Mississippi State fans had raucous use of their cowbells for more than the runs scored at Tuesday night’s baseball game at Dudy Noble Field.
During the middle of the 2nd and top of the 3rd inning, the Bulldogs’ public address announcer welcomed Kim Ng to the field to present Mississippi State softball standouts Sierra Sacco and Raelin Chaffin with golden tickets.
The final golden ticket will be given out before the AUSL College Draft on Saturday, May 3, to complete the 2025 draft class.
See who has received a golden ticket so far
Sacco is an experienced centerfielder who has had the start at Louisiana Tech and now at Mississippi State her entire career. She’s a consistent lefty hitter; she currently ranks in the top 10 nationally for her .471 batting average. She’s having the best season of her collegiate career with 10 home runs and 16 doubles, putting together a .797 slugging percentage.
At Louisiana Tech, Sacco was a top 10 finalist for the 2022 Schutt Sports/NFCA National Freshman of the Year and was the Conference USA Freshman of the Year. Last year with the Bulldogs, she was named to the All-SEC Second Team.
Chaffin, a senior transfer out of Bossier City, Louisiana, just became the eighth pitcher in program history to win 20 games in a season. She’s thrown 16 complete games and four shutouts this season, her most recent against Kentucky on Sunday to take the series. She threw a season-high-tying 11 strikeouts that game.
Her 173 strikeouts this year rank seventh in program history. Chaffin became a Bulldog after three seasons at LSU. She was a consistent arm for the Tigers, recording an 11-5 record in 2024 with a 2.86 ERA. She’s set to best those numbers this year with a 2.50 ERA through 36 appearances and 154.0 innings for the Bulldogs. Chaffin also won the WBSC U-18 Softball World Cup with Team USA in 2021.
Follow @theAUSLofficial on social media to see where the next golden ticket pops up. Tune in to the AUSL College Draft Show on May 3 at 9 p.m. ET on ESPNU to find out where Coffey and the rest of this year’s draftees are headed.
The AUSL is a professional women’s softball league featuring four teams playing in a traditional format. Tickets to the 2025 season are on sale now.
Savanna Collins is the Senior Reporter for the AUSL. You can follow her on X @savannaecollins.
