The Mississippi State Bulldogs softball team faces the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide in a three game series this weekend.
The Bulldogs are currently
14-6 overall. Despite the high
winning percentage, head coach
Jay Miller said he believes they
could be doing better, describing
the season as up and down.
“We’ve been pretty inconsistent
so far,” Miller said. “We’ve
shown a lot bright signs I think,
and we’ve done a lot of good
things. We just haven’t done it
on a consistent basis.”
Junior catcher Chelsea
Bramlett echoed Miller’s sentiment.
“We’re kind of rocky now. I
think we just need to work out
a few kinks and get back into
the groove of things,” Bramlett
said.
Several players said they still
point to a lack of focus as one of
the team’s problems this season,
and Miller said he agrees.
“I haven’t seen much improvement,”
Miller said. “Some games,
[focus] is real good, some games,
not so much. That consistency is
what we’re looking for.”
The Bulldogs are coming
off a 3-3 showing last week at
the Pepsi Malihini Kipa Aloha
Tournament in Honolulu,
Hawaii, which included losses
to Florida Gulf Coast, Oregon
State and Radford, and wins
over Santa Clara, Oregon State
and host Hawaii.
Freshman outfielder Ka’ili
Smith said the team is still finding
some success.
“A lot of losses that we have
shouldn’t have been losses,”
Smith said. “We beat [Hawaii].
That was a big win for us. Other
than that, we’re just taking baby
steps.”
Smith was named SEC
Freshman of the Week after hitting
.500 over the six games,
including a game winning RBI
single over Hawaii. She said it
was great to win the award while
playing in front of many family
members and hometown fans.
“I’ve come a long way. I’m
adjusting, I’m listening to coaches,
everything,” Smith said. “I
feel like my bat has finally come
along.”
Bramlett said agreed Smith
has come a long way.
“She’s come along well. She
seemed to start off slow, which
is normal of all freshmen, but
she really came a long way this
weekend, so she had a good
weekend,” Bramlett said. “She’s
doing real good for us in the
outfield, and I think she’s going
to be a real asset.”
The Crimson Tide, ranked
No. 1 in the nation in the
NFCA Coaches’ Poll, is 17-2
on the season. It recently split a
two-game set with Washington,
ranked No. 1 by the USA
Softball Poll, and its only other
loss came to No. 4 UCLA.
Miller said he isn’t daunted
by the task of facing the nation’s
top team.
“We play [Alabama] every
year,” Miller said. “We know
what we’re in for, and that’s
what the SEC is all about. We
have four SEC teams in the top
eight in the country, so it’s not
like it’s just Alabama. It’s pretty
much every weekend when we
play in conference.”