Recruiting Diary: Mississippi State's Grace Fagan

Softball America has launched a series called Recruiting Diaries, which chronicles the recruiting journeys of current college softball players around the country. In this series, we take a look at the unique recruiting experiences of talented softball student-athletes from various teams and conferences within the NCAA.

We continue the series with sophomore pitcher Grace Fagan's story. Fagan landed in the SEC at Mississippi State after an assistant coach saw her compete against some of her current college teammates at a tournament in her home state of New Jersey.

Learn her story below.

Travel Team(s): New Jersey Witches and Birmingham Thunderbolts

Final College Choices: Mississippi State and South Florida

Her Story: I was actually playing in a tournament in New Jersey the summer after my freshman year for my travel ball team in high school, the New Jersey Witches. We were playing against (my current Mississippi State teammates) Mia (Davidson), Montana (Davidson) and (former Mississippi State teammate) Emily Heimberger. Tyler Bratton, our assistant coach, was there watching and he really liked me. He contacted his head coach about me, and then we got in contact.

After that, I contacted the Birmingham Thunderbolts (a travel team from Alabama) so I could play with them in Atlanta at the Atlanta Legacy tournament that summer. So, I flew out to Atlanta to play with the Thunderbolts so that the (Mississippi State) head coach could watch me play. After that, I went on an unofficial visit (to Mississippi State) during the fall of my sophomore year in high school. I really liked it and verbally committed on my visit.

Why Mississippi State?: When I came on my visit, everybody was super welcoming and there was a ton of Southern hospitality. It’s not the same in New Jersey. I also loved the coaches and the campus. I basically just fell in love with everything.

Thoughts On The Recruiting Process: It’s definitely exciting when you are pitching in travel ball and you get the big schools watching you. I actually really enjoyed it and thought it was really fun. It was never too stressful for me. I think it was fun performing in front of college coaches at such a young age. To me, there wasn’t really anything to worry about.

Best Recruiting Advice: I would say that if you are interested in playing for a bigger school, then definitely go to that school’s camps to get seen. There aren’t as many opportunities to get seen by schools like (Mississippi State) up north. I kind of got lucky. Also, carry yourself the proper way. When Coach Bratton came to see me play, I actually gave up like three or four home runs in that game, but he really liked the way I responded.

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