Brittany Finney Shuts Down Belmont in 5-0 Ole Miss Victory

Playing a non-conference tilt for the second time in as many days, Ole Miss got the better of Belmont on Wednesday, earning a 5-0 victory over the Bruins behind a strong pitching performance from junior Brittany Finney.
Finney threw all seven innings for the Rebels (21-16, 4-11 SEC), her second complete game of the season and first shutout of her career. The Wichita, Kansas native went seven strong, allowing just five hits and a walk while striking out eight.
Six Rebels combined for seven hits against Belmont (21-13, 2-6 OVC), with Elantra Cox being the only Ole Miss player with multiple hits. Cox also scored a pair of runs, moving into a tie for the career-runs record at Ole Miss with 140.
Neither team was able to get the offense rolling in the first frame but that changed for Ole Miss in the second. Seven Rebels came to the plate as Ole Miss scored three runs on three hits and an error.
Finney got the frame started with a walk and was pinch run for by Bry Castro. Autumn Gillespie and Cox both followed with singles to put three ducks on the pond for Alex Schneider, who got Ole Miss on the board with a fielder’s choice to short. Paige McKinney followed with an RBI single up the middle and Amanda Roth brought in the final run with a perfectly executed sacrifice squeeze bunt.
Ole Miss had a golden opportunity to build on its lead in the third after Kylan Becker led off with a walk, Celeste Wood sent a single to right field and Finney walked to load the bases but a pair of fielder’s choices and a foul out to the catcher ended the threat.
A few innings later, though, Ole Miss was able to take advantage of a Belmont error to add a pair of runs. Finney started things out with a single, advanced to second on a groundout and moved to third on a wild pitch. Cox then legged out an infield single and stole second to put a pair in scoring position. Finney scored when Schneider’s high pop up to shallow right was dropped and Cox was close behind, scoring on a wild pitch to make it 5-0.
For Finney, that would be far more than enough as the junior shut down the Bruins the rest of the way to pick up the shutout victory and run Ole Miss’ modest winning streak to three games.
The Rebels will look to keep the momentum rolling into this weekend’s series with rival Mississippi State. Ole Miss will take on the Bulldogs in a three-game set Saturday through Monday, with the final two games being broadcasted on national TV.
Quick Hits

• Ole Miss is now 18-6 on the season when scoring first.
• The leadoff batter for Ole Miss reached in four of six innings, coming around to score twice.
• Senior Elantra Cox went 2-for-3 at the plate with a pair of runs scored against the Bruins. The two runs move Cox into a tie on Ole Miss’ career list with 140 trips across the plate.
• Pitching for the first time since Mar. 23, Junior Brittany Finney broke her career-high with eight strikeouts. Finney’s previous career-high came earlier this year against Saint Louis (3/3) when she fanned eight Billikens.
• Retiring all 12 batters she faced, freshman Anna Borgen picked up her first win since Feb. 23.
• Tossing all seven frames, Finney threw the fourth complete game of her career and her first shutout in a Rebel uniform.

For all Ole Miss softball news and information, go to OleMissSports.com and follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissSoftball, on Facebook at Ole Miss Softball and on Instagram at Instagram.com/olemisssoftball. Fans can also follow head coach Mike Smith on Twitter at @msmithsb16.

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Courtesy of Ole Miss Sports
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