No. 5 Georgia Downs Ole Miss 5-1

Kaitlin Lee Photo by Paul Keelaghan

After Ole Miss took the first two games of the series, No. 5 Georgia salvaged a win in the series finale on Sunday, defeating the Rebels 5-1 at the Ole Miss Softball Complex in the final game of the regular season.

Despite the loss, Ole Miss (30-22, 7-17 SEC) clinched a spot in the upcoming SEC Tournament. The Rebels have earned the No. 12 seed and will play fifth-seeded LSU on Wednesday in Columbia, Missouri. The time of the game is yet to be determined.
Kaitlin Lee got the start in the circle but wasn’t able to pull off the sweep of the Bulldogs (43-10, 16-8 SEC). The senior was saddled with the loss after allowing three runs on eight hits and a walk in her three innings. Anna Borgen threw one inning in relief, surrendering a pair of runs, while Ava Tillmann came in and shutout Georgia in the final three frames, allowing just one hit.
The game was scoreless until the third inning, when Georgia put together a 2-out rally with sixth-straight Bulldogs reaching base, plating three runs. Ole Miss came back in the bottom half to get a run back on Kylan Becker’s double to the left-center gap, scoring Paige McKinney from third. However, from there it was all Bulldogs.
Georgia added a pair of runs in the fourth on Ciara Bryan’s two-RBI single up the middle and held the Rebels in check the rest of the way, earning their 16^th SEC win of the season.
With the regular season complete, Ole Miss will make a quick turnaround and head to Columbia looking to recapture the magic of last season’s run to the program’s first SEC Tournament Championship.
Quick Hits

• The Rebels qualified for their fourth-straight SEC Tournament, the longest streak in program history.
• While Ole Miss shut down the Bulldogs with two outs on the board the bulk of the series, Georgia flipped the script in game three, batting .583 (7-of-12) with two outs.
• Georgia also batted .500 (5-for-10) with runners in scoring position, while Ole Miss was held to .143 (1-for-7).

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.

Courtesy of Ole Miss Sports
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