Mississippi State softball off to West Texas for NCAA regionals

Mississippi State softball put together one of the best regular seasons in program history this year. With a 13-11 SEC record, they had the program's first winning conference season since 2001. Their 37 wins was the most in a single season under Sam Ricketts.

The Bulldogs entered the SEC Softball Tournament in Athens with an outside shot at hosting a regional in the NCAA Softball Tournament, something the program has never done, if they could pick up a few more wins. However with a quick exit from Athens, thanks to a 5-0 defeat at the hands on No. 10 LSU, those hopes ended. It assured State would be a 2-seed in someone else's regional.

With so many SEC teams in position to be regional hosts this season, the options for where Mississippi State could be sent were going to be somewhat limited. So where did the Bulldogs end up?

Mississippi State softball earns 2-seed in Lubbock Regional

Mississippi State softball was named the 2-seed in the Lubbock Regional, hosted by the Texas Tech Red Raiders. It's an interesting landing spot for the Bulldogs, as they did face the Red Raiders earlier this year. State defeated Texas Tech 3-1 in extra innings in the very first game of the season.

The Red Raiders have been outstanding since that point. In their first season under head coach Gerry Glasco, they won 45 games and captured both the Big 12 regular season and Big 12 Tournament titles. The No. 12 national seed, this is unfamiliar territory for Tech, who is in a regional for the first time since 2019. Of course, it's not unfamiliar territory to Red Raider ace NiJaree Canady.

Canady led Stanford to consecutive WCWS as the nation's best pitcher, a title she once again owns since transferring to Lubbock with a national-best 0.89 ERA. She's someone Mississippi State knows well, as the Bulldogs faced her in the 2024 Stanford Regional. She led the Cardinal to a 2-1 win on that day. With Canady on the mound, Texas Tech can take down anyone.

Of course there's no guarantees the Bulldogs and Red Raiders will meet. MSU will face the 3-seed Washington Huskies in their regional-opener. The Huskies are 34-17 on the year, posting a 12-9 record in the Big Ten, but the UW program has been one of the sports' best for many years. For a 3-seed, they know postseason success. For Texas Tech, they'll first matchup with 4-seed Brown.

Navigating a regional on the road is never easy, but if Mississippi State can prevail, they'd return to the Southeast for a super regional. The Lubbock Regional is paired with the Tallahassee Regional, hosted by No. 5 national seed Florida State and featuring the Auburn Tigers and USF Bulls. That essentially guarantees a super regional played closer to home (if not at home) for State if they can make it out of Lubbock.

Their path begins on Friday night at 7:00 PM CT at Rocky Johnson Field against Washington.