STARKVILLE — The Mississippi State University’s 4-3 victory against the University of Alabama at Birmingham on Tuesday was a pretty big deal to assistant softball coach Beth Mullins.
Mullins was a letterwinner at UAB from 2000-04, spent a year as a volunteer assistant coach at the school, and returned from 2007-10 as a full-time assistant on the school’s coaching staff.
“I have a lot of special memories from my time at UAB,” Mullins said. “Since I still know several of the players on the team, this was a special game.”
A native of Fairhope, Ala., Mullins was named to the Conference USA All-Freshman team in 2001. She played a big role in a school-record 39 victories a season later. Mullins still ranks on the school’s all-time top-10 list in multiple offensive categories.
As an assistant coach, Mullins was the hitting instructor when UAB made its first appearance in the NCAA regional tournament in 2010.
Back to normal
MSU was anxious to make amends for an 8-0 loss in six innings last season in Birmingham, Ala. It had won 10 straight in the series, and 12 of 13 meetings before Leigh Streetman threw a complete-game three-hit shutout.
Streetman was on the other end of the decision Tuesday night. The sophomore right-hander pitched 2 1/3 innings, allowing two hits and two runs (one earned).
MSU tied the game on the fifth UAB error in the sixth inning. Erin Nesbit reached Streetman for a game-winning double one inning later.
Early streaks
MSU junior left fielder Jessica Cooley leads the Southeastern Conference with nine home runs. Cooley led all MSU hitters last week in the team’s five-game, spring-break road trip. She hit .400 (6 of 15), scored three runs, and had two RBIs and a home run.
Senior outfielder Brittany Bell is 16th in the country in on-base percentage (third in the SEC) at .563. Bell’s slugging percentage of .813 is 27th nationally, and best in the league.
Tracking wins
With 25 regular-season games (and one more open date) remaining, the Bulldogs are within six wins of reaching last season’s win total of 24.
MSU (18-12, 3-7 SEC) was 15-15 through 30 games last season. It remained at .500 (21-21) before losing 11 of the final 14 games.
Typically, a .500 record or better is good enough for an NCAA regional tournament invitation. The Bulldogs last made the postseason in 2009 with a 28-26 regular-season record.
In the SEC, MSU became the ninth team to reach 18 wins Tuesday night. The University of Arkansas is also at 18 wins, while the University of Tennessee and University of South Carolina each have 19 wins. Trailing the Bulldogs in the win column are the University of Miss (13-12) and the University of Kentucky (12-15).
MSU has seven non-conference games remaining — Southern Mississippi (twice), Tennessee Tech (twice), Mississippi Valley State, Jackson State, and the University of Memphis. An additional makeup also could be added.
Twitter Tuesday
Never one to miss a social networking opportunity, Tuesday’s contest was the first “Twitter Tuesday” game of the season.
Fans had multiple opportunities at the game to tweet at the official MSU softball account and to post videos and messages to the softball program’s Facebook page.
In exchange for the social interaction, fans had chances to win prizes, including an opportunity to watch the remainder of the game from inside the suite area of the MSU softball building.
As the Bulldogs flirted with possibly the first extra-inning game of the year, Twitter Tuesday came close to becoming Walk-off Wednesday.
Up next
MSU will play host to No. 12 Tennessee this weekend.
The Lady Volunteers are 19-6 and 3-3 in the SEC. UT opened league play by losing two of three games at home to the University of Florida, before taking two games of a three-game series at Arkansas this past weekend.
“Tennessee has an outstanding pitching staff with a lot of depth,” MSU coach Vann Stuedeman said. “Offensively, they are good one through nine, but they also have some subs who can come off the bench and have good games. I think what really sets them apart is their depth.
“It’s a challenge, but this is why you come to Mississippi State to play SEC softball. This is the type of challenge you crave as coaches, and I know the players feel the same way. It will be a great weekend of softball.”
Tennessee will play a conference doubleheader at No. 1 University of Alabama at 4 p.m. today (Comcast Sports Southeast).
Tennessee won the first two meetings against MSU last season. The Bulldogs took a 3-2 victory in the Sunday game in Knoxville, Tenn.
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.