Softball Splits Twin Bill At Kentucky

LEXINGTON, Ky. Ole Miss stayed at .500 in Southeastern Conference play with a doubleheader split at Kentucky on Saturday, with the Rebels dropping a 10-5 contest before winning 5-4 at the UK Softball Complex.

With the split, Ole Miss moved to 14-19 on the year and 5-5 in SEC play, while Kentucky moved to 15-11 overall and 3-7 in league play.

“You have to give a lot of credit to Kentucky,” said Ole Miss head coach Missy Dickerson. “They really put the bat on the ball. Our girls wanted to win that second game, and they kept fighting. Every time they scored we answered right back and did not give up.”

Sloppy pitching and defense led to a 10-5 Rebel defeat in a wild, high-scoring game one.

The contest saw the Rebels walk five Wildcat batters, hit three more, surrender three stolen bases and make three errors in the field, helping Kentucky score four unearned runs out of their 10 total. Ole Miss had not allowed more than eight runs in a game this season prior to that performance.

All the while, Ole Miss’ offense kept the game within reach, as the Rebels scored five runs on five hits. Freshman third baseman Lauren Grill and freshman catcher Amber Tramp both homered in the contest. Grill and senior starting pitcher Mary Jane Callahan each registered a pair of hits, while Tramp drove in three in the losing effort.

Grill gave Ole Miss an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first with her team-leading 10th home run, a line drive just over the 210-foot mark in center field. The long ball gave Grill her fifth hit in her last five official at-bats. It also marked the second straight game and fifth this season that the Oregon native has blasted a homer in the first inning.

The rookie third baseman now needs just one more round-tripper to tie the Ole Miss freshman record of 11 (DeDe Justice, 2002) and five more to tie Justice’s season record of 15 (2003).

Kentucky answered with one run in the bottom of the first, by the unearned variety. Leadoff hitter Natalie Smith reached and advanced to second on a Rebel error. After stealing third, she scored on a groundout to the pitcher to tie the game at 1-1.

The Wildcats pulled ahead in the bottom of the third with seven runs on some sloppy play by the Rebels. The first two runs came on back-to-back RBI bloop singles by Katie Campbell and Becky Bishop that dropped between shortstop and the outfielders. With one out and the bases loaded, Audrey Meyer bounced a single over first base and Ashley Fertic walked to give Kentucky its third and fourth scores of the inning. After Becky Nye came in to replace Callahan, three more came in on a wild pitch and an errant toss to the plate from Tramp.

Ole Miss began its comeback attempt in the sixth. After loading the bases, Ashley Dowdy brought in Callahan with a sacrifice fly before Tramp made it 8-5 with a three-run shot to right-center, her first collegiate home run.

A Bishop sacrifice fly in which Alyssa McGovern made a tumbling grab in foul territory made it 9-5, before a flyout that would have ended the inning was dropped by Nye in the circle, scoring one more to make it a five-run UK advantage.

Megan Jolly (5-4) earned the win in the circle for the Wildcats, pitching a complete game and allowing five runs on five hits, with two walks and three strikeouts.

The reigning SEC Pitcher of the Week, Callahan (8-6) took the loss after tossing 2 2-3 innings and was credited with eight runs six earned on six hits with three walks and a pair of strikeouts. Nye pitched the final 3 1-3 frames and gave up two runs one earned on two hits, with two walks and two K’s.

The defeat was the Rebels’ first loss to Kentucky since a 5-3 decision in the first game of the 2005 series.

Game 2

The Rebels bounced back with a 5-4 win in game two.

Freshman right-hander Becky Nye (2-10) hurled a complete game for a victory in her second straight start. The McKinney, Texas, native scattered nine hits, allowing four runs three earned while walking none and striking out three.

Freshman shortstop Ashley Dowdy led the Rebel attack with a 3-for-4 performance, while junior first baseman Lauren Rowe was 1-for-2 with two RBI and sophomore second baseman Lisa Conchos was 1-for-3 with an RBI double.

Ole Miss started the scoring in game two with three runs in the top of the second. The Rebels loaded the bases with one out after a hit and a pair of walks. Dowdy scored on a wild pitch to make it 1-0 before Rowe made it 3-0 when she drilled a laser of a double down the left-field line to score Amber Tramp and Michelle May.

Kentucky notched the scoreboard with a run in the bottom of the fourth to cut the Rebel lead to two. Brooke Marnitz hit a sacrifice fly to left that scored Molly Johnson, who had reached base and moved to third on a Rebel fielding error.

Ole Miss pushed the lead back to three with a manufactured run in the top of the fifth. Courtnie Ghinaudo was hit by a pitch, reached second on a Rowe sacrifice, third on a groundout by Conchos to the right side, and scored when Mary Jane Callahan reached on an infield error.

The Rebels threatened to put up some more runs in the sixth after loading the bases with no outs. A strikeout and two infield pop ups kept the Rebels from extending their lead, though.

A two-run home run by Katie Campbell in the bottom of the sixth cut the Rebel lead to one, but Ole Miss answered right back to make it 5-3 when Conchos doubled to left-center and scored Lauren Grill, who had singled, from first base.

Kentucky hit another home run to cut the Rebel advantage to 5-4 with a one-out solo shot over the right-field fence by Natalie Smith in the bottom of the seventh, but Nye retired the final two batters to seal the victory for Ole Miss.

The two squads will meet up at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday for the rubber match of the three-game series. Ole Miss has not lost a three-game series to Kentucky since the 2001 season.

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Team Stats

Mary Jane Callahan

Lauren Grill

Amber Tramp

Emily Sarver

The University of Mississippi Athletics