The Mississippi State University softball team wrapped up the first road trip of their young season on Saturday in the Paradise Classic at Florida Atlantic University with a 3-2 record. 
The first day of the tournament saw No. 23 MSU best FAU handily via a final score of 7-2. Kenley Hawk was credited with the win, but it was the MSU bats that stood out. The Bulldogs finished with 14 hits, due in no small part to senior Chloe Malau’ulu. She finished just a double shy of the cycle in her first action this season. 
“I feel really good,” Malau’ulu said after the game. “I didn’t really think too much about it. I was just having fun. I think it’s a good starter for us.”
Day two saw more of the same for MSU, as they bested Loyola Chicago 5-4 and Bethune-Cookman 9-2. The victory over Bethune marked head coach Samantha Rickett’s 100th win at MSU, which made her the quickest in program history to reach that milestone. 
“It wasn’t something I was thinking about in the moment, but I knew it was close,” Ricketts told MSU staff. “I was definitely surprised. I didn’t know the direction that postgame meeting was going. It’s always fun. A big credit to all the players, coaches and staff that have been a part of all 100 … I’m just really proud for this program.”
Ricketts also mentioned she didn’t believe the team played their cleanest ball in the earlier game against Loyola Chicago. In that particular matchup, the Bulldogs were able to regroup and pull out the win. Day three would be a different story. 
The red-hot bats the team had used to power them to victory in the previous day never got off the bus, and the Bulldogs finished the final day of the Paradise Classic scoreless, as they dropped 2-0 to Iowa and 1-0 to Stony Brook. 
The Bulldog pitching staff played as well as they could in the final day, though. Hawk pitched a stellar outing against Iowa and only allowed one earned run through five innings with four strikeouts. Aspen Wesley, the team’s new ace, threw the first complete game of the season for MSU with 78 pitches, six strikeouts and no walks. The lone run against Stony Brook was unearned. 
Ricketts spoke about her pitching staff’s performance in the classic after play had concluded. 
“(It was a) tough outing today. I thought the pitchers really looked sharp all weekend. They really did a good job of giving us a chance. We have to be able to pick them up with our bats and our defense,” said Ricketts. 
Ricketts stressed that the team will return to Starkville this week with plenty to work on before they hit the road yet again for the TaxAct Clearwater Invitational, where they’ll face off against Indiana, Arizona, Michigan, South Florida and UCF. 
The Indiana and UCF matchups will be nationally televised, with the first on SEC Network on Friday at 11:30 a.m. and the latter on ESPN 2 on Sunday at 7 p.m. All other matchups will be aired on ESPN Plus.