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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Southern Illinois
Rebels Drop No. 24 Southern Illinois 1-0 On Sunday
2/13/2005 | Softball
Feb. 13, 2005
OXFORD, Miss. - Tara Willitt rose to the challenge before her on Sunday, pitching a complete game shutout as she led Ole Miss (5-3) to a 1-0 win over No. 24 Southern Illinois (2-1) in the final game of the Rebel/Easton Classic.
Willitt (2-0) picked up her second win of the season as she struck out two batters and walked only one, but worked the plate with her pitches and relied on the defense behind her to get the win. The sophomore allowed only two hits on the day.
Amy Harre (1-1) suffered the loss for the Salukis as she gave up one run on five hits in the loss. She struck out four batters and walked four on the day.
Rebecca McIntire led Ole Miss on the plate at the day, going 2-for-2 on the day. DeDe Justice came up with a critical hit in the fifth inning when she singled down the right field line to drive in the game winning run.
"It feels good to get a win over a good team and a ranked team like Southern Illinois," said Ole Miss head coach Candi Letts. "This team fought hard today. They were up to pull the tarp at 7:30 this morning and stayed focused all day through the rain to get a big win.
"Tara Willitt pitched a great game for us today and really had wonderful control of her pitches," Letts said. "DeDe Justice and Rebecca McIntire performed well at the plate, coming up with big plays when we needed them. Our defense played solid and just really lent confidence to our pitching staff. It was a team win."
Ole Miss threatened several times throughout the course of the game, but was unable to get a run across the plate in the early innings. The best opportunity came with the bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth with two outs, but the Rebels were unable to capitalize as Southern Illinois ended the threat with a strikeout.
The Rebels got on the board in the bottom of the fifth when Justice ripped the ball down the right field line, scoring Turner from third. Turner reached on a walk before stealing second and advancing to third on a sacrifice from Brittany Warner. The inning ended when the Salukis caught Justice stealing as Lauren Rowe struck out.
The Rebels left seven runners on base, but got the critical run across to win the game.
The Rebels' Tara Willitt, DeDe Justice and Rebecca McIntire were all named to the All-Tournament Team.
Ole Miss will return to action this weekend at the Texas A&M Aggie Classic in College Station, Texas. The Rebels will face Northwestern State, Utah State and Texas A&M in the tournament that starts on Friday.
Score by Innings R H E-----------------------------------------Southern Illinois... 000 000 0 - 0 2 0Ole Miss............ 000 010 X - 1 5 0-----------------------------------------
DP - Ole Miss 1. LOB - SIU 2; Ole Miss 7. 2B - R. McIntire(1). SH - Clifton;Damico; B. Warner(2); R. McIntire(1); C. Kloezeman(1). SB - B. Turner 2(9);R. McIntire(1). CS - D. Justice(2).
