Ole Miss Softball Opens 2011 Season At Kajikawa Classic

Feb. 8, 2011

OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss Rebel softball team will open its 2011 campaign this week at the Kajikawa Classic, hosted by Arizona State in Tempe, Ariz. This marks the second-straight season Ole Miss has opened its season at the prestigious tournament.

The Rebels will face off against Utah and San Jose State on Thursday, before taking on No. 14 Oregon and No. 16 BYU on Friday. Ole Miss closes out the Kajikawa Classic on Saturday against Cal State Bakersfield.

Below fans will find an in depth look at the Rebels heading into the 2011 season:

Rebels Focused On Success

Goals, it has been said are, what drive us, what push us to reach our full potential. This season the Ole Miss softball team isn't approaching the 2011 campaign with set benchmarks of batting average or championships in mind. This year's version of the Rebels have just one simple goal in mind, 'get better every day.'

"We have really focused on the pyramid of success this off season, on improving one percent every day," said Ole Miss head coach Missy Dickerson, who is in her sixth season at the head of the Rebel program. "We have tried to instill a blue collar work ethic. We want to work harder than everyone else and do the best we can day-in and day-out. We have to support each other and fight everyday to be the best team we can be."

After recording the second winning season in school history a year ago, Dickerson enters 2011 looking to improve upon last year's success.

"You always want to improve upon your past success," said Dickerson, who won three national titles as a player at UCLA. "You want to increase your batting average every year, which we did last year, improve your ERA, strikeout-to-walk ratio, RBI totals and fielding percentage. We always look to improve in the statistical areas every season, but ultimately our task is to be the best Ole Miss team ever and take this program as far as we can. We don't want to limit ourselves by saying our goal is to reach the SEC Tournament or NCAA Tournament because we should never settle."

This season the Rebels must replace nine members of last year's squad including seven seniors. At the top of that list is two-time All-America selection Lauren Grill, who departs Oxford as the program's all-time leader in hits, runs, RBI, walks, total bases, batting average, on-base and slugging percentage. She also finished her career ranked second in doubles, triples and home runs.

Despite the departures, Ole Miss returns a solid nucleus this season including two-way standout Brittany Barnhill, lead-off hitter Corrine Doornberg and eight players who started at least one game a year ago.

The Pitching

The Rebels' experience in the circle should be evident this season with the return of two senior pitchers in Barnhill and Lindsey Perry. The senior duo combined for 35 starts last season and is joined by a pair of newcomers in junior college transfer Kendall Bruning and redshirt freshman Erinn Jayjohn.

"We have two senior pitchers in Brittany and Lindsey that have spent their entire careers facing strong competition every day, so you expect them to step up and take a leadership role," Dickerson said. "We also have a very strong pitcher in Kendall Bruning, who joins us from junior college and will add an extra dimension of experience to our staff. Erinn has spent a year under pitching coach Megan Matthews Buning's tutelage and should thrive this season."

Barnhill tops the returnees and paced Ole Miss a year ago with 10 wins and a 3.32 ERA. She also led the squad with 139.0 innings pitched and finished eighth in the SEC with 146 strikeouts. The Rhome, Texas native, who transferred from Texas last season, gives the Rebels a powerful presence in the circle.

"Last year was a big change for Brittany coming from the Big 12 into the SEC and facing the level of competition in this conference week-in and week-out. For her it was a little bit of an adjustment period. She has learned Megan's system and has taken the challenge of the SEC head on. She has worked very hard over the summer and this fall to be more prepared mentally and physically with pitch location and changing up speeds, which will help her tremendously."

Perry returns to join Barnhill in the circle after compiling a 9-6 record with a 3.34 ERA and 75 strikeouts in 90.0 innings last year. The Madison, Miss., native has posted 51 starts in her three-year career with the Rebels and is by far Ole Miss' most experienced pitcher.

"Lindsey is a veteran of the SEC and adds a different pitch option from Brittany. She complements Brittany and the other pitchers very well because her out pitch is a rise ball. She has the experience of pitching in the SEC and understands what we are going to see on a day-to-day basis. Hopefully that gives her an opportunity to pass her knowledge down to the newcomers to help them prepare for the battle of the SEC."

In addition to Barnhill and Perry, Ole Miss adds a pair of newcomers to its pitching staff with Kendall Bruning and Erinn Jayjohn. Bruning comes to Oxford after earning NJCAA All-America honors at Chattanooga State, where she helped lead the Tigers to the Women's College World Series last season. Jayjohn, a native of Justin, Texas, joins the Ole Miss lineup after redshirting last season.

