the field like few high school quarterbacks can do.

“He makes life easy,” Harrison said. “He makes this job really easy.”