Worth The Wait – Mississippi State

STARKVILLE – For many National Signing Day is a dream come true, but for a handful, it’s a stressful day of waiting or a painful reminder of an offer that didn’t come. While the majority of college-bound softball players select their next destination in November, every year there are some who secure that offer a little later.
 
For Salen Hawkins and Jadyn Burney the wait paid off.
 
Hawkins still has the first text message she got from Mississippi State. The date was June 30, and associate head coach Tyler Bratton was playing golf.  
 
“You know, he’s a jokester,” Hawkins recalled. “He had golfed near our place in California, and I could’ve seen him if I was there, but I think I’d actually been at the beach. He was like, ‘I’m right by you! I’ll wave over at you!’ but it was just a little bit too late.”
 
The previous summer, her recruitment had taken a step backwards when she was injured at a major tournament. While diving back to a base, she landed awkwardly and fractured a bone in her wrist. The rest of her junior summer was spent on the bench recovering, and she missed out on the chance to show coaches what she could do.
 
One of the biggest hurdles she faced in the recruiting process was finding a coach who would understand why her path had been a little unconventional.
 
“I’ve had like a tough life before, so I needed someone that would be understanding and would really want me to be there and understand what I’ve been through,” Hawkins said. “[Head] Coach [Samantha] Ricketts was very understanding and didn’t judge me. She knew my softball skills, but she was also very understanding of what happened in the past. That’s all I needed really, from a coach.”
 
Burney, on the other hand, had taken the junior college route out of high school. She had been coming to camps in Starkville since she was a kid, and playing in the SEC had always been a dream.
 
“Going into junior college, I had a mindset of wanting to play juco for my own sake,
 Burney said. “Going there let me get mentally stronger and tougher. That was a me thing. Coming out of there, I knew I wanted to play, and I knew I was capable of playing bigger ball.”
 
She went to one last camp at Mississippi State, and she had a message for Ricketts and the staff.
 
“I just told her if you give me a chance, I’ll go from there,” Burney said. “I had…