"Kendall is a power pitcher; she was very successful at the junior college level and I think she will transition well at this level. We try to find pitchers that are going to complement each other, and she gives us another power option in addition to Brittany. Erinn complements the other pitchers with an off-speed pitch that will help throw people off balance. She will rely on location, where Kendall has the ability to overpower batters.

"I expect all four of the pitchers to contribute during the season. What we try to do as a staff is choose the pitcher that we feel is going to give us the best matchup against a certain team."

The Offense

Despite the departure of last year's senior class, the Rebels still return a solid group of hitters to this year's offense starting with junior Corrine Doornberg, who finished second on the team with a .356 batting average and 38 runs scored a year ago.

"Our offense starts with Corrine, because she is our leadoff batter and does a great job setting the table for our power hitters. We are looking for her to step up into more of a leadership role now that she is an upperclassman and set the tone for the team. She is very good at not just putting the ball in play, but placing the ball in a certain spot and using her speed to put pressure on the defense."

The Rebels also return a pair of power hitters in Barnhill and Cali Overbeck, who combined for 12 home runs and 67 RBI a year ago.

"We are also looking for Brittany to step up into even more of a run-producing role. She will hit in the middle of our lineup and has potential to drive in runs. Cali has the ability to be a gap-to-gap hitter, a power hitter and a line-drive hitter. Her versatility gives us a lot of options for our lineup.

"We will definitely be aggressive on offense. We want the lead off hitter to get on, advance that runner over and then we want the middle of our lineup to knock them home. The end of the lineup will be a combination of players that can get on base and players to drive in runs. We want to have a solid lineup one through nine instead of having it weighted at the top."

Ole Miss also returns a pair of juniors in outfielder Amanda Hutcheson and catcher Rachel Torres and a pair of sophomores in outfielder Brittany Broome and catcher Kelly Nolan. Broome finished second on the team with 11 steals last year, while Hutcheson swiped four bases of her own. Nolan and Torres each saw time behind the plate backing up senior Amber Tramp and combined for three home runs and 16 RBI in limited duty.

Newcomers joining the Rebel offense include RT Cantillo, Laina Collier, Jayla Hubbard, Londen Ladner, Mallory McNeal, Natalie Nimmo, Marina Parra, and Becca Wall.

"We are definitely going to have a young outfield. I think you should see RT Cantillo in our outfield. She is very strong defensively and has the speed to cover a lot of ground. She will also probably be a key cog in our offense. She is a very good bunter and a line-drive hitter. Amanda Hutcheson and Brittany Broome will probably join Cantillo in the outfield, but it isn't set in stone. Corrine will be a mainstay at second base, and Brittany will most likely play first base when she is not pitching. We haven't set many of the other positions, but Cali has the opportunity to play at third base, shortstop or behind the plate. Until we find the right nine that are going to give us the best opportunity to win, the lineup can change multiple times. The good thing is we have the versatility to do that."

The Schedule

After playing 15 games against ranked opponents last season, fans can expect a similar road for the Rebels in 2011. Seven of Ole Miss' opponents this season are ranked in one of the preseason top-25 polls, including four squads that were among the top 10. Also, Ole Miss will face 11 teams that earned NCAA Tournament bids last year and three squads that advanced to the Women's College World Series.

Ole Miss opens the season on Feb. 10 at the Kajikawa Classic, hosted by Arizona State, and will face off against the Utah and San Jose State on the opening day before taking on ranked foes BYU and Oregon on day two. After traveling to Tampa, Fla., for a tournament hosted by South Florida, the Rebels will return home to host Alcorn State in the home opener on Feb. 22. Ole Miss will host the annual Red & Blue Classic Feb. 25-27 at the Ole Miss Softball Complex before traveling to Denton, Texas to take part in the Courtyard Classic, hosted by North Texas. The Rebels then open SEC play on the road at South Carolina March 11.

"I believe our schedule is very balanced this year. We play two ranked squads in BYU and Oregon and both those games will be good challenges for us. If the SEC is going to maintain its status as one of the top conferences then we are going to have to pull our weight. Overall, I think that our schedule is very balanced and should prepare us for what we are going to see in SEC play, which is a battle week-in and week-out.

One change fans will see this season is a switch to a Friday-Saturday-Sunday format for the three-game SEC series from a Saturday doubleheader and a single game on Sunday.

"It is definitely going to change the way a series is played. Teams that have one strong pitcher can throw her more often. I believe that the change is good for the players because they get more opportunity to rest and study when we aren't on the field. From a perspective of preparation it allows us the opportunity to watch video, to study what we did in the last game and apply that to the next day. Every team will have this opportunity, so it doesn't give one team an advantage, but I think it makes us better overall as a conference."

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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