Chaffin shines as No. 24 Mississippi State goes 4-1 at NFCA Leadoff Classic

Just a few months ago, Raelin Chaffin was undergoing treatment for thyroid cancer shortly after transferring to Mississippi State from LSU. But she was at the top of her game in her first weekend as a Bulldog, helping No. 24 MSU win four of five games at the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Clearwater, Florida.

In the season opener Friday against No. 13 Texas Tech, Chaffin emerged victorious in an eight-inning pitchers’ duel with NiJaree Canady, the best pitcher in the country last year. Canady struck out 12 Bulldogs and issued just one walk, but Chaffin matched her out for out until MSU broke through in extras.

Outfielders Kiarra Sells and Sierra Sacco each hit RBI singles in the eighth and Morgan Bernardini hit a sacrifice fly to break a scoreless tie and put the Bulldogs ahead by three. Chaffin issued two walks and hit a batter in the bottom of the inning to load the bases, but closed out the 3-1 victory on a foul pop-up to shortstop Kylee Edwards.

“Raelin’s performance was awesome. I’m so excited for her. We knew bringing her in that there was just a little something in her, just that competitive edge. She just still wanted to prove herself in her last season,” MSU head coach Samantha Ricketts said. “There was no doubt that we were letting her finish that game. She’d earned the right, and she was doing a great job of competing. She was confident.”

The Bulldogs lost 8-0 in five innings later Friday to No. 7 Duke as both junior Josey Marron and senior Lexi Sosa struggled in the pitchers’ circle, with the Blue Devils scoring in every inning. MSU then made five errors and struggled to get the bats going against Bethune-Cookman on Saturday, but woke up just in time.

Bernardini led off the bottom of the seventh with a single, and Sacco drove her in with one out to tie the game. With two outs, Sells singled to left field to bring home Sacco and give the Bulldogs a 3-2 win. Chaffin, who relieved Marron in the sixth, earned her second win of the weekend.

“I was super confident that any ball that was coming my way, I was going to hit it,” said Sells, a junior who had played sparingly prior to this season and had not recorded a hit with MSU before this weekend. “That was kind of my mindset.”

Sacco and the offense remained hot in Saturday’s second game against Penn State. Sosa’s RBI single and Edwards’ two-run double gave the Bulldogs a three-run lead in the first inning, and Sacco added on with run-scoring doubles in the second and the sixth.

Her three doubles in the game set a school record and helped make life easy for Chaffin, who tossed six shutout innings before freshman Sara Phillips closed out the 6-1 win in her first collegiate appearance.

“For me, it’s just about getting a barrel on it and just getting a good swing off,” Sacco said. “Whether it turns out to be a double, single, triple, it doesn’t really make a difference to me as long as I’m on base for my next teammate that will get me in.”

Chaffin — who was named SEC Pitcher of the Week on Monday — concluded her stellar weekend Sunday with a complete-game shutout against No. 19 Nebraska, striking out six without issuing a walk. Sacco cleared the bases with a two-out, three-run double in the second for all the runs Chaffin needed in a 3-0 victory.

MSU (4-1) will open Nusz Park for the 2025 season this coming weekend with The Snowman: Alex Wilcox Memorial tournament — named in honor of former outfielder Alex Wilcox, who died from ovarian cancer following her freshman year in 2018. The Bulldogs will play Southern Illinois, North Texas, Bradley and Georgia Tech.

“I didn’t have a whole lot to show in the fall, but the whole time (the coaching staff) just kept reinforcing that they brought me here for a reason,” Chaffin said. “Just carrying that out to the field and knowing that they want me here, they have confidence in me and they’re going to let me get whatever I’ve got to get out and keep me in the game and let me ride.”