Photo by: Mississippi State Athletics
Faircloth, Barbary Earn All-Conference Recognition
May 08, 2026 | Softball
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Mississippi State's Alyssa Faircloth and Nadia Barbary earned Second Team All-SEC honors, the conference office announced on Friday. Faircloth was also voted the SEC Newcomer of the Year by the league's coaches.
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Faircloth is the second Bulldog pitcher to be tabbed SEC Newcomer of the Year this season after USA Today also selected State's Peja Goold for the honor in its own awards slate.
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Faircloth led the SEC in strikeouts, with 231 in the regular season, including 105 in conference play. She broke the MSU single-season record for looking strikeouts, picking up No. 58 on the year at the SEC Tournament. Her strikeout total for the year currently ranks third in program history, and she is just 15 shy of the MSU record. She was just two punchouts shy of the MSU record for strikeouts in a single year of SEC play.
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Along the way, she has held opponents to a .188 average that would land among the top 10 marks in MSU history and posted the highest strikeouts per seven innings mark (10.73) in school history, averaging more than 2.00 more strikeouts per seven than the previous record.
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Barbary led State in hits and RBIs during the regular season and now sits just one hit away from becoming the 13th Bulldog with 200 career hits in the Maroon and White. In conference play, the senior led MSU with a .319 average and four homers. She ranked third among SEC third basemen in OPS in the regular season.
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It is Barbary's second career all-conference selection, and she now ranks among the top 10 in MSU history in career doubles, homers, total bases and RBIs. The Douglasville, Georgia, native led State in game-winning RBIs in the regular season and ranked second on the team with 13 multi-hit and eight multi-RBI games.
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The Bulldogs have earned multiple All-SEC honors in three straight years. Faircloth is the program's first Newcomer of the Year and State's first major conference award winner since Mia Davidson was tabbed the 2018 Freshman of the Year.
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For more information on the Bulldog softball program, follow on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and Instagram by searching "HailStateSB."
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Faircloth is the second Bulldog pitcher to be tabbed SEC Newcomer of the Year this season after USA Today also selected State's Peja Goold for the honor in its own awards slate.
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Faircloth led the SEC in strikeouts, with 231 in the regular season, including 105 in conference play. She broke the MSU single-season record for looking strikeouts, picking up No. 58 on the year at the SEC Tournament. Her strikeout total for the year currently ranks third in program history, and she is just 15 shy of the MSU record. She was just two punchouts shy of the MSU record for strikeouts in a single year of SEC play.
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Along the way, she has held opponents to a .188 average that would land among the top 10 marks in MSU history and posted the highest strikeouts per seven innings mark (10.73) in school history, averaging more than 2.00 more strikeouts per seven than the previous record.
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Barbary led State in hits and RBIs during the regular season and now sits just one hit away from becoming the 13th Bulldog with 200 career hits in the Maroon and White. In conference play, the senior led MSU with a .319 average and four homers. She ranked third among SEC third basemen in OPS in the regular season.
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It is Barbary's second career all-conference selection, and she now ranks among the top 10 in MSU history in career doubles, homers, total bases and RBIs. The Douglasville, Georgia, native led State in game-winning RBIs in the regular season and ranked second on the team with 13 multi-hit and eight multi-RBI games.
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The Bulldogs have earned multiple All-SEC honors in three straight years. Faircloth is the program's first Newcomer of the Year and State's first major conference award winner since Mia Davidson was tabbed the 2018 Freshman of the Year.
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For more information on the Bulldog softball program, follow on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and Instagram by searching "HailStateSB."
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