The Mississippi St. Bulldogs, a member of the SEC, are one of four teams that will be vying for the championship in the Lafayette, La. NCAA Softball Regional at Lamson Park this weekend.

Mississippi St., who will come into the regional with an RPI ranking of 30, is 38-19 on the year.

The Bulldogs finished in tenth place in the SEC this season, with a 10-14 record, nine games behind first-place Alabama.

An NCAA Regional team for the third-straight season, Mississippi St. is hitting a .259 as a team, along 33 home runs, 238 runs batted in, and 83 stolen bases.

Offensively, the Bulldogs have only two players that have more than six home runs, so they rely on speed, small-ball, and timely hitting to score runs.

Freshman third baseman Caroline Seitz is, without a doubt, Mississippi St.'s best offensive player. She will come into the regional batting a .350, along with eight home runs, 36 runs batted in, and five stolen bases.

The biggest power-threat for the Bulldogs is senior catcher Sam Lenhan, who is hitting a .241 with ten homers and 42 RBI's.

Mississippi St. likes to run, with four players tallying double-digit steals.

Pitching-wise, Mississippi St. brings in an overall combined earned run average of 2.72 into the regional.

Freshman left-hander Alexis Silkwood has had the most quality innings, and sports a 13-7 record, with a 2.28 ERA. Silkwood is a strikeout pitcher, with 152 whiffs in 144 innings

Senior right-hander Alison Owen has started the most games, with 26, and brings in a 18-11 record, along with an ERA. of 3.00. Owen can also accumulate strikeouts, with 214 in 165.2 innings.

Mississippi St. will be making their 11th regional appearance.

This season, Mississippi State played 10 teams that qualified for the 2014 NCAA Tournament, going 9-17. The Bulldogs went 2-1 against Alabama and Tennessee and 1-2 versus Missouri, LSU and Auburn. MSU lost its only matchups with South Alabama, UAB and Baylor while downing Ohio. Mississippi State also went 0-3 versus Georgia and 1-3 against Kentucky.

The Bulldogs are 3-12, all-time, against Louisiana, with the Cajuns winning the only postseason meeting.

Mississippi St. is 0-3, all-time, against Texas, and 0-0, all-time, against Texas Southern.

The Bulldogs are a dangerous team. They've played a great schedule, with impressive wins over some of the best teams in the country. they don't have the offesnive firepower of Louisiana or Texas, but they're more than capable of of being a big factor in the regional.

View the season statistics for Mississippi St. here.

Get more information on the Lafayette, La. Regional here.

View the complete NCAA softball bracket here.

 

More From 97.3 The Dawg