Mississippi State softball aiming for a bounce back year amidst low preseason hype
When Mississippi State softball followed up a season in which they hosted a super regional with another in which the team was bounced from the SEC tournament in a single game to Missouri, head coach Samantha Ricketts had to have some tough conversations.
“The bottom line (is that) we had the talent and we underperformed,” said Ricketts. “That’s really been a driving force for the team for the last couple of months, you know, ever since we finished up the end of the season. We’re really excited about this group, and this senior class has been a huge part of that.”
Those seniors include Paige Cook, a fifth year utility player from Cornelia, Georgia. Cook was a member of the team that hosted the super regional just two seasons ago, and was adamant that she wanted to get back to that form.
“I definitely think we’re using (last year) to drive us,” said Cook. “We’ve been working hard and just doing everything that we can to just prepare us for the season. Yeah, everybody’s counting us out, but we know what we’ve been doing. We know the work we’ve been putting in.”
The thing about preseason
Mississippi State is picked to finish last in the SEC in the preseason coaches poll. MSU also has no players predicted to make the All-SEC team in the same poll. Reasoning for this can be debated, but according to the players, it’s just fuel added to the fire. Fellow fifth year senior Brylie St. Clair mirrored Cook in the sentiment that only this team itself knows how hard they’ve been keeping their noses to the grindstone.
“I feel like you can definitely look at it a couple of different ways,” said St. Clair. “For me, personally, nobody knows the work that we put in. We’re the only people that know what we’re doing at 6:30 a.m. in the weight room, what we’re coming in and getting done in practice and what we’re accomplishing and getting done together…people are going to say what they’re going to say, but they don’t generally know all the work you put in for success.”
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New facilities
Preseason poll results or not, Mississippi State softball has signed back to back top 20 recruiting classes in the country. The team unveiled its state of the art facility this season as well, complete with updated therapy equipment, live statistical feedback in the cages and everything from a nutrition standpoint that the prospective athletes need to play their best. Ricketts knows that such a facility aids in bringing in the type of player she and the program needs, and she’s proud of it.
“We’re really excited about it,” said Ricketts. “We’re very excited to be in this field house, especially after kind of being homeless last year.”
“It’s been great to have (that technology) immediately and right at our fingertips,” Ricketts said, “and the purpose of the technology and the TV’s right behind (the players) in the cage is for immediate feedback. We really believe that the tighter the feedback loop, the quicker we’re going to be able to pick up on these skills and make adjustments.”
With plenty of shiny new toys, Mississippi State softball will look to put them to use at home against IUPUI for the first game of the annual Snowman Tournament in memory of Alex Wilcox. First pitch is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 9 at 3 p.m.
