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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss Softball Travels To Lone Star State
3/1/2006 | Softball
March 1, 2006
OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss softball team (4-10) will be looking to extend its two-game winning streak as the club travels to Austin, Texas, this weekend to take part in the Time Warner Cable Texas Invitational, hosted by the University of Texas.
The Rebels are coming off a trip to Evansville, Ind., last weekend for the Evansville Invitational, in which they won one game and lost one to both Ball State and Evansville to go 2-2 on the weekend. Ole Miss capped the tournament with a 7-1 victory over Ball State and a 3-0 shutout of Evansville on Sunday to give the team its current streak.
Ole Miss has been led at the plate all season by freshman middle infielder Lisa Conchos, who owns a team-best .381 batting average and a team-high nine RBI and seven runs scored. She had a team-best five hits in Evansville, including a 3-for-4 performance against Ball State with a pair of RBI.
Sophomore infielder Lauren Rowe has produced the Rebels' best power numbers at the plate, with a team-high two home runs, while she is tied with junior Mary Jane Callahan with four doubles. Rowe is second on the club hitting at a .343 clip.
In the circle, Ole Miss has two dominating presences in senior right-hander Dana Brill and Callahan, a southpaw. Brill is tops on the squad with a 0.92 ERA and a 2-2 record, having started four games in seven appearances. She has given up just 19 hits and struck out 32 in 30 1/3 innings pitched.
Callahan became the all-time Ole Miss leader in career strikeouts when she made her eighth strikeout on the final batter in her complete-game shutout at Evansville. She now has 375 career K's, surpassing the 374 of previous record-holder Amanda Fine (1997-99). Callahan owns a 2.02 ERA this year with seven complete games in seven appearances and 44 strikeouts in 45 innings.
The Rebels will square off against Houston, Texas and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the three-day, four-team tournament this weekend.
The Houston Cougars are 13-5 on the young season, having already knocked off two ranked teams - Baylor and BYU. The Cougars have played only twice away from home, though, and dropped both games to No. 8 Texas A&M. Speedy freshman Jessica Valis leads the club with a .387 batting average, 15 runs and eight stolen bases. Junior Candi Kloecker leads the squad in the circle with a 6-2 record and 0.26 ERA in eight starts.
Texas is ranked No. 2 nationally with a 17-1 record. The Longhorns recently knocked off No. 1-ranked Arizona 1-0. Outfielders Amber Hall and Tina Boutelle lead the team with a .386 and .357 average, respectively. Boutelle has a team-high five home runs and 16 RBI. Senior All-American Cat Osterman is 10-0 on the season with a 0.11 ERA and 157 strikeouts in 65.1 IP.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, formerly coached by Ole Miss head coach Missy Dickerson, is 3-8 in 2006 after a 42-11 record and NCAA Tournament appearance last year under Dickerson. Topping the Islanders in hitting is Brenda Guerrero with a .364 average, while Amanda Foster leads them in the circle with a 2-4 record and 4.64 ERA in 31.2 innings of work.
"This tournament will definitely be the toughest test of the season for us so far," Dickerson said. "Facing the second-ranked team in the nation and a Houston team that is receiving votes for the top 25 is not going to be an easy task. However, if we come out like we did last Sunday, we will be competitive with anybody.
"Facing my old team is going to bring mixed emotions," Dickerson added. "I want to see the kids that I recruited to Corpus Christi do well, but I want my current team to be successful and win the game. But it will be good to see my former players."
Game times are slated for 2 p.m. on Friday against Houston, 5 p.m. against Texas and 11 a.m. on Saturday versus Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The No. 2 and No. 3 seeds after the first round of play will face off at 5 p.m. on Saturday, with the No. 1 vs. No. 4 game slated for 7 p.m. Sunday's schedule includes the 10 a.m. consolation game and the 12:30 p.m. championship matchup.
