Entering Game 3 of the NCAA Tournament super regionals, Mississippi State softball coach Samantha Ricketts said her team wasn’t feeling any pressure.
Despite the fact that the Bulldogs were playing for a chance to make the Women’s College World Series for the first time, they liked having a chip on their shoulders. They wanted to pressure to be on No. 3 seed and national power Oklahoma.
In the win-or-go-home game at Love’s Field on May 24, the Bulldogs (43-19) came out confident.
They rode those high spirits to a 6-0 win over the Sooners (52-10), securing the super regional series victory and advancing to Oklahoma City for the first time in program history. MSU will play No. 11 seed Texas Tech at Devon Park on May 28.
The Bulldogs’ confidence became evident as soon as the starting lineups were announced. Instead of going with either of her star pitchers Peja Goold or Alyssa Faircloth, Ricketts and pitching coach Taryn Mowatt-McKinney gave the start to Delainey Everett.
Entering the weekend, Everett had played in just nine games this season but had not started
Everett pitched a shutout for the first complete game in her career, holding the powerful Oklahoma offense to three hits. It’s the first time Oklahoma has been shut out since the 2019 Women’s College World Series.
The Sooners lead the NCAA in batting average (.390) and are second in runs per game (10.1).
Backing up Everett was an offense that found its spark after a one-run day in Game 2. The Bulldogs looked like the offense that showed up for Game 1, when MSU scored 11 runs, nine of which came in the final two innings.
In Game 3, Mississippi State utilized patience and timely hitting to total nine hits and score runs in multiple ways.
The Bulldogs played small ball in the top of the first, scoring the game’s first two runs on a two-RBI single hit by freshman Kinley Keller.
The long ball came into play in the fourth inning when Paige Ernstes hit a leadoff solo home run to boost the Bulldogs’ lead to four runs. Morgan Bernardini hit a two-run home run in the fifth inning.
All the pieces came together for Mississippi State to make its first WCWS and keep Oklahoma out of it for the first time since 2016
Tia Reid covers Jackson State sports for the Clarion Ledger. Email her at treid@usatodayco.com and follow her on X @tiareid65.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Why Mississippi State was confident it would beat OU, make first WCWS