Alyssa Faircloth's No-Hitter puts Bulldogs in Eugene Regional Final
Mississippi State softball is on the verge of reaching new territory once again under head coach Samantha Ricketts. The Bulldogs chalked up their 40th win of the season on Saturday with a 4-0 win over NCAA Regional hosts Oregon. They were led by ace pitcher Alyssa Faircloth, who recorded a historic no-hitter to blank the Ducks and put her team into the Regional Final on Sunday night.
Faircloth, a junior from Tuscaloosa, posted 10 strikeouts in a complete game no-hitter, and allowed just one walk in what was nearly a perfect game. Even in the final innings she showed no signs of slowing down. She finished with a pair of strikeouts and a pop-up after tossing just 77 total pitches.
“I knew [Kinley] Keller had it. You know, if it was in the yard, she was going to get it,” Faircloth told MSU media of the final out. “I mean, it was just trust in her, trust in my defense, those kinds of things. There really wasn’t any thought. I was just happy that she got it.”
Keller was also one of six Bulldogs to record hits on the day, with Gretta Grassel, Xiane Romero and Paige Ernstes driving in the runs. Grassel got her dinger on just the seventh pitch of the game to put the Bulldogs up 2-0 in the first inning, and they never looked back from there.
“I’m just really proud of the way our team played today. It was just a full team effort, and something we’d really been working hard on the last real month of the season to try and put everything together at once,” Ricketts said. “I love the way it showed up. I think, from the beginning of the game, [Morgan] Stiles, Gretta setting the table for us, and then just getting Alyssa some runs early and letting her do what she does best.”
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Faircloth’s no-hitter was her second in at the college level, but the first ever for the program in the NCAA Tournament. In the context of making history, it also delivered MSU its first 40-win season since 2008 and has the Bulldogs on the verge of reaching a Super Regional for just the second time in program history.
“It’s never easy to throw a postseason no-hitter, especially against a quality team like Oregon,” Ricketts said. “Love the effort, the confidence that she went out there with, the defense behind her, and just knowing that they all had each other’s backs. They were really just playing together, trying to keep it loose and have some fun, because we know that’s when we’re going to really be confident and go out there and play our best softball.”
The Bulldogs will play on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. against whoever survives the elimination bracket. Saint Mary’s and Idaho State will play first, with the winner of that facing Oregon, and the winner of the next game facing the Bulldogs. As the 2-0 team from the weekend, the Bulldogs need just one win with two chances against whoever else reaches the final.
