The No. 19 Texas A&M softball team will take its show on the road to Starkville, Mississippi for a three game series with Mississippi State this weekend.
The Aggies (20-5, 2-1 SEC) throttled Sam Houston State Wednesday, while the Bulldogs (18-5, 1-2 SEC) will be itching to get back on the diamond after their games against Lipscomb and Sanford were postponed due to rain. Mississippi State head coach Van Stuedeman said her club is excited to get back to playing at home again.
“We are very excited to get back out there and play since our games were rained out this week,” Stuedeman said. “We will be fired up to play. Every weekend in the SEC is similar to an NCAA Super Regional. We will need fight, mental toughness, quality pitching, defense and timely hitting. We love playing at home in front of our fans. We are looking forward to seeing everyone at the ballpark.”
The Bulldogs last SEC matchup came against Georgia at home last weekend, in which Georgia took two of three. For MSU to attain a different result this weekend, the Bulldogs will need to rely on Caroline Seitz, who paces the club with seven homers and 24 RBIs on the season.
Seitz and the rest of the Bulldog hitters will receive a big helping from senior Rachel Fox on the circle for the Aggies. Fox has been dominant on the mound, leading the club with 11 complete games and a 12-3 record. She spoke about giving the defense a chance to help her out with throwing strikes.
“We need to stay on the [corners of the strike zone] and let our defense make plays,” Fox said.
Head coach Jo Evans has been pleased with the defensive improvement from her club, particularly freshmen Kristen Cuyos and Tori Vidales.
“We made it a point of emphasis when we came back from Christmas break to make sure we could hang our hat on defense,” Evans said. “We spent a lot of time on defense and worked a lot of defensive sets in practice. Now we’re able to just fine tune and do what we need. Our kids know what they’re doing and I’m really pleased to see how they manage the game. Kristen [Cuyos] and Tori Vidales make plays and make it look really easy.”
First pitch from Starkville is at 5:30 p.m.