Mississippi State softball upsets No. 2 seed FSU to reach Super Regional

The Mississippi State softball team won twice Sunday to advance to the program’s first-ever Super Regional, taking down No. 2 Florida State in back-to-back games during the opening weekend of the NCAA tournament.

After losing to North Texas in the regional’s first game, the Bulldogs rattled off wins in their next two to advance to Sunday’s matchup against the Seminoles. They needed to win twice, and they did.

In the first game, Mississippi State shut out Florida State 5-0 to force the winner-take-all regional final. They also snapped the Seminoles’ 24-game regional winning streak, the longest active streak in the nation.

Then, in the second game, the Bulldogs found themselves having to fight back.

Florida State went up 3-1 in the first two innings thanks to a Sydney Sherrill home run that put the Seminoles up 2-0. That score would stand until the fifth inning, when the Bulldogs rattled off three runs.

From there, Mississippi State’s defense stood tall. Florida State had two runners in scoring position and one out in the bottom of the fifth inning, but the Bulldogs didn’t relent and the Seminoles went scoreless.

“Honestly, it gives you all the confidence in the world,” said Annie Willis on the team’s defense. “Knowing that that defense is out there behind me, it gives me the ability to be calm on the mound and trust that no matter what the outcome is of that pitch that I throw, the defense is going to make the play.

“Even if we mess it up and we make an error or whatever we come right and that is all of us all bought in all for each other type of mentality.”