The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebel Fastpitch Ends 10-Game LSU Win Streak
6/21/1999 | Softball
March 28, 1998
OXFORD, Miss. -- Senior April Caraway singled home two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning of the second game as the Ole Miss fastpitch softball team rallied for a come-from-behind 6-5 victory over No. 16-ranked Louisiana State Saturday at Rebel Stadium.
The win, which is the highest ranked team Ole Miss has ever defeated, gave the Rebels a split in the doubleheader with the Tigers as LSU captured the first game, 4-3 win in eight innings.
"Obviously, we are disappointed we let the first game slip away. We played a good game but we made some mistakes and that hurt us," Ole Miss coach Joyce Maudie said. "I am proud of the way they came back and were determined to win the second game. "It was almost like we turned the tables on them. LSU is an explosive team and I thought our pitchers did a great job of keeping the scores down and giving our team a chance to come back."
In the first game, Ole Miss jumped out to a 3-0 lead, scoring a run in the first inning on sophomore Allison Willrath's RBI single that brought sophomore Mandy Shklar home. The Rebels added two more runs in the third inning as Willrath brought in Shklar for her second RBI and senior Christie Swain drove in Amanda Fine. But the Tigers rallied, getting a run across in the fourth and three runs in the final two innings to post the 4-3 victory. Sarah Knifechief pitched 5.2 scoreless innings of relief to earn the victory and improve to 11-2 on the year. Fine was handed the loss to fall to 7-9.
In the second game, the tables were turned as Ole Miss posted a comeback, 6-5 victory. Knifechief pitched five scoreless innings for LSU, but the Rebels scored twice in the sixth and four times in the seventh inning.
Caraway singled home Fine and freshman Jamie Cummings to cap the four-run inning, giving the Rebels their first win in the last five outings. Junior Kari Ceriani, who missed the last 17 games with tendinitis in her pitching arm, returned to the lineup and earned her third win of the season.
The Rebels are now 18-24 overall and 2-6 in the SEC while LSU moves to 33-5 overall and 4-1 in conference play.
Ole Miss and LSU will return to action Sunday for the third and fourth games of the series at Rebel Stadium, starting at 1 p.m.
Game One
