Ole Miss Softball Opens 2022 SEC Tournament Against Georgia

By Adam Brown
Sports Editor
adam.brown@hottytoddy.com

No. 25 Ole Miss softball enters the 2022 SEC Softball Tournament in Gainesville, Florida, as the No. 8 overall seed to take on the Georgia Bulldogs Wednesday night. The first pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. on SEC Network.

Ole Miss enters the conference tournament with a 38-16 overall record and 12-12 mark in the league after taking the series from No. 18 Georgia over the weekend to close out the regular season.

The Rebels have won seven of its final nine SEC contests to close out the regular season, sweeping South Carolina on the road and taking series from No. 12 Tennessee and No. 16 Georgia.

This season, the 38 wins are tied for most in a regular season in program history with the 2016 season (38-19).

 Against Georgia, Tate Whitley and Bre Roper each recorded four-hit games this past weekend against the Bulldogs. Whitley went 4-for-5 on Saturday and Roper was a perfect 4-for-4 on Sunday.

In the circle, hurler Catelyn Riley leads the team with 11 victories on the season so far, the second-most by a freshman in program history.

Georgia enters the SEC Tournament 40-15 over all and 12-12 in the SEC preparing to face Ole Miss for the fourth-straight game. The Bulldogs took game one, however, the Rebels responded to win the series.

Georgia’s Jayda Kearney earned SEC Player of the Week honors after batting .778 with seven hits, four runs scored and 11 RBI in the series against the Rebels. Kearney recorded a career-best four hits in game one, followed by two home runs and a career-high seven RBI in game two.

As a team, UGA is batting .325 and has scored 382 runs for an average of 6.95 per game. The Bulldogs have also smashed 100 home runs on the season, the most by an SEC team since 2015.

 In the circle, Madison Kerpics leads the Bulldogs with a team-high 18 wins in 36 appearances. Through 157.2 innings of work, the sophomore has registered a 3.02 earned run average. She pitched twice in the series against the Rebels last weekend, going 1-1.

This game will be the 66^th all-time meeting between the two programs on the diamond. UGA leads the all-time series 50-15, however, the Rebels have won four of the last six meetings. The two teams are even at one game apiece in the SEC Tournament.

With a win, Ole Miss would advance to take on the No. 1 seed Arkansas Razorbacks on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. on SEC Network.