ITTA BENA – Coming into the season, Alicia Lorenz had lofty expectations. Topping off the list, she wanted her Mississippi Valley State squad to end its two-year drought of coming home without the SWAC Tournament trophy.
And the Paradise, Calif. native got her wish last weekend when the Devilettes (34-17) rallied from behind to defeat last year’s champion Jackson State 7-3 in the title game.
Lorenz also had aspirations of being named the SWAC Pitcher of the Year. She checked that off her do-list recently as well after being bestowed with the honor following a stellar junior campaign. She currently holds a 19-8 record with a 2.47 ERA and a league-best 169 strikeouts.
She’s been one of the keys to the Devilettes finishing the regular season with a 16-0 conference record.
“I thought we’ve done real well this season,” said Lorenz, who’s in her first year at MVSU after transferring from Butte Community College in California.
Now, Lorenz and her teammates hope to continue their success starting Friday in the NCAA Regionals at Louisiana-Lafayette. The Devilettes, who are riding a 17-game win streak, will face off against the Ragin Cajuns at 6:30 p.m. at Lamson Park. Baylor and Stanford are also competing in the regional tournament.
“They’re a very good hitting team and their pitching is very good,” said MVSU head coach Lee Smith, whose resume includes seven SWAC Tournament titles in the last nine years. “They have two good pitchers and they’re a team that we’re familiar with.”
La.-Lafayette defeated MVSU 21-0 earlier this season, but the Devilettes are better prepared now to face the No.14-seeded Ragin Cajuns, said Smith.
“We feel good coming off a conference championship and winning 20 league games,” he said. “I think our kids feel good about competing against ULL.”
And, said Smith, this part of the season – in his team’s eyes – represent an entirely new era.
“This is the part of the season where everyone is 0-0,” said Smith.
The Devilettes have gotten this far with both consistent hitting and pitching. Kimberly Spivey, who won two games during the SWAC Tournament, is 13-8 and is coming off stellar performances against Grambling State and Prairie View A&M.
Meanwhile, MVSU infielder Kishti Kamaka, who was named First Team All-SWAC, has gotten a hit in six of the last seven games. And catcher Nicole Burr, who hit a grand slam in the seventh inning in the SWAC championship game, has hit a team-high eight home runs this season. Alexandra Sullivan leads the pack with a .375 batting average.
This season marked the second time in school history that MVSU has finished with a perfect conference record. (The Devilettes first accomplished the feat in 2009.) This season, Valley was the lone Division-I team to go through its conference schedule without a loss.
But the regular season and the conference tournament are over and the Devilettes are solely focused on what’s in front of them – the ULL Regional.
The team just hopes it can bring back some wins and bragging rights to the Mississippi Delta.
“I would be very excited to make it past Regionals and make it to Super Regionals,” said senior outfielder Rachelle Harris. “Because we haven’t been there and I would like to go to that next level.”
