Beneath The Bulldogs’ Broccoli
May 25, 2026 | Softball, Joel Coleman
STARKVILLE – Produce has a history of providing postseason power for Mississippi State University.
Who could forget eight years ago, on the baseball diamond, when now-MLB All-Star Jordan Westburg picked up a banana in the State dugout to use as a faux radar gun in the 2018 Tallahassee Regional? The act was caught by television cameras and suddenly, innocent fun turned into a rallying point of sorts for MSU.
Fans started to dress as bananas. Squishy bananas were given away to supporters. The fantastic fruit was everywhere as the Bulldogs battled back through the loser's bracket in Tallahassee, won one of the most edge-of-your-seat Super Regionals ever at Vanderbilt, then made it all the way to semifinals in Omaha.
Less than a decade later, on a different diamond, produce is producing again for State. MSU softball's first-ever Women's College World Series berth has been buoyed by broccoli.
By now, you likely know the story. Jim Stewart Allen, affectionately known as the Broccoli Guy, showed up at State's regional in Oregon waving his veggies. He adopted MSU as his team. The Bulldogs embraced Allen – and his broccoli – right back.
"[Allen] told us broccoli is nature's pom-poms," State's Ally Supan said. "So, I took it and ran with it and now, it's in my hand from the beginning of the game until the end of the game."
Supan isn't alone. Broccoli has been everywhere for the Bulldogs.
However, what's pushed this State team farther than any group in program history has ever gone isn't the broccoli itself. It's the mentality that's behind it.
Broccoli has gotten all the pub, but it's the bonds beneath it that's made it a thing to begin with.
"We just have so much fun and that's a huge, huge part of why we're able to go out there and just play free," MSU's Anna Carder said. "That's what this game is. You start playing it because it's fun and you love it and that doesn't go away just because you're on a bigger stage or the stakes are higher.
"We're just playing a game. We're having fun. The dugout energy is a huge contributor to that. So, even if you aren't playing, you can still contribute and give your teammates all the energy and support they need."
These State players seem to be masters at putting everything into perspective. Not every team can do that.
In the postseason, the pressure mounts. The bats get squeezed a little tighter. Every pitch matters more.
Yet for Mississippi State this postseason, they've played as though it's just a sunny Saturday afternoon in the backyard with friends. Nothing has fazed the Bulldogs.
Not a road regional. Not a trip to Norman to stare down perennial power Oklahoma in the Super Regional round. Not even a win-or-go-home Game 3, where the Sooners seemingly had captured momentum after winning big the day before.
State simply hasn't been rattled. It's an incredible quality of this crew.
"I think we're just a special group of gals," Carder said. "We all love each other and play for each other, and that's not easy. It's not easy to have 25 girls who are all just on the same page and working towards the same goal.
"You can have selfish players on a team, but we just don't. We all pour into each other and that's what's made all this so special. You can't replicate it."
Said Supan: "Being able to play alongside these sisters that we've built at Mississippi State – it's just such a great group to do all this with. We haven't ridden on our successes. We've built off of our failures, and all that goes back to the coaches, too.
"They've instilled in us that softball is just a game. It's not who we are. It's supposed to be fun. We are here to have fun, play loose, play together and give all the glory to God when the game's over with. If we win, we win. If we lose, we lose. But we do it all together every time we step on the field, and that's all that matters."
Yes, rest assured, broccoli will be in Oklahoma City as the Bulldogs chase a national championship.
"You know it'll be there," Supan guaranteed.
When you see it, know that it signifies so much more. It's a glorious green symbol for a group that just wants to have fun – together – for as long as possible.
"Maybe the broccoli has just given us a final push, and a final reminder, to just go out there and play ball for all the right reasons," Carder said.
