Almost eight months have passed since Vann Stuedeman was announced as Mississippi State University’s head softball coach, and the much-anticipated first home game of her MSU career is finally here. After starting the season off 5-0 on the road, the Bulldogs return home to host Mississippi Valley State and SIU-Edwardsville in the Bulldog Round Robin this weekend.
Junior pitcher Kylie Vry said Stuedeman has done a great job of being both calm and pumped up at the same time, which has allowed the girls to have fun playing the game.
“We’re all excited to play for the first time at home with a whole new group of coaches,” she said. “I’m excited to have the coaches know what it feels like to play at home and have all our fans here. It will be a lot of fun.”
With an impressive start and an entirely new coaching staff, the Dogs recently have been getting a lot of hype. Stuedeman related this hype to a roller coaster and said the team does not want to ride the roller coaster and get too high or too low.
“We have high expectations, and we are striving for excellence every moment …We’re trying to really think about living in the moment, about what’s important now … and about this moment, not the past,” Stuedeman said. “We’re not trying to focus on any kind of hype or negative energy, but we just want to have a nice, smooth ride.”
As for this weekend, the team is excited to play an in-state rival in MVSU that will hopefully bring a large crowd, and SIU-Edwardsville will be playing one of its first games outdoors due to the cold weather in its home state of Illinois. The MSU and MVSU coaching staffs know each other well as they recruit at many of the same tournaments. Also, Bulldog volunteer assistant Shanika Randle played two years of softball at MVSU before coming to MSU for graduate school.
Bell said the girls are not worried about preparing specifically for their opponents this weekend because they treat every team the same way.
“We don’t play the opponent; we play the game. We come out with the same intensity no matter who we play, and we’re going to stay focused,” Bell said. “We need that energy and that drive to want to be great and to do well, and I think that was the key we’ve been missing last year and the last three years I’ve been here.”
Most recently, the Dogs defeated Samford on Tuesday and used three home runs to do so. Senior Brittany Bell accounted for two of those, and junior Jessica Cooley knocked one out in her hometown.
Junior Stephanie Becker picked up the win for State, improving to 2-0 on the season. Vry recorded her second save of the season to go along with a 2-0 record of her own.
Pitching is Stuedeman’s specialty, and it has reaped benefits already this season. Her staff is 5-0, including a 1.80 earned run average and three complete games. And that is without having played even one game at home.
For Stuedeman, the time has finally arrived. The long-awaited first MSU home game of her career is here. Stuedeman she said she is looking forward to playing at home in front of the MSU fans.
“We love our fans, and anytime fans are here, I feel like they’re the tenth man on the field,” Stuedeman said.
The Bulldogs take on SIU-Edwardsville today and tomorrow at 5 p.m. They battle Mississippi Valley State tomorrow at 3 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.
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Softball opens up home season
KRISTEN SPINK
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February 17, 2012
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