Welcome to the trenches. It’s here today you’ll find the No. 23 Mississippi State softball Bulldogs in the middle of a four-day stretch packed with five tough SEC contests.
MSU (30-11, 4-7 SEC) did battle with the Wildcats of Kentucky in a Thursday night doubleheader. Today, the Dawgs will regroup and look ahead to tomorrow and Sunday and the giant of a team that awaits them. Fatigue doesn’t seem to be an issue.
“There’s no worry about fatigue,” freshman pitcher Misty Flesher said. “We went through fall workouts and stuff, which prepared us for this. We’re ready for the weekend. Playing games is where we get our rewards for our hard work.”
MSU will take on No. 3 Florida (40-2, 12-1 SEC) tomorrow in a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. then again on Sunday for the series finale, another 1 p.m. contest.
The Gators currently boast a 13-game win streak, and MSU head coach Jay Miller admits they will provide tough competition.
“They’ve done a great job so far,” Miller said. “They have outstanding pitching, and they hit the ball through the order. They’re doing the things a team needs to do to be successful, and they’ll be quite a challenge to our ballclub.”
Mississippi State will need to bring some hot bats to the weekend series if it plans to take down the Gators. The most runs the Gators have allowed in any contest so far this season is four.
Florida’s defense and pitching have been dominant. The highest ERA on Florida’s pitching roster is 1.30, held by 13-0 hurler Stephanie Brombac.
The Gators’ ace, Stacey Nelson (25-2), boasts a miniscule 0.85 ERA.
Starkville crowds may very well get to see some one-run and two-run contests over the weekend, as offense might be hard to find.
MSU’s pitchers are nothing to be forgotten, either. Flesher owns the team’s highest ERA, sitting at a still-low 2.06. Junior Kelsey Nurnberg owns a 1.87 mark.
“I’ve been pleased with how consistent we’ve been, especially in the pitching circle,” Miller said. “Our pitchers have done a great job of keeping us in ballgames and giving us chances to win and compete every game.”
Miller added that a key factor in determining how the Bulldogs will succeed this weekend will be whether or not the offense can take advantage of opportunities given to it by the pitchers.
Flesher attributes much of the Bulldog pitchers’ success to the players on the field surrounding her.
“It’s pretty easy when you have a defense like we have,” Flesher said. “All you have to do is keep the ball in the ballpark, and they’ll do the rest. Once you have that confidence behind you, it makes things a lot easier.”
The second contest of the Saturday doubleheader will be televised by Cox Sports Television, which will be the second time MSU has played on television this season. CST is available on DISH network.
Regardless of all the hype and the stats coming into the weekend, however, Flesher said the team’s battle cry remains the same.
“We realize that the teams we’re going to play coming back into SEC play is going to be a step up than what we faced last weekend,” Flesher said. “Florida is ranked [near the top] in the nation. No matter who we play, though, we’re going to play the same and give it our all.