The 2003 edition of the Lady Bulldogs softball team is one loaded with returning talent from last year’s NCAA Regionals team. All eight of the team’s position players are returning, along with three of the team’s starting pitchers.
This level of experience, combined with new head coach Jay Miller, has the Lady Dawgs poised for another postseason run and possibly a berth in the Women’s College World Series. “I’ve been very pleased so far (with the team),” said Coach Miller. “They do everything the coaches ask of them, and more than that, they’re great people; great students. We had a 3.42 team GPA this fall and five Academic All-Americans.”
The Lady Dawgs are led on the field by Junior Iyhia McMichael. McMichael batted .333 last season with 48 RBI and 36 stolen bases. Iyhia was a first team All-SEC centerfielder last season and is off to a great start this season.
“Iyhia is a true athlete,” commented Miller. “She is our anchor in centerfield. We depend on her to drive in a lot of runs for us, and she’s also as fast as anyone in the country.”
Through the Bulldog’s first five games, McMichael is 5-13 at the plate, hitting above last season’s average. “I just need to continue to practice hard and play hard,” McMichael said. “And if this team can stick to the basics, pay attention to the little things and communicate, then we can become a more of a family and maybe win the College World Series.”
Also swinging the bat well for the Lady Dawgs is junior Lindsay Nelson, who is one of three other Bulldogs who batted above .300 last season. In the field, sophomore Jennifer Jessup, a gold glove shortstop last season, is one of the cornerstones of the Bulldog infield that backs Bulldog pitchers Melissa Massey and the rest of the Dawgs’ staff.
“I think we’re going to be real tough this year as a staff,” sophomore Melissa Massey observed. “With Courtney (Frank) coming back for her senior year, and (Summer) Delaneuville and (Stephanie) Owens coming in as freshmen, we should be very competitive.”
These players, along with 11 other returning lettermen from last year’s squad, have the experience to go deep into the NCAA postseason and possibly bring home a World Series Championship for the Maroon and White.
“I’m expecting our seniors to be our leaders. Jennifer Nelson, Brooke Best and Courtney Frank, those are our only seniors this year. This is their last go around, and they should know how to make this team the best it can be.”
The Bulldogs are held together by first-year coach, Jay Miller. Miller is the 13th winningest coach among active coaches in the country, with 709 career victories to start the season. Miller comes to Mississippi State from Missouri, where he coached for 15 seasons, amassing a .643 win percentage and two conference championships. He led the Tigers to five Regionals berths and two trips to the College World Series before leaving the team to take the Mississippi State job in July of 2002.
“My wife is from Mississippi,” Miller said, “and her parents still live in Jackson. So the move was a chance to get closer to family. Plus the weather is better.”
The Bulldogs opened the season with a pair of wins over Southern Mississippi in their season opener and Wisconsin in the first game of the Fiesta Bowl Tournament. At the Fiesta Bowl Tournament the Lady Dawgs played five ranked teams in three days, going 1-4 in those games. However, Coach Miller sees the tournament as helping the Bulldogs gain experience against great teams.
“I think the main thing this tournament showed our girls, as well as the rest of the nation that we can compete. Except for Cal State-Fullerton, we led in all three of the other losses.”
The difficulty of the Bulldogs’ early schedule should prove to help the team in tough games down the stretch.
“I think it really helps us see where we’re at as a team,” McMichael added, “and what we need to work on to be better.
The Bulldogs have a tough schedule ahead of them. After this afternoon’s contest here against Mississippi Valley State, the Dawgs with travel to the Rebel/Easton Invitational in Oxford. Next weekend they will travel to New Mexico for the Troy Cox Classic, and the following week the team will participate in the Florida State Seminole Challenge in Tallahassee, Fla,. They then have to start the SEC schedule including South Carolina and LSU, plus Georgia Tech on the road.
“All the the tournaments are big games, and the home SEC games are very important,” Miller said. “The game against Auburn in April will be televised so we need to make a good showing in that one, and then the Arkansas game on April 19 is Senior Day, so we will want to send the Seniors off with a lot of support.”