Mississippi State University softball joined the rest of the Southeastern Conference over the weekend in honoring the legacy of Alex Wilcox, a former Bulldog player who captured the heart of college softball with her battle against ovarian cancer.
All 15 SEC teams took part in the league’s fifth annual “All for Alex” campaign, donning teal uniforms or accents in memory of Wilcox, whose fight against the disease ended in the summer of 2018. Mississippi State wore their traditional white uniforms with teal lettering for the occasion.
Wilcox was just a freshman in 2018 when she inspired the nation with her perseverance on and off the field. Later that year, Mississippi State retired her No. 8 jersey, the first time the university had bestowed that honor upon a female student-athlete.
The “All for Alex” campaign was initiated by Louisiana State University head coach Beth Torina and Mississippi State head coach Samantha Ricketts. The campaign was formally approved at the SEC coaches’ meetings in the fall of 2019 but was postponed when the 2020 season was canceled due to COVID-19.
While the official “All for Alex” day was scheduled for Saturday, March 29, inclement weather forced No. 18 Mississippi State and No. 1 Texas to move their game up, resulting in a Friday doubleheader at Nusz Park, and the teal accented uniforms were then showcased on Sunday instead.
The Bulldogs stunned the Longhorns in the first game of the weekend, walking off the nation’s top-ranked team with a dramatic walk-off 4-3 win. But Texas responded quickly, taking the second game 7-3 and finishing off the series with a 7-2 win on Sunday.
“A super amazing moment for us, just being able to play for, you know, something bigger than us,” graduate transfer Lexi Sosa said. “Definitely super special. Very thankful to be a part of a program that has such a great foundation before us. And I really hope that we can do justice to this team and to the future as well.”
Sosa said the team expected more than just one win.
“I mean we took Game 1, but I think everyone on this team expected to take all three,” she said. “That is just our team. We are going to compete with them. You know they could be No. 1, but on the field, there are no rankings out there. We just went out there and did our very best and competed. I am definitely frustrated that we couldn’t take more than one, but we are definitely going to exceed our expectations after this.”
Despite the series loss, Mississippi State head coach Samantha Ricketts praised the toughness her team showed against elite competition.
“I think I saw exactly what I knew about [my team] already. They are fighters. They compete, and we expect to win and expect to play with the No. 1 team in the country,” Ricketts said.
All 15 SEC softball programs participated in the tribute, and several non-conference teams joined in as well. That included South Alabama, where Wilcox’s sister Kassidy played, and Texas A&M’s hosting of Loyola Marymount in the weekend’s only non-league SEC contest.
Mississippi State now turns its attention to the road ahead, traveling to Knoxville for a series against the University of Tennessee. The series opener is scheduled for 5 p.m. Friday and will air on SEC Network.
