Trying to add a payment method? You can do this on the 
QuickTake:
The Bulldogs defeated Saint Mary’s College 5-0 behind 14 strikeouts from ace Alyssa Faircloth and two home runs. Both teams bonded with a broccoli-toting fan over the weekend, and brought their own vegetables to Sunday’s deciding matchup.
Correction: This story initially misspelled the name of Dean Goold.
A near-empty Jane Sanders Stadium was the stage for Mississippi State University’s NCAA Regional victory Sunday, May 17 in Eugene.
The Bulldogs and Saint Mary’s College both had earned their their places on the final day of the regional with Saturday wins over Oregon softball, and so a stadium which sold out Friday for the Ducks’ postseason opener was riddled with empty rows Sunday.
Amid that relatively sedate atmosphere (except for one broccoli-toting fan), Mississippi State sealed its spot in the Super Regionals for the first time since 2022. Nadia Barbary’s first-inning two-run home run was all the Bulldogs needed to capitalize on starter Alyssa Faircloth’s second gem of the weekend — a 14-strikeout, two-hit masterclass in a 5-0 win.
Faircloth took the circle the day after keying Mississippi State’s Saturday no-hitter of Oregon, but her streak was broken in the first inning, when Hannah Ferguson’s shot to center field spilled out of a diving Kinley Keller’s glove. Faircloth quickly recovered and dealt outs to 11 of the next 13 batters to back up Barbary’s first-inning shot over the left field wall.
Dancing with broccoli
What atmosphere was generated at the game came from the teams’ shared bond with an outfield fan. A constant attendee over the weekend, the man dancing with broccoli at the top of the center-field bleachers was joined Sunday by both vegetable-equipped dugouts as they waved their broccoli and wedged it into the infield netting.
The fan, Seattle-area resident Jim Allen, started attending games with broccoli six years ago, but found softball around 2023. Softball, he said, matched his energy better than any other sport, he felt, and he started to gain traction.
But why broccoli?
“Natural pom-poms is the really basic answer,” he said, “and it’s my favorite vegetable.”
Still, he wasn’t ready for the demonstration of broccoli love Sunday from both teams.
“I had no idea,” Allen said. “I was actually supposed to go to a rugby game in Seattle today, but I decided to skip it. I felt like I should probably be here, because something might happen … It wasn’t even that — I just wanted to finish what I’ve been doing all weekend.”
He’s never seen broccoli in players’ hands before; at last year’s NCAA Regional in Eugene, visiting Weber State University athletes picked up his dance moves, but didn’t bring the vegetable.
So his decision to stay in town for Sunday’s game paid off when the two teams showed up for the regional final with broccoli. During pregame introductions, the Mississippi State dugout waved its broccoli toward center field, and Allen turned on the dance moves.
“I’m from this region, so I was here for the Ducks, of course, but really I’m here for softball and it’s just so cool to have this energy be reciprocated and appreciated,” Allen said. “It means a lot.”
‘Man, that’s some nice broccoli’
Before the game, ESPN broadcasters brought both teams broccoli after a segment with Allen. Saint Mary’s stopped there.
“We think ESPN gave it to us, but I noticed that Mississippi State had more broccoli, and I think that’s because the SEC has more money to buy more,” Saint Mary’s head coach Sonja Garnett said after the game.
That’s not exactly where the money came from. Before Sunday’s game, Mississippi State senior Peja Goold grabbed her phone and called her father, Dean.
Dean Goold had met Allen Friday. Goold was with catcher Anna Carder’s father, Patrick, when the men parked near Allen before the Bulldogs’ Regional opener.
Patrick Carder rolled down his window and said, “Man, that’s some nice broccoli! Farmers market?”
“No, Safeway,” Allen answered.
Patrick got inside Jane Sanders Stadium and spotted Allen — and the broccoli — in the top row.
“We’re like, ‘Oh, broccoli boy!’” Patrick said.
That, they thought, was the end of the story.
Sunday, Goold and Carder were standing at the gate ahead of the regional final when Goold’s phone rang. They turned around and headed for Safeway. When they returned through the gates, they worried whether they’d be allowed in with what Carder estimated to be somewhere between 28 and 35 pounds of florets.
“Everybody at the grocery store was looking at us,” Carder said.
The dads delivered the broccoli to the dugout in time for the first pitch. They didn’t tell Mississippi State head coach Samantha Ricketts, either, and had to explain when it arrived.
Meanwhile, in The Bob section of the stadium, Allen stayed standing as the Gaels’ season wound down. The Bulldogs’ broccoli hit the ceiling again when Tatum Silva delivered a sixth-inning pitch into the right-field scoreboard, plating three runs and extending their lead to five with her second career home run, and first since 2024. Faircloth fanned two final Gael batters and induced a grounder to first base to seal the win.
After the game went final, the Bulldogs brought their bracket poster into center field and celebrated with Allen, who leaned over the wall to shower praise on the team.
“He’s been dancing, standing up with that broccoli every single hour that we’ve been at the park and then past that,” Faircloth said. “So he showed us support, so we just figured that we should go thank him and just meet him.”
Asked what the Bulldogs would take away from the weekend, Barbary answered, “The energy — especially Jim out there. He was dancing the whole time and included us with it. Just knowing that it’s fun, that softball is fun. It’s a privilege to be here. It’s a privilege to play it, so just take it and be excited about it.”
Mississippi State advances to face No. 3 overall seed Oklahoma, which won its home Regional in Norman earlier, in the Super Regional.
“Oregon’s embraced us,” Patrick Carder said. “It’s been very friendly, super-friendly. [Allen’s] been super-energetic for the whole thing, and all they (the team) could do to give back to Oregon for inviting us is to represent some broccoli.”