The hype is big and expectations are high for the MSU 2006 baseball squad, but the Lady Bulldog softball team proved over the weekend that it’s also going to be worth watching on the diamond.
The Lady Bulldogs (5-0) opened their 2006 campaign in Tampa, Fla., on the campus of South Florida, participating in the Best Western Invitational. The Lady Dawgs went undefeated and swept the tournament, taking home the championship in the final game against host team USF.
“I think you are going to see our pitching staff be a lot stronger than it has been in the past,” Mississippi State head coach Jay Miller said before the tournament.
Averaging less than one run allowed per game, it’s obvious that the Bulldog pitching staff lived up to Miller’s expectations. When his own squad averaged five runs a game, Miller couldn’t help but be satisfied with the weekend in Florida.
Three teams competed in the tournament against the Lady Bulldogs: Western Kentucky, Jacksonville and USF. Friday, the Dawgs defeated Western Kentucky 3-1 and then Jacksonville, 8-0, by the mercy rule. The Dawgs continued to dominate Saturday by ousting the USF Bulls 2-0, and then beating Jacksonville by mercy-rule again, 8-0. This pushed the Lady Bulldogs into the championship game, which they won against USF by the score of 4-2.
The tournament victory marked the first tournament title on the road for MSU since 2002, when they took home top honors from the Florida State Sunshine Classic. The Lady Dawgs would go on to finish 36-31 overall in 2002 and 13-16 in the SEC.
“I thought it was a good start for us,” coach Jay Miller said. “We got great pitching from Ragan [Blake (3-0)] and Stephanie [Comeaux (2-0)] all weekend, and they gave us a chance to win every game. We made some defensive mistakes, but I was pleased with the way we swung the bats.”
The Lady Bulldogs will open their 2006 home schedule by taking on East Tennessee State, Southern Illinois and Tennessee State in the Bulldog Classic this weekend.