The University of Mississippi Athletics
Softball Team Heads To Florida Atlantic Tournament
2/16/2006 | Softball
Feb. 16, 2006
FAU Tournament Page
Ole Miss Notes
OXFORD, Miss. - With a chance for some fun in the sun, the Ole Miss softball team will head down to Boca Raton, Fla., for the three-day FAU Dunkin' Donuts Classic this weekend.
The Rebels will look to improve upon a 2-3 record after one weekend of competition in 2006.
"We have had two days of really good practice, and we are hoping that will carry over into the tournament," said first-year head coach Missy Dickerson. "If our players take what we've done in practice, we should perform better than last weekend. We did some good things last weekend, but we made too many errors, especially in the Memphis game."
Freshman second baseman Lisa Conchos leads Ole Miss with a .500 batting average and also leads the team with seven RBI, five runs scored and two doubles. Three other Rebels - junior Brittany Warner, junior Mary Jane Callahan and sophomore Erin Faircloth - are hitting .400 or better.
Senior Dana Brill tops the pitching staff with a 0.72 earned run average, as she earned a complete-game shutout over the weekend. She has recorded 13 strikeouts in 9 2/3 innings pitched thus far. Callahan lost a pair of games over the weekend to No. 18 Louisiana-Lafayette, but managed a 2.50 ERA and 11 strikeouts in 14 innings.
Ole Miss began the Missy Dickerson era with a convincing 12-1 victory over Grambling State last Friday before dropping games to Louisiana-Lafayette and Memphis and adding an 8-0 win over Grambling.
The FAU tournament field includes No. 6-ranked Alabama, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Long Island and Missouri State.
The Crimson Tide of Alabama has started the season with five straight wins en route to capturing the Bama Bash! title last weekend. Sophomore first baseman Dani Woods was named the SEC's Player of the Week after batting .615 with two home runs, four doubles, eight RBI and four runs scored.
Florida Atlantic opened the season with an 8-0 victory over Bethune-Cookman and then four one-run losses to East Carolina, Pittsburgh, South Carolina and Purdue. The host Owls are led in the circle by junior Jen Musillo, who has a 0.88 ERA in three appearances, including a complete-game shutout.
Florida International is also 1-4 on the young season, with two tough losses to No. 10 Georgia and one to No. 19 Iowa. Long Island and Missouri State will be playing their first games of the season in Boca Raton.
"Based on past experiences, there are several quality teams in this tournament," Dickerson said. "Based on both reputation and talent, Florida Atlantic is always a strong team, Long Island usually has been an NCAA Tournament team and Florida International is also usually strong. We are not scheduled to play Alabama, but we might face them on Sunday. If we do play them, it means we have probably done something right and it would be a wonderful opportunity."
Ole Miss is scheduled to play two games on Friday (4 p.m. ET vs. Missouri State and 6 p.m. vs. Florida Atlantic) and two on Saturday (9 a.m. vs. Florida International and 1 p.m. vs. Long Island).
Based on all teams' records after two days of play, the No. 5 and No. 6 seed will square off at 9 a.m. on Sunday, while the 3 vs. 4 game will be 11 a.m. and the Championship game is slated for 1 p.m.
