After a hot 4-0 start to the season, the Mississippi State softball team headed west for its first big challenge in the Aggie Classic at Texas A&M in College Station, Texas. The Dawgs won three games – including two over Oregon State – and lost two, both to the 21st-ranked host Aggies.
Coach Jay Miller said the two losses were certainly disappointing, but said he is still encouraged by the weekend.
“I was disappointed with our pitching in the A&M games,” he said. “We just had a hard time holding their offense down, but other than that I thought we did well.”
The Bulldogs opened the tournament with a 4-0 win over Louisiana-Monroe on Friday morning, and then dropped the first decision 9-0 to Texas A&M that afternoon.
Saturday had a similar feel as MSU defeated Oregon State in a 13-3 blowout in the morning game. They then had the score nearly reversed on them, as they fell again to Texas A&M 13-4.
Sophomore outfielder Ka’ili Smith said the reason for the mismatched scores was the team came out flat in both afternoon games.
“We had some rocky starts, and I feel like if we could’ve started off a little better, then we would have got the ball rolling,” she said. “I just feel like down the road if we see them again they will have something to watch out for.”
The highlight of the weekend was the final game of the tournament against Oregon State Sunday morning. As late as the seventh inning the Dawgs trailed the Beavers 4-1. MSU scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game at 4-4, but OSU answered back with another run in the top of the eighth inning to take a 5-4 lead.
With the game and a winning record in the tournament on the line, the MSU bats came through in the final moments of the eighth inning and delivered two runs to give the Bulldogs a 6-5 lead.
Miller said he was proud of his young team for showing such fortitude.
“We did a nice job on the mound against Oregon State,” he said. “We showed a lot of character. We were down three runs going into the bottom of the seventh, came back and tied it then went on and won it. It showed a lot of character for a young ball club. It was something we can build on.”
One of only two seniors on the squad, All-American catcher Chelsea Bramlett said she has high expectations for the team and was pleased with the performance, but said she sees plenty of room for improvement.
“Overall, it was a decent weekend, but we’ve just got some things we’re going to need to work on when we get home and get better at,” she said. “But, you know, it was a tough tournament. A&M is ranked in the top 25, and it was good to see what we’re going to have to compete against to get to where we want go.”
Miller had similar sentiments, and said the team will have to work hard in preparation for conference games.
“I think it really helped us in terms of preparing for the SEC and our games the next few weeks,” he said. “It helped show us where we are and showed we can compete at that level. But we still gotta clean up some things and grow up a little bit over these next couple weeks as we get ready for conference play.”