Softball’s Big Stages Nothing New For Richardson
May 26, 2026 | Softball, Joel Coleman
STARKVILLE – Softball's biggest stage awaits Mississippi State beginning Thursday when the Bulldogs play their first-ever Women's College World Series game. MSU will battle in a setting no one in MSU Maroon and White has before.
In times like these, with so much on the line, it always helps to have someone to look to and lean on. Enter State senior Abby Grace Richardson whose career has consistently featured ballgames where the stakes were the highest possible.
"I think my past has taught me how to win and how to be on a winning team and how to play a leadership role that a team needs," Richardson said. "I think it's all helped me to bring the fight and the grit that it takes to win, even if you're an underdog."
To steal and adapt a line from T-Pain, all Richardson does is win, win, win no matter what. Wherever she's been and wherever she's played, success has followed for her teams.
A native of Brookhaven, Mississippi, Richardson was a four-time all-state selection in high school at Brookhaven Academy. Richardson led the Cougars to the program's first-ever softball state championship in 2021.
"My freshman year of high school, we actually went all the way to the state title game and lost," Richardson remembered. "I think that's what put the fight and grit in me, so later when we won it, I knew I never wanted to lose again and have that feeling."
The drive inside of Richardson became apparent in the years that followed.
In 2023, Richardson got her first taste of a College World Series – the NJCAA's version – as a freshman at Copiah Lincoln Community College. Like in high school, Richardson was again a part of a first as the Wolves ultimately claimed their first national championship in program history.
"That was insane, too, because it was the school's first national title in any sport," Richardson said. "It was special."
Richardson and Co-Lin again reached the World Series the following season before coming up short of a crown.
Fast-forward all the way to the present and Richardson has done it again. Her toughness, tenacity and refusal to back down has helped push MSU to college softball's promised land.
That means Richardson is about to join an incredibly short list of players to have played in the World Series at both the NJCAA and NCAA levels.
"This is literally all a dream come true," Richardson said. "I've wanted to play on this stage since I was about six years old and here I am.
"And it's special to do it with this group. I said in the fall that this team was going to be something special and here we are."
Around the country, maybe some are surprised to see State on this stage. With Richardson on the roster, why wouldn't the Bulldogs be here?
Wherever she goes, Richardson helps her teams find their way to the top. Can she, for a third time in her career, help produce a program-first title? We'll see, but what's guaranteed is Richardson's past experiences will give the Bulldogs an edge for as long as they're playing in Oklahoma City.
"I think we can just have fun and have absolutely no pressure on us," Richardson said. "And like everybody has been saying, an underdog is still a dog. So, playing loose and without pressure should definitely keep helping us."
