The 2026 Mississippi State Softball season is one for the books, making history in more ways than one. This season is breaking records, recording firsts and setting the tone that, in the words of pitcher Delainey Everett, “an underdog is still a freakin’ dog.”

Mississippi State has enjoyed successes in recent years, but this season, especially the last series, has pushed the program into new territory. Now, the Bulldogs are entering the biggest stage in college softball.

After a hard-fought series against the highly favored No.2 Oklahoma for the Super Regional series, the Dawgs lead 2-1 and set history, making their way to the program’s first-ever NCAA Women’s College World Series appearance. 

The first game of the series on May 22 was a huge 11-9 win for the Bulldogs, giving them the 1-0 series advantage. MSU trailed the Sooners until the seventh inning, where they scored five runs and secured the first game win. 

Although they did not have a run in every inning, Mississippi State had a hit in each, totaling 15 hits, resulting in 11 runs. This was the most runs that MSU scored against a Power Four opponent all season, and the most that Oklahoma allowed throughout their season. 

Game two of the series was not a pleasant one for the Bulldogs, as they took a 7-1 fall from the Sooners, resulting in a 1-1 series tie.

The game was unresponsive until the third inning when the Sooners scored all seven of their runs off of three hits, an error and four walks. MSU scored its sole run in the sixth inning and took the loss. 

Although it was not the outcome State was looking for, there were still things to celebrate. Morgan Stiles, a sophomore infielder, broke Mississippi State’s postseason career NCAA hits record with 14 hits in just two seasons. After Saturday’s game, she recorded a hit in every NCAA Tournament that she has batted in.

Then Sunday came, the tiebreaker game that would determine who would be heading to Oklahoma City to fight for the NCAA College World Series title.

The series was won with a 6-0 shut out handed to the Sooners, the first time the Sooners have been shut out in 399 games. The last time the Sooners got shut out was by Alabama in the 2019 World Series. 

MSU came out with pure dominance, putting two on the board during the first inning. The Dawgs then scored in the third, fourth and fifth innings, all while keeping the Sooners to zero runs.

This game was more than just a ticket punched to the next series, though. Delainey Everett pitched her career high 7.0 innings with no runs allowed, but she did it all on an important day for her family: her parents’ anniversary. Everett’s father passed away in January of 2025, making this win on her parents’ anniversary all the more special. 

Freshman infielder Carson Smith also celebrated her birthday, and head coach Samantha Ricketts beat her former coach and Oklahoma’s current head coach Patty Gasso. 

Throughout the series, MSU gained many fans and supporters, but one fan in particular has brought the energy for the Dawgs during the last few games of the season: the broccoli man.

Broccoli quickly became the team’s good luck charm as a fan was cheering them on during the Eugene Regional and using the broccoli as natural pom-poms. Since then, the players have travelled with stocks of broccoli and the good luck has followed.

Jim Stewart Allen traveled over 2,000 miles to support the Bulldogs against Oklahoma with his broccoli and good luck charm.

This win ended many norms, like Oklahoma making it to the WCWS every year for over a decade, and recorded firsts for the Bulldogs. For the first time in 11 years, the Oklahoma Sooners will not be showing face at the World Series, with MSU taking their place. 

As for firsts, this will be the first ever time in program history that the Mississippi State Softball Bulldogs will compete for the NCAA College World Series title.

Coach Ricketts led her team to the first 40-win season since 2008 and set the program’s home run record five different times under her leadership. She has also made two Super Regional appearances with the Bulldogs, the only two in program history. 

Although the series against Oklahoma was nothing short of outstanding, the Bulldogs have had many other notable moments throughout their season. 

On May 16, junior pitcher Alyssa Faircloth pitched the first NCAA tournament no-hitter in MSU’s program history against No. 12 Oregon, which also happened to be her second career no-hitter. The Bulldogs won the game 4-0. 

Earlier in the season, MSU handed at the time No.1 Tennessee its first game loss of the season after Taylor Troutman hit a walk-off home run in front of record crowds at Nusz Park in mid-March. They also secured a 2-1 series win against No. 20 LSU during Super Bulldog Weekend.

This season has been about more than just what happens on the field; it has shown just how strong the Bulldog softball community truly is. Crowd records at Nusz Park have been broken, and the fans have truly shown out for women’s sports.

Mississippi State softball will stay in Oklahoma and begin the road to NCAA WCWS winners, starting off with a matchup against No.4 Texas Tech on May 28. 

The series can be found on the NCAA website, where fans can follow along to track State’s progress.