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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Nicholls St
Softball Takes First Place in Rebel/Easton Invitational.
2/17/2002 | Softball
Feb. 17, 2002
OXFORD, Miss. - Making their 2002 home debut, the Ole Miss softball team earned its second tournament title of the season over the weekend. The Rebels (8-3) shut out both Evansville and Nicholls State Sunday to take first place in the Rebel/Easton Invitational with a 3-1 tourney mark.
With only one weekend loss apiece, the Rebels and Purple Aces decided the crown in Sunday's finale. UE's Katie Markle took a perfect 4-0 pitching record into the matchup, but it was Ole Miss' Leslie Day tossing her finest game as a Rebel.
The junior righthander from Nesbit, Miss., hurled her first career shutout in a 2-0 victory. Day scattered seven hits and walked only one in raising her season record to 3-1. Markle lasted three innings in the loss for Evansville (6-5).
Ole Miss picked up the two runs off three hits in the third inning. Megan Kozar singled and scored on a DeDe Justice misplayed groundball. Andrea Brahs followed with an RBI-single for the two-run cushion.
A sophomore from Vero Beach, Fla., Brahs batted 2-for-2 in the game and gathered her sixth RBI of the tournament, twice as many as any other player.
In the early game, the Rebels used eight hits and four Colonel errors for a 7-0 blowout of Nicholls State. Ole Miss freshman Lindsey Whatley (3-1) limited NSU to five hits with only one walk in notching her first career shutout in three collegiate starts.
Phyllis Manley, a junior from Southaven, Miss., collected two hits, including a bases-clearing double in the fifth inning to secure the Rebels' ninth straight win over the Lady Colonels (2-4). Sophomore outfielder Britte Hardy batted 2-for-4.
UE finished second in the Invitational with a 4-2 mark, while Nicholls and Tennessee-Martin closed out with 1-3 tournament records.
Ole Miss wraps up a six-game homestand on Monday with a doubleheader against Colorado State, beginning at 1 p.m. CST at Ole Miss Softball Complex. The Rebels and Rams split two games a year ago in their only previous meetings.
REBEL/EASTON INVITATIONAL (Feb 17, 2002 at Oxford, Miss.)----------------------------------------------------------------------Evansville Aces..... 000 000 0 - 0 7 1 (6-5)Ole Miss Rebels..... 002 000 X - 2 6 1 (8-3)----------------------------------------------------------------------Pitchers: Evansville Aces - Markle, Clutch(4). Ole Miss Rebels - Day.Win-Day(3-1) Loss-Markle(4-1) T-1:35 A-151
----------------------------------------------------------------------Nicholls St Colonels .. 000 000 0 - 0 5 4 (2-4)Ole Miss Rebels........ 130 030 X - 7 8 2 (7-3)----------------------------------------------------------------------Pitchers: Nicholls St Colonels - Hanson, Blanco(3), Cancienne(5). Ole Miss Rebels - Whatley.Win-Whatley(3-1) Loss-Hanson T-2:13 A-144
