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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss Continues Road Trip With Doubleheader Against UT-Martin
3/23/2004 | Softball
March 23, 2004
OXFORD, Miss. - After closing out the weekend series with a win over No. 25 Auburn, Ole Miss (8-19, 3-3 SEC) will continue its seven game road swing with a doubleheader against the Skyhawks of UT-Martin (15-8) on Wednesday.
The Rebels hope to continue to play the way it did against the ranked Tigers as it steps out of conference before returning home for a two week home stand with some of the nation's top teams coming to Oxford.
"We're really looking at this series with the Skyhawks as a chance to gain some ground and get a rhythm going before jumping back into Southeastern Conference play this weekend," said Ole Miss head coach Candi Letts. "It should be a good test for us. UT-Martin has been on a roll, picking up several wins recently and they are playing solid ball. We just have to go play our game and see what we do."
The Rebels will hope to continue to get solid pitching from Mary Jane Callahan and the pitching staff when they hit the road on Wednesday. Callahan out dueled one of the SEC's most experienced pitchers on Sunday, going toe-to-toe with Auburn's Kristin Keyes to pick up the win for the Rebels as she struck out eight batters and allowed only two hits.
Ole Miss is also hoping the bats continue to come to life with sophomore Mandy Ott leading the way with a .328 batting average. Ott came through big for the Rebels on Sunday against the Tigers, breaking up Keyes' streak of two straight no-hitters at home before belting out a 2 RBI double in the sixth that snapped Keyes' streak of scoreless innings pitched at 41.1. The hit also put the Rebels on the run and secured the win, Ole Miss' first over a top-25 team this season.
UT-Martin enters Wednesday's meeting with a 15-8 overall record and is coming off a 7-1 performance at the Rebel Games in Osceola, Fla. In the games, the Skyhawks defeated Lafayette, Colgate, Yale, Columbia, Fairleigh-Dickinson, Iona and split with Fairfield.
Fallon Lowery leads the Skyhawks at the plate, hitting .419 on the season with six RBI and two home runs. Beth Buttrey and Jennifer Young are adding to the offensive performance as they are hitting .357 and .324 respectively.
The UT-Martin pitching staff is led by Allison Buckley and Nicole Davis. Both have six appearances while Buckley is 2-2 on the year with a 3.71 ERA, while Davis is 3-2 on the season with a 4.00 ERA.
The Rebels and Skyhawks have faced two common opponents on the season in Indiana State and Tulsa. Both teams fell to Tulsa (Ole Miss lost 0-3, while UTM lost 2-7). The Rebels defeated Indiana State 8-2, while UTM fell to the Sycamores both times (2-3, 2-6).
Ole Miss and UT-Martin will play the first game at 5 p.m. CST with the second game beginning approximately 20 minutes after the conclusion of the first game.
