STARKVILLE — Samantha Ricketts has a plan in place for Mississippi State softball.
The newly-anointed Bulldogs head coach is focused on hiring a pitching coach, using new-age analytics to revamp player development and eventually molding the Bulldogs into a Super Regional contender.
Ricketts, who replaced former MSU coach Vann Stuedeman shortly after her departure on July 16, had been an assistant coach at Mississippi State since 2015. This will be her first head coaching gig.
“I don’t have to get to know the team again, I don’t have to go out and find my own recruits, because I recruited these girls,” Ricketts said at her introductory press conference Thursday at Mississippi State’s Golding Family Media Center.
Ricketts, the sixth head coach in MSU history, announced she plans to retain assistant coach Tyler Bratton and will keep him as the third base coach in games. As an assistant, Ricketts primarily worked with State’s hitters and she said she plans on continuing to do so.
“That’s what I love,” Ricketts said.
In the immediate future, Ricketts plans on implementing more data into player evaluation, such as tracking a hitter’s exit velocity and attack angle. More analytics will be kept on MSU’s pitchers, including spin rate, trajectory and break points on pitches.
“I think practice wise, our focus will be a lot more data-driven,” Ricketts said. “We’ll use video, technology and all the other things we have so we can be more data-driven in our analysis.”
Offense wasn’t an issue for the Bulldogs a season ago, as MSU was fifth in the Southeastern Conference in team batting average. MSU returns two All-SEC first-teamers in junior catcher Mia Davidson and senior utility player Fa Leilua. Davidson was tied for the SEC lead in home runs with 26 and also drove in 64 runs while recording a slash line of .373/.476/.882. Meanwhile, Leilua produced a slash line of .345/.412/.757 and hit 22 home runs in 2019.
But MSU was second-to-last in the SEC in team ERA (3.36), leading the Bulldogs finishing next-to-last in the SEC at 35-23 overall and 9-15 in league play.
Nonetheless, the Bulldogs qualified for a regional, along with every other team in the SEC, partly due to the strength of the league. MSU’s season came to an end in a regional final loss to Washington.
“It’s the strongest league in the country from top to bottom. My vision is that we continue to be a postseason team, and that we take the next step and host a regional and make it to a Super Regional,” Ricketts said. “It’s a goal for us we hope to reach within the next few years.”
Ricketts was a standout player at Oklahoma from 2006-2009, earning first-team All-Big 12 honors all four years. Her sisters, Stephanie and Keilani, each had successful collegiate careers of their own at Hawaii and Oklahoma, respectively.
“I didn’t have a full realization of what the Ricketts name means in college softball from coast-to-coast,” MSU Athletic Director John Cohen said.
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