Malau'ulu, Bulldogs enjoy regional win, making history

Chloe Malau'ulu had perhaps the biggest hit of the NCAA Tallahassee Regional when her two-run single put the Mississippi State Bulldogs ahead to stay in a 4-3 victory over the Florida State Seminoles.

It gave MSU its first regional championship in school history and led to it also hosting a super regional in Starkville, which is something else it had never done.

For Malau'ulu and the Bulldogs, they were just enjoying the process.

“I don't think anyone was thinking about it before the game or even during the game,” Malau'ulu said about making history. “We were just out there having fun. I think that was the biggest part of it. Nobody felt the pressure or the weight like ‘oh my gosh, this could be the last game.' We just went out there and said, ‘we are going to give it our all, leave it all on the field and have no regrets.' We started feeding off each other's energy and it was a beautiful thing to be a part of.”

MSU was not avoiding the possibilities during Sunday's action against Florida State.

Head coach Samantha Ricketts had no problem sharing with her team during the game of what winning the Tallahassee Regional would mean for the program in terms of possibly hosting a super regional.

“We found out in the middle of the game and Ricketts was like, ‘hey, if we win this, we might be hosting,' and we were like ‘oh, really? Alright, let's put it into gear,'” Malau'ulu said. “One of our managers said, ‘how many teams can say they hosted a super regional before hosting a regional.' We knew it was not many, so we're just excited to be here and super excited that we bring Starkville along with us on this ride. It's huge for this program.”

Malau'ulu has been one of MSU'S offensive leaders throughout the season. She has team highs in hits with 64, doubles with 12 and triples with two. Her .340 batting average is second only to Mia Davidson's .371.

On the way to the Tallahassee Regional title last week, Malau'ulu contributed offensively in some way every game for the Bulldogs. Along with the two-run single in the second game Sunday against the Seminoles, she went 2-for-3 for her 17th multi-hit game of the season in the earlier 5-0 victory over Florida State.

Malau'ulu had a pair of doubles and two stolen bases as MSU defeated Howard 6-3 earlier on Saturday in the first elimination game, then added a single and stole a base in Saturday night's 6-0 win over South Florida to reach the regional final.

“She has just been hot,” Davidson said about Malau'ulu's recent success. “She's been hot all the time. You know you can always put any pressure on Chloe and she's going to get it done.”

Malau'ulu and the Bulldogs have seen their share of challenges throughout the season.

Not only did they begin the season by playing Oklahoma and UCLA in tournament action, there was also the grind of the Southeastern Conference schedule.

That prepared MSU for what was to come in the Tallahassee Regional and No. 2 national seed Florida State and Malau'ulu believes that will help once again this weekend against Arizona for the Starkville Super Regional.