Softball Bulldogs headed to Lubbock for 19th postseason
Postseason softball is in the cards yet again for Mississippi State softball as Selection Sunday set the field for the postseason.
Samantha Ricketts team is headed to its 19th Regional in school history as the NCAA set State in the Lubbock Regional. The Bulldogs will be matched up with Washington in game one with a potential game two against host Texas Tech who is the No. 12 seed overall. The Red Raiders will play Brown in round one.
State will play Washington in their first game at 7 p.m. on Friday evening and fans can watch on ESPN2. If the Bulldogs and Red Raiders meet, it will be a full-circle matchup as the two faced off in the first game of the season in Clearwater, Fla. State won 3-1 in eight innings as Raelin Chaffin got the better of All-American pitcher Nijaree Canady.
The Bulldogs had one of their best regular seasons on the softball diamond in several years as State maintained a spot inside the top 20 for most of the regular season. MSU finished the regular season 37-17 with a 13-11 mark in SEC play. It’s already tied the most wins of the Ricketts era and the 13 conference victories were the most since 2008. It was the first time since 2001 that the Bulldogs had a winning record in league play.
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Several individuals were key in making that happen, spearheaded by Sierra Sacco, Raelin Chafin and Nadia Barbary. Sacco earned first-team All-SEC honors this year after batting .461 with 76 hits, 16 doubles, 11 home runs and 48 RBI.
Chaffin and Barbary earned second-team All-SEC honors. Chaffin was the Bulldogs’ ace in the circle as the LSU transfer managed to go 21-9 with a 2.65 ERA as she had 17 complete games in 27 starts while recording three saves in relief. Chaffin struck out 187 batters in 171.2 innings with 46 walks.
Barbary was a .328 hitter this season with 44 hits, seven doubles and five home runs.
14 of the 15 SEC teams made the postseason with an incredible nine Regional hosts. Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Florida and Arkansas were the top four seeds with No. 6 Texas, No. 7 Tennessee and No. 8 South Carolina also getting in the top 10 seeds. LSU (No. 10) and Alabama (No. 15) also host.
