Ole Miss Softball Travels To Cajun Country

OXFORD, Miss. The second of three straight road tournaments to begin the season will take the Ole Miss softball team into the heart of Cajun country for the Ragin’ Cajuns Invitational in Lafayette, La., this Friday-Sunday.

The Rebels opened the 2007 campaign last weekend going 1-4 at the Wilson DeMarini Invitational, despite leading through six innings against a pair of quality opponents in No. 11 Michigan and the University of Houston.

Ole Miss will try to bounce back against an elite tournament field in Lafayette that includes No. 13 Louisiana-Lafayette, No. 16 Baylor, Iowa State and Purdue. The Rebels have a 2-14 combined all-time record against the four foes.

“I’ve been saying we were going to send our kids into the fire early,” said head coach Missy Dickerson. “Playing two teams like Baylor and Lafayette on Friday will be a tough task, but I think our players are looking forward to the challenge. I was pleased with some of the things I saw last weekend in Houston, and I think if we continue to improve we will surprise some people.”

Senior left-hander Mary Jane Callahan leads the Rebel pitching staff with a perfect 0.00 ERA in her two appearances. She is tied for first in the Southeastern Conference with Tennessee’s Monica Abbott and Mississippi State’s Kelli Miller.

Leading a Rebel offensive attack that already has eight doubles and three home runs is sophomore second baseman Lisa Conchos, who is hitting .400 (6-for-15) with a pair of doubles, a home run and two RBI. Freshman shortstop Ashley Dowdy and third baseman Lauren Grill are also hitting better than .300 on the young season.

The Ole Miss freshman class has made an early impact on the look of the team. The Rebels have started at least six freshmen in all five games, including seven rookies three times. Eight different freshmen have already earned at least two starting nods.

Baylor and Louisiana-Lafayette are both 6-0 after winning their respective opening weekend tournaments. The Bears opened with an 18-0 thrashing of Southern Miss before claiming wins over TAMU-CC, Kentucky and Stephen F. Austin. Baylor is hitting .422 as a team and has four regulars batting .500 or better. Senior pitcher Lisa Ferguson is 3-0 and has allowed just two hits and no runs in 12.0 IP. ULL took a pair of games from No. 13 Georgia. The Ragin’ Cajuns are led by junior shortstop Codi Runyan’s .533 average and three home runs at the plate and freshman Brittany Cuevas’ 0.78 ERA in the circle.

Iowa State is 2-3 after opening the season at the Bulldog Round Robin in Starkville, Miss. The Cyclones split with host Mississippi State, while defeating Purdue once and dropping both games to Kennesaw State. Senior Alyssa Ransom leads the pitching staff with a 1.56 ERA, while senior OF Katie Reichling tops the hitters with a .412 average and three doubles. Purdue is off to a winless 0-5 start to its campaign after dropping two games each to Mississippi State and Kennesaw State and one to Iowa State. Purdue is hitting .262 as a team, led by freshman 1B Kelsey Haupert’s .467 average, but the pitchers have allowed 32 runs (6.4/game).

Ole Miss squares off with Baylor at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, followed by a 4:30 p.m. matchup with Louisiana-Lafayette. On Saturday, the Rebels play Iowa State at 9 a.m. and Purdue at 7 p.m. Sunday’s games will be seeded based on the previous outcomes.

Live in-game statistics will be available through the Louisiana-Lafayette official athletics web site.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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