The Ole Miss Rebel softball team went 3-1 in the Ole Miss Classic over the weekend. The Rebels lone loss came on Sunday to in-state rival Southern Mississippi.
Ole Miss (13-3) took an early lead over the Golden Eagles until the top of the third as Southern Miss plated five runs.
The Rebels’ starter Kaitlin Lee went unscathed in the first two frames of the game, but in the third, she did not have her normal command on pitches. Lee picked up her first loss of the season and was lifted for freshman Anna Borgen.
Borgen got things back on track in the circle going 4.1 scoreless in the game.
In the second inning, the Rebels took a one-run lead as Alex Schneider led off before Paige McKinney drove her in with a two-out triple into the right-center field gap.
Ole Miss pulled closer in the sixth as McKinney brought Amanda Roth home on a ground ball to second.
Saturday, the Rebels swept Saint Louis and Chattanooga in the first game of the day. Ole Miss continued its hot hitting streak.
The Rebels broke the deadlock with a run in the third. Amanda Roth continued her torrid pace from the day before leading off the inning with a hot-shot single off of the third baseman’s glove. Kylan Becker moved Roth over and reached first base on a fielding error. After Bry Castro replaced Roth at second base, she scored on a hustle play, coming all the way around from second as SLU attempted to turn a double play on a Celeste Wood grounder.
Ole Miss’ starter Brittany Finney picked up her first win of the season against Saint Louis by going the distance and allowing one run on six hits, striking out seven.
SLU did not wait long to strike back as Allie Macfarlane barreled up a pitch by Finney for a solo shot to left that tied the game at 1-1.
The Rebels, however, got the final word in, taking advantage of a pair of Saint Louis errors to plate a pair of unearned runs. Autumn Gillespie and Alex Schneider both reached on errors to put a pair of runners on base for the Rebs and Kaylee Horton made the Billikens pay, hitting a sharp single through the left side to bring Gillespie in. Schneider scored a few batters later to give Ole Miss an insurance run, trotting home after a bases-loaded walk was issued to Elantra Cox.
When it came time for the Rebels to take the diamond against Chattanooga, it didn’t take Ole Miss long to get the bats heated up. Ole Miss scored in all four innings of a run-rule victory, topping the Mocs 10-2 in five.
Ole Miss got the scoring started immediately as Schneider watched four balls with the bases loaded to plate Cox. Roth followed by wearing a pitch off her elbow guard to score another run in the form of Gillespie, and Kaylee Horton drove in the final run of the inning with a fielder’s choice, scoring Finney.
The Rebels tacked on three more runs in the second in loud fashion. After an Ally Mena walk and a Cox single, Gillespie teed off on an Allison Swinford offering, plowing a three-run jack to straight-away center.
The Rebels kept the train moving along in the third, posting a pair of runs to take the eight-run lead over the Mocs. As she did all weekend, Roth got on base with a walk to start things off and came around to score on a Horton double up the middle. Cox plated Horton shortly thereafter with a groundout to make it 8-0 in favor of the home team.
Ole Miss extended the lead to 10 in the fourth on a mammoth, two-run fly off the bat of Gabby Alvarez, and while the Mocs were able to score a pair in the fifth, it wasn’t enough to escape the run-rule.
Chattanooga faced three different Rebels in the circle as Anna Borgen got the start and pitched a gem throwing three scoreless innings with only three hits allowed. Coach Mike Smith called on the arm of Morgan Bruce for an inning, and Bruce kept the Mocs off the scoreboard. Bruce then turned it over to Ava Tillmann in the fifth, who gave up two runs (one earned) on two hits.
In the first game of the Ole Miss Classic, the Rebels faced UT Martin. It was just the third time this season for the Rebels to play in front of their home crowd, and they did not disappoint defeating the Skyhawks 10-2 in five.
Ole Miss’ third baseman Amanda Roth found her swing against UT Martin. In her previous 15 at bats, she was hitless. Once the freshman got her first base knock of her college career, the floodgates opened, and she finished the night going 3 for 3 at the plate.
The Rebels didn’t wait long to take the lead as they struck first in the opening inning. Autumn Gillespie got the scoring started with a single up the middle, which plated Kylan Becker from third. Freshman Abbey Latham followed with an RBI single of her own into left to score Celeste Wood.
Kaitlin Lee was a bit off her game but picked up the win as she held UT Martin to two runs on six hits. Lee had to work around a couple of Rebel errors.
The Skyhawks tried to respond with no outs and the bases juiced in the second. The veteran Lee proceeded to induce a pop out to first then a pair of fly outs to get out of the jam.
The Rebs went right back to work in the home half, doubling their lead when Roth followed Schneider’s leadoff single with a frozen rope to left that narrowly cleared the fence. Following a UTM run in the third, Ole Miss tacked on two more in the bottom half when Latham scored on a throwing error and Ally Mena came home on a Schneider sacrifice fly.
Ole Miss again capitalized on a Skyhawk mistake in the fourth, taking advantage of an extra out to increase its lead by one when Becker came home on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Mena. However, the Skyhawks were able to get the run back in the top of the fifth on an RBI double by Alexis Rogers.
The Rebels return to action on Tuesday as they host the Boston College Eagles. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. on the SEC Network.
Adam Brown is the sports editor of HottyToddy.com. He can be reached at adam.brown@hottytoddy.com.
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