This weekend, the Mississippi State Lady Bulldog Softball team will travel to Las Cruces, N.M., for the Troy Cox Classic tournament. Of the 10 schools entered in the tournament the Lady Dawgs will play five of them: Nevada-Reno, Miami (Ohio), Illinois-Chicago, IUPUI and Colorado State. The team has started off the year to this point with a 6-5 record, playing great offensively as well as defensively.
Sophomore pitcher Melissa Massey is quickly becoming a superstar of the Bulldog staff. Melissa is 5-1 this season with a 2.73 ERA and a complete game.
“Melissa had really carried us so far,” Coach Jay Miller said. “She’s our No. 1 kid right now, and she goes out there every game looking to compete. She’s getting stronger each time out, and I expect her to pitch a game a day this weekend.”
Massey will most likely be matching pitches in the first game of the tournament against Nevada-Reno’s Judith Van Kampen. Van Kampen is the reigning WAC Player of the Week, and posts a 1.59 ERA in three starts with two complete games. Van Kampen isn’t the only tough pitching talent the Lady Dawgs will face this weekend. Jackie Poggendorf of Miami (Ohio) is the reigning leader of several MAC statistical catagories, including complete games and innings pitched. Colorado State also boasts two great pitchers in Megan Masser and Melanie Mahoney.
“We’ve just got to take it one pitch at a time,” junior Lindsey Nelson, who is tied for second most hits on the team, said. “As a team, we can handle anything. We just need to go out there, look at the situation and do our job, whether it’s a hit or a sacrifice, or whatever is needed.”
“I think these are all very talented teams,” Miller said. “And they are going to be games that we have to show up and play in order to win. But I feel confident in the one through nine positions in our line up, and I don’t think there’s a team in the country that can just shut us down.”
The Bulldog offense, positions one through nine, has been playing extremely well this season and hopes to continue this pattern with the tournament this weekend.
“Our (.321) batting average right now is great,” Miller said, “and this team is capable of hitting that well. We even hope to improve that in the weeks to come before we start SEC play.”
One Bulldog who is on a record setting tear right now is junior Iyhia McMichael. McMichael is batting .469 for the season with 15 RBI and six stolen bases and is coming off her record breaking seven RBI game last Sunday against Samford.
“When I go up to the plate, I just have to get myself in the hitter’s mentality,” McMicheal said. “Hitting in the three-hole, I just need to get the fat part of the bat on the ball and hit people in. That’s my job.”
This tournament is chance for the Bulldogs to gain some extra experience and confidence before going to Florida State next weekend for another tough tournament.
“The season started out pretty good,” said senior Jennifer Nelson, who is also tied for second most hits on the team, “and then things have gotten a little rocky. We need this tournament give us a pickup for the rest of the year.”