The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebels Finish Softball Road Swing at Southern Miss
4/1/2002 | Softball
April 1, 2002
OXFORD, Miss. - Ole Miss wraps up a five-game road swing Tuesday with a softball doubleheader against in-state foe Southern Miss. First pitch for game one is set for 5 p.m. CST at Lady Eagle Field in Hattiesburg.
The Rebels (20-11) had their nine-game winning streak end over the weekend, dropping all three games of their series at Auburn in shutouts. The nine-game streak tied a three-year-old school record for longest stretch of consecutive victories.
Ole Miss hurlers Lindsey Whatley, Lindsay Price and Leslie Day each turned in quality outings in the AU series, limiting the Tigers to four runs or less in each game. However the Rebel offense failed to get on track, with only Britte Hardy and Megan Kozar collecting three hits over the weekend.
Despite the series loss, Ole Miss is still in the midst of its best season in program history. Last Tuesday, the Rebels swept a twin bill from Jackson State to surpass last year's win total of 18 and reach the 20-win plateau faster than any previous UM team.
Coming off a 46-21 campaign and a second straight Conference USA title, Southern Miss sits at .500 (18-18) at the season's midway mark. Senior Felicia Gonzales, the 2001 C-USA Pitcher of the Year, has struggled this season with a 6-5 record and a 3.73 ERA, but hurled a five-hit shutout of UAB in her last start.
The Lady Eagles are batting .232 as a team led by senior catcher Kenya Peters, who is hitting .287 with four homers and six doubles. All-Conference selections Amanda Brown and Channika Gant top the squad in RBI with 13 and 12, respectively.
USM swept last year's twin bill in Oxford and leads the all-time series 3-1. In their lone victory, the Rebels defeated then 10th-ranked Southern, 3-2 in extra innings, in game one of a 2000 doubleheader in Hattiesburg. The 11-inning affair ties the longest game in Ole Miss history.
