BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Southeastern Conference released the league’s 2023 softball schedule on Thursday. Mississippi State is set to play eight three-game series against league opponents for a 24-game SEC slate.

The Bulldogs are coming off their first Super Regional appearance in program history after upsetting No. 2 national seed Florida State in the regional round in May. Last season also saw MSU win its highest total of conference games under head coach Samantha Ricketts.

SEC play opens on March 10, but the Bulldogs are one of three teams that will have to wait another week to begin their conference slate. State opens at home the following week against South Carolina on March 17-19. In 2021, The Bulldogs won two of the final three games in Columbia to kickstart a seven-game winning streak in SEC play. Historically, that series is one of the most even in the league, with the Gamecocks holding a 33-32 edge.

State’s first conference road trip takes it to a different kind of Bulldog country. MSU will head to Athens, Georgia, on March 24-26 to face the other Bulldogs in the SEC. The two programs have not met since 2021 when State swept the series in Starkville against an eventual Women’s College World Series team.

On March 31, MSU returns home to host reigning SEC Champion Arkansas for a three-game set. The Bulldogs lead the all-time series 38-32, and the Razorbacks are making their first trip to Starkville since 2017.

The following week, the Bulldogs head to Texas A&M on April 7-9. State has not played a regular-season series in Bryan-College Station since 2017, but the Bulldogs defeated the Aggies on their own field in the 2019 SEC Tournament.

Softball returns to the Super Bulldog Weekend slate for the first time since 2019 when MSU hosts Alabama on April 14-16. Last spring, State saw two near-upsets of the then-No. 2 Crimson Tide slip from their grasp in walk-off fashion in Tuscaloosa.

The SEC’s All for Alex weekend will take place on April 21-23 when the Bulldogs head to Baton Rouge to meet LSU. It will be State’s first trip to LSU, a program that has also been touched by ovarian cancer, since before the late Alex Wilcox played at MSU in 2018. All for Alex weekend was created by Ricketts and Tigers’ head coach Beth Torina.

The Bulldogs’ final home series is against Kentucky (April 28-30). The Bulldogs and Wildcats are tied in the all-time series, 31-31. State closes the season on the road at Auburn on May 5-7.

The SEC Tournament will be hosted by Arkansas at Bogle Park in Fayetteville on May 9-13.

Game times and television assignments will be announced at a later date. The schedule is subject to change, including the move of some conference series weekends to Saturday-Monday dates.

For more information on the Bulldog softball program, follow on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching “HailStateSB.”