The Mississippi State softball team will look to continue its fall success Sunday as it takes on Arkansas Tech and East Mississippi Community College in the second tournament of the semester.State (2-0) is fresh off a Sunday sweep against Alabama-Huntsville and Wallace State CC, beating both teams with a 3-2.
Mississippi State head coach Jay Miller said that he was pleased with his squad’s performance, though he said batting could use some doctoring.
“I was disappointed in the way we swung the bats,” Miller said. “We should have generated a little more offense but we did very well in some areas. We expected to make some mistakes at this time in the year, because we’re playing a little earlier than we have in the past. We went into it with the idea that we’ll make a few more mistakes this year.”
Fall softball usually begins in late September but this year it began in the middle of the month.
MSU will open its Sunday schedule at 1 p.m. against the Golden Suns of Arkansas Tech. Immediately following that, the Bulldogs will trade pitches with the Lady Lions of EMCC in a 3 p.m. game.
Miller said the purpose of the fall schedule is not necessarily to win games as much as it is to accomplish another purpose.
“Fall, for us, is a time to introduce the freshmen to our system and get them playing with our upperclassmen,” Miller said. “We also have time to figure out what we need to work on so that, in the spring, we can make final adjustments for the real season.”
The Bulldog roster boasts the six freshmen: Ali Bainbridge and Jessie Spain of Vestavia Hills, Ala., Elizabeth Woolven of Nettleton, Brittany Bell of Brandon, Fla., Misty Flesher of Lone Grove, Okla., and Courtney Nesbit of Acworth, Ga. The roster makes for the largest freshman class for the Lady Bulldogs in the last few years.
“I’ve been really pleased with our freshmen’s progression this year,” Miller said. “We’re counting on them to come through for us if we expect to be successful in the spring. They’ve all worked really hard, and I’m really pleased with their work ethic and the way they’ve progressed so far.”
Miller said his goal for this relatively young team is simple.
“We just want to keep making progress,” Miller said. “We want to get better each week, and that will prove itself out there on the field.