Why Not Us?
May 23, 2022 | Softball, Joel Coleman
Bulldogs have turned doubters into believers.
STARKVILLE – The soft pop up settled into the glove of Mississippi State's Paige Cook. In an instant, the Bulldog third baseman took the ball and spiked it into the ground.
It was the final out of the Tallahassee Regional on Sunday night. MSU had just topped No. 2 national seed Florida State for the second time in just a few hours. It was the triumphant moment that solidified this group of Bulldogs had gone where no MSU softball team before them had.
A Super Regional berth was secured. The celebration was on.
The Dawgs had just definitively answered the question they'd been asking themselves since the season began. The one that'd stuck in their brains despite any outside questions or concerns.
The question: Why not us?
The answer: There is no reason why it can't be. For the Bulldogs have now proven they are among college softball's elite.
Battle Tested
To tell the tale of what happened to the Mississippi State softball team on a late-May afternoon and evening down in Florida, you have to first go back to an early-February trip to California.
On the docket for that opening-weekend trek? Four battles against would-be NCAA Tournament teams, including an Oklahoma squad that's now the nation's No. 1 overall seed, as well as the country's No. 5 seed, UCLA.
The Dawgs lost three out of four over the three-day stretch. They were run-ruled against both Oklahoma and UCLA.
But here's the thing. What went down as losses in the record book were huge wins in resiliency. Whether or not they realized it at the time, the Bulldogs were getting used to staring at the nation's figurative Goliaths. And when you stare at those giants long enough, sooner or later, they're not so scary anymore. You realize you have the stone, the sling and all the weapons you need to hold your own.
That's precisely what started happening for Mississippi State.
"We played the No. 4 strength of schedule in the nation for this reason right now," MSU head coach Samantha Ricketts said last week before the postseason even began. "That's been the message and that's been the goal all year long – to play the tough schedule and to learn every weekend out. That first weekend out in California…what can we learn from that? Both of those games ended early and to be able to take that, learn from it and let that make us better every weekend out, I think we saw the growth when we got to Alabama and then [against] a couple of other teams in the SEC. By then, we were battle tested. We were ready."
Of the 16 seeded teams in this year's NCAA Tournament field, Mississippi State locked horns with half of them. Florida State was the eighth group on the list.
Given the treacherous road to challenge the Seminoles, the Bulldogs weren't about to be intimidated. There was no chance of that. Still, there were hurdles to clear, both of the actual and historical variety.
Looking Back
Now the fact of the matter is, once a pitch is thrown in a game, the competitors themselves usually aren't focused on the past. But, that past still exists.
Mississippi State had a tremendous opportunity in front of it when Sunday began, but it wasn't a unique one. In fact, by battling back through the loser's bracket with a pair of clutch wins on Saturday over Howard, then South Florida, MSU put itself right where it has found itself in each of the last four seasons in which Regionals have been held – in a Regional final.
But for all of State's prior postseason success, the Dawgs had always entered the final needing two wins. In each of MSU's previous three tries, they'd fallen in the first game, never getting the chance to play a championship game themselves.
Well that went out the window as Aspen Wesley tossed a two-hit shutout and Mia Davidson, Cook, Jackie McKenna, Madisyn Kennedy and Riley Hull all had an RBI apiece in a 5-0 victory over FSU to force a winner-take-all game down in Tallahassee.
And while MSU had somewhat exorcised its own personal demons with that first Sunday victory, getting further than the team had ever gotten, the history books were still against the Bulldogs headed into the nightcap.
Since the NCAA Tournament began, a national No. 2 seed had never, ever, fallen in the Regional round. That's right, not one single team had ever pulled an upset in such a situation.
Then came these Bulldogs who, once again, sat back and asked themselves, 'Why not us?'
Punching The Ticket
This is a group that has been shaped by its scars. They've been molded by adversity.
They were punched in the mouth by those season-opening games before the weather warmed. They had their hearts ripped out in Alabama. They battled in the longest Southeastern Conference Tournament game on record only to come up just short versus Tennessee.
So when the Bulldogs fell down by a couple of runs in the first inning to Florida State with the season on the line, it should come as no surprise that MSU didn't blink. State simply picked itself up, dusted off and went back to work. Fighting, scratching and clawing is just what these Dawgs do.
Down 3-1, Annie Willis entered in relief and shut down the Seminoles. The veteran hurler was tough as nails, pitching around eight baserunners and not allowing a one of them to cross home.
In the midst of it all came the game-shifting rally. In the fifth, with Hull at first, Brylie St. Clair singled to put runners at first and second. Davidson walked to load the bases. Shea Moreno followed with an RBI base hit that cut MSU's deficit to 3-2, then Chloe Malau'ulu delivered one of the biggest swings in program history with what turned out to be a game-winning two-run single.
A couple of innings later, Willis was putting the finishing touches on the Seminoles. The last out was brought down by Cook, solidifying the two-step takedown of Florida State in what is unquestionably one of the most impressive feats in MSU athletics history.
Why not us? It was 'us' all along.
"Just so proud of this team, these young women…it's been a goal," Ricketts said. "There's really not any words. It was a full team effort. I thought they believed. They bought in. Everybody was pulling the same direction on the rope all day long [on Sunday].
"I think it's just a huge moment for this program, for Mississippi State softball and for the Bulldogs, and I'm just so proud to be their coach…I'm so proud for all the women on this team in the dugout."
This was a group that has overcome every challenge. By some, they were overlooked. Even on Sunday's ESPNU telecast, as the Regional neared its conclusion, the announce team discussed its surprise that MSU was in the spot it was in.
Adversity. Doubters. None of it mattered. Come what may, the Bulldogs persevered and now, they'll get to try and advance to the Women's College World Series when they host Arizona in a Super Regional starting Friday.
This weekend in Starkville, somebody's got to clinch a berth to Oklahoma City and the grandest stage in all of college softball. Why not us?
"From the very first weekend out [this season], it's been, 'Why not us?' Ricketts said. "Nobody's going to pick us. Everybody's going to count us out, and that's good. We don't want anyone to pick us. It's us against the world. They've really bought into that belief and know that as long as everybody in that dugout, all 24, bought in, that's all we need."
