Last season, Mississippi State found out the hard way that success can be a double-edged sword.
The Bulldogs were coming off their best postseason performance in program history in 2022, defeating No. 2 national seed Florida State to win their NCAA Regional and advance to their first-ever Super Regional, which they lost at home to Arizona. But their follow-up effort left a lot to be desired, as MSU finished 7-16 in Southeastern Conference play and missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016.
Watching all 12 of their SEC peers play in the postseason from their couches has given the Bulldogs all the motivation they need heading into the 2024 season, which begins this weekend at Nusz Park with two games each against IUPUI and Alabama-Birmingham. Also giving MSU fuel: Head coach Samantha Ricketts’ team was picked to finish last in the conference this year by both D1Softball and the SEC’s own head coaches.
“It’s been a very focused mentality. That’s part of the danger you see behind success,” Ricketts said. “After the Super Regional run, it doesn’t come easy. It’s not handed to you every year, and we have to work like we did to get to that point again. Maybe if we had made postseason last year, it wouldn’t have been as focused as it was. But it really drove some tough conversations and just some really focused practices.”
Offense a mix of returners and newcomers
The offense was the Bulldogs’ biggest weakness in 2023, with the SEC’s lowest team batting average and on-base percentage. MSU’s two best bats are back in the fold, though, with utility player Paige Cook and infielder Aquanah Brownlee both returning for their final season of eligibility this spring.
Cook had a team-high OPS of 1.084 last season and also led the Bulldogs with 11 home runs and 37 runs batted in. Perhaps most impressively, she walked 23 times compared with just eight strikeouts, and she split her time among third base, right field and designated player. Brownlee, who saw time at first base, second base and DP, put up a .310/.401/.531 triple slash last year, hitting eight home runs and driving in 35 runs.
“If I’m given the opportunity at whatever spot or position, I’m going to do everything I possibly can for my team,” Cook said. “If they want me in the infield, if they want me in the outfield, no matter what I’m going to give it my all. I’m going to try to keep my bat hot and put my body on the line, whatever position I’m at.”
Ricketts dipped into the transfer portal to add one of the top available slap hitters in Louisiana Tech’s Sierra Sacco, who should slot right in as MSU’s leadoff hitter. In 2022, Sacco was a top-10 finalist for the NFCA National Freshman of the Year award, when she batted .441 and got on base at a .535 clip. She didn’t quite repeat those numbers last year, but she still hit .335 with 36 stolen bases on 39 attempts.
The Bulldogs also added catcher Jessie Blaine from Auburn, who started 86 games over the last two years for the Tigers. Blaine was excellent as a freshman in 2022, with a .547 slugging percentage and nine home runs, and walked more than she has struck out in both her seasons on The Plains. She will compete for playing time behind the plate with freshman Ella Wesolowski, a top-100 prospect in her class according to Extra Inning Softball.
MSU also returns center fielder Brylie St. Clair, utility infielder Nadia Barbary, shortstop Madisyn Kennedy and catcher/first baseman Riley Hull, who tied for the team lead in walks and had a .398 on-base percentage despite her .225 batting average. Middle infielder Jadyn Burney has come over from Chipola Community College in Florida, and freshmen Kylee Edwards and Salen Hawkins are also multi-talented middle infielders.
“We’ve got a good mix of underclassmen, I’ve got two top-10, top-15 ranked freshman and sophomore classes, mixed in with my fifth-year seniors,” Ricketts said. “Excited about the chance to get them out there. We’ve got a lot of good battles going on at different positions.”
Mowatt-McKinney brings championship-caliber experience to pitching staff
Ricketts used a pitch-by-committee approach for her staff last year, with four hurlers throwing between 60 and 80 innings. The head coach was able to land a hot coaching commodity to help out those pitchers as Taryne Mowatt-McKinney, who led Arizona to the 2007 national title, has come on board as the Bulldogs’ new pitching coach after spending the last six seasons in the same role at her alma mater and three years at Ole Miss before that.
Three of MSU’s top four pitchers from 2023 are back this season, led by sophomore Josey Marron, who posted a 2.38 ERA in 79.1 innings as a freshman. She struck out 95 batters and walked just 18. Marron remained on campus over the summer to improve her strength after sustaining a minor injury last spring.
Fifth-year seniors Aspen Wesley and Matalasi Faapito are also proven options for Ricketts and company, combining to make 26 starts last year. The Bulldogs brought in Lexi Sosa from perennial national power UCLA to provide depth in the bullpen, and two freshmen have joined the pitching staff in Delaney Everett and Hosanna Lindblade. Everett, a left-hander from California, was among the top recruits in the class of 2023.
“You don’t fully realize you’re playing on such a big stage until you get to the SEC,” Marron said. “When we got in front of those big crowds and we were playing teams three times in a weekend, that’s how you learn, not only throughout every game but throughout every at-bat.”
MSU opens the season at home with the Alex Wilcox Memorial tournament, also called The Snowman. The tournament honors former Bulldogs outfielder Alex Wilcox, who died after a battle with ovarian cancer in 2018. Ricketts’ team then will partake in two of the more prestigious early-season tournaments in college softball — the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge in Mexico and the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Cathedral City, Calif.
In Puerto Vallarta, MSU will face Utah and Clemson, who both hosted and won regionals last year, as well as UC Davis and UC San Diego. The following weekend in the desert, the Bulldogs will play a challenging slate that includes three-time defending national champion Oklahoma along with UCF, Notre Dame, Cal State Fullerton and Fresno State.
Following the opening weekend, MSU hosts a midweek doubleheader against Louisiana, who is consistently among the nation’s best mid-major programs, and will spend their final non-conference weekend at home as February turns to March before opening SEC play at Ole Miss. All four SEC home series should draw good crowds with Texas A&M, Florida, Tennessee and Georgia scheduled to visit Nusz Park.
“That 2022 season, we thought we might have overachieved a little bit, but last year we underachieved with the talent we had,” Ricketts said. “So just trying to find the consistency is going to be the next step for us, so that it’s not so up and down. Maybe at the national level it will take a little bit, but right now we’re just focused on the ones in this room and proving ourselves every day.”
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