The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebels To Debut At Newly Renovated Ole Miss Softball Complex
3/7/2006 | Softball
March 7, 2006
OXFORD, Miss. - A welcome change of scenery will meet the Ole Miss softball team this week as it prepares for the 2006 home opener at the newly renovated Ole Miss Softball Complex, a Wednesday doubleheader against Southeastern Louisiana.
The Rebels will be playing in Oxford after four straight weekend tournaments in Louisiana, Florida, Indiana and Texas. Ole Miss has opened the season with a 5-14 record, but the team is excited about being able to play in front of the hometown fans.
"It's nice to finally be at home," said first-year head coach Missy Dickerson. "Being on the road is always a long, tiring event, so it will be nice to be in front of our own fans on our own field. Hopefully being in Oxford after a relatively long road stand will allow our players to have a comfort level that will help them play more relaxed and better softball."
The Rebels won one out of five at the Time Warner Cable Texas Invitational this past weekend, as they dropped two games to Houston, 8-0 and 4-3 in nine innings, and fell to No. 2-ranked Texas 4-0, while splitting a 6-1 win and 3-1 loss with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Freshman shortstop Lisa Conchos leads the club with a .357 batting average, 10 runs scored and 6 multi-hit performances, while she is second on the team with 9 RBI and 23 total bases.
Sophomore third baseman Lauren Rowe has provided the Rebels' power this year, as she leads the team with three home runs and 13 RBI. Rowe hit a two-run homer against Houston that sent the game into extra innings, while she also provided a three-run double to break the game open in Ole Miss' 6-1 win over TAMU-CC on Saturday.
Senior right-hander Dana Brill is tops on the team in ERA with a 1.68 mark, while she has 41 strikeouts in 41 2/3 innings pitched. Junior lefty Mary Jane Callahan is right behind Brill with a 2.15 ERA, while she leads the staff with nine complete games in 11 appearances. Junior righty Cathie Hacker rounds out the staff with a 3.07 ERA, giving Ole Miss a 2.09 team ERA, which is seventh-best in the Southeastern Conference.
With a $1.2 million renovation project, the Ole Miss Softball Complex is being transformed into one of the nation's elite facilities.
Highlighting the project is a brand new hitting/practice facility which makes Ole Miss one of only a handful of programs in the country to boast a facility solely for the use of softball.
The project also includes a state-of-the-art new press box, refurbished dugouts, new video and audio systems, a brick facade lining the grandstands, new lighting and fixtures, new fencing and netting and a central seating section with comfort-designed chair-back seats.
"I'm excited that our facility will finally be finished," Dickerson added. "It will be a great thing for this program for us to be able to showcase it in our first game and also to open SEC play this weekend."
Ole Miss will christen the updated facility with a doubleheader against Southeastern Louisiana at 5 and 7 p.m. on Wednesday. The Grand Opening Party, hosted by Three Guys Pizza, is slated for Saturday's SEC opener against LSU, with the doubleheader beginning at 3 p.m.
The Lady Lions of Southeastern Louisiana are 4-10 on the young season, including a 3-2 mark at home and 0-8 on the road. Senior catcher/third baseman Amy Ford leads the club with a .357 batting average, while the Lady Lions boast three players with two home runs and seven-plus RBI in Brooke Lockhart, Rebecca De la Garza and Carolann Wenisch.
