The University of Mississippi Athletics
Softball to Play a Four-Games Series with Arkansas
6/21/1999 | Softball
April 27, 1998
OXFORD, Miss. - Despite dropping two games to Mississippi State Saturday, the Ole Miss women's fastpitch team will get one final chance to qualify for the Southeastern Conference Tournament as the Rebels host Arkansas for a pair of doubleheaders Tuesday and Wednesday.
Ole Miss (24-38, 7-19 SEC) will close out its final home games of the 1998 campaign this week by hosting the Lady Razorbacks (19-34, 11-15), with both doubleheaders starting at 6 p.m. at Rebel Stadium, located next to the Women's Multi-Sport Complex on Hathorn Road.
Entering the last week of SEC play, Ole Miss still has a slim chance to be among the final eight teams who will advance to the SEC Tournament, which will be held May 8-10 in Columbus, Ga. The Rebels enter play this week two games behind eighth-place Tennessee and four games behind sixth and seventh-place Georgia and Arkansas.
"This is a very critical series in our hopes of making the SEC Tournament," Ole Miss head coach Joyce Maudie said. "It will be a tough series because Arkansas has been playing well lately, but the good news is that they are coming here to play us. I am very confident in our ability to rise to the occasion and compete in this series."
There are only two ways Ole Miss can advance to the SEC Tournament. The Rebels have to win at least three games over Arkansas to even have a chance. The best chance for Ole Miss is to win all four games over the Lady Razorbacks. That would give both teams an identical 11-19 mark in the SEC, but Ole Miss would get the tiebreaker due to a better divisional record. If the Rebels win only three games over Arkansas, they would need help from Kentucky, who would have to sweep a four-game series over the eighth-place team, Tennessee.
Arkansas has made a final push to get into the SEC Tournament with an impressive 4-2 record last week. The Lady Razorbacks started the week with a home split with SEC East Division leader Florida before they returned home to split with Kentucky. They finished the week by sweeping Tennessee to move into the seventh-place spot.
Arkansas is led by the hitting of sophomore Dana Gulick, who is batting .337 this season with 32 runs scored. Sophomore Jen Cirigliano is contributing with a .299 average while leading the team with 29 RBI. On the mound, Arkansas is led by sophomore Tammy Kincaid, who boasts a 1.88 ERA and a 12-19 record.
Ole Miss is been riding the hot bat of freshman Jamie Cummings. The product of Hillcrest Christian High School in Jackson, Cummings has five doubles in her last seven games and is batting .435 over her last eight games.
The Rebels also got a lift from freshman Rachel Davenport. Davenport suffered a concussion when she fouled an inside pitch into her chin a week ago at Auburn. After missing the last three games, Davenport returned to the lineup Saturday and went 3-for-3 with two runs batted in during the Rebels 4-3 loss to the Bulldogs.
