JOURNAL SPORTS
Former Airline softball superstar Raelin Chaffin has immediately rocketed into national prominence as she settles into her new college home.
After a spectacular opening weekend, Chaffin was tabbed the first SEC Pitcher of the Week of 2025 Monday after leading Mississippi State to four victories, including two complete-game wins over ranked opponents, at the NFCA Leadoff Classic.
Chaffin leads the nation in wins, innings pitched and ERA after the season’s first week of play. Her 20 strikeouts rank third in the SEC and 14th nationally. She has yet to allow an earned run through her first 22.2 innings at MSU, marking the longest streak without an earned run to open a Bulldog career since at least 2003.
The Bossier City native, who transferred following three seasons with LSU, made a headline-grabbing debut Friday against 13th-ranked Texas Tech. She outdueled the reigning National Player of the Year NiJaree Canady, a Stanford transfer who came to Lubbock for a reported $1 million NIL deal. In a season-opening game, she matched Canady with scoreless frames through seven innings.
The Bulldogs took a 3-0 lead in the top of the eighth, and Chaffin came back out to shut the door on the Red Raiders. The only run she’s allowed this year was unearned after the runner placed on second under international tie-breaker rules scored in extra innings.
On Saturday, she picked up the win in relief against Bethune-Cookman, holding the Wildcats at bay long enough for State to rally for a walk-off victory. She entered in a 2-1 ballgame with the bases loaded and struck out a pair of batters to keep the deficit at one for her offense. In the nightcap, she tossed 6.0 scoreless innings against Penn State to guide MSU to its third victory.
On Sunday, she shut out No. 19 Nebraska with five strikeouts and no walks. The performance made her just the second Bulldog pitcher since at least 2003 to record a win in each of her first four appearances in the Maroon and White.
She was also one of just six players nationally to throw multiple complete games over the weekend and helped State be one of only two schools with multiple wins over teams ranked in the USA Softball preseason poll.
Chaffin was 23-8 in three seasons at LSU, earning All-SEC Honor Roll academic recognition as a psychology/pre-nursing major each year. She won 11 games in 15 starts last season.
At Airline, Chaffin made it look effortless at times during a dominant career as the Lady Vikings reached the state tournament in her sophomore and senior years in between the COVID pandemic in 2020. She was chosen “Miss Softball” in the state capping her prep career.
In three full seasons the hard-throwing right-hander was 59-8 with an 0.90 ERA and 752 strikeouts, leading the Lady Vikings to a state runner-up finish in 2021.