No. 23 Ole Miss Softball Hosts Red & Blue Classic

March 2, 2017

Games 16-19
Dates: March 3-5, 2017
Opponents: Mississippi Valley State, Austin Peay, Nicholls State, UT Martin
Location: Oxford, Miss.
Venue: Ole Miss Softball Complex (1,000)
TV: SEC Network +
Will Kollmeyer (pxp)
Madi Osias/Brittany McKinney (analysts)
Mobile: ESPN App
Tournament Central: OleMissSports.comTwitter Updates: @OleMissSoftball

Ole Miss Tournament Schedule & Game Coverage
Friday, March 3
5:30 p.m.: Mississippi Valley State vs. Ole Miss | | Watch

Saturday, March 4
3 p.m.: Austin Peay State vs. Ole Miss | | Watch
5:30 p.m.: Nicholls State vs. Ole Miss | | Watch

Sunday, March 5
3 p.m.: UT Martin vs. Ole Miss | | Watch

Series History
Mississippi Valley State: Ole Miss leads 9-2
Last Meeting: April 29, 2015
Ole Miss 9, MVSU 0
Itta Bena, Miss.

Austin Peay State: Ole Miss leads 1-0
Last Meeting: Feb. 25, 2011
Ole Miss 4, APSU 3
Oxford, Miss.

Nicholls State: Ole Miss leads 9-5
Last Meeting: Feb. 22, 2004
Nicholls State 3, Ole Miss 1
Thibodaux, La.

UT Martin: Ole Miss leads 8-4
Last Meeting: April 13, 2016
UT Martin 9, Ole Miss 6
Oxford, Miss.

LEADING OFF

Ole Miss opens up play in its first of two-straight home tournaments with the Red & Blue Classic this weekend.
Mississippi Valley State, Austin Peay, Nicholls State and UT Martin will be in town for the three day, 11-game weekend.
The Rebels have gone 5-0 in the previous three Red & Blue Classic's dating back to 2013.
Of the four teams in this weekend's Red & Blue Classic, Ole Miss leads the series in each. The Rebels and Mississippi Valley State have met consistently over the last few years, as have the Rebels and UT Martin. Ole Miss will take on Nicholls State for the first time in more than a decade, and square off with Austin Peay for the fitst time in six years.
Ole Miss is coming off a midweek battle with Louisiana Tech Wednesday night, where Brittany Finney had a walk-off home run to win it in the eighth inning.
In the midst of the current 14-game homestand, Ole Miss will play half of its entire home schedule within the next 21 days.
For the first time in school history, Ole Miss is ranked in both the USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll, and ESPN.com/USA Softball poll.
After receiving votes in both all season long, the Rebels broke through at No. 23 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll, and No. 25 in the USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll.
Through 15 contests, Ole Miss has run ruled eight opponents, already topping last year's season total of six.
Offensively, the Rebels have put up staggering numbers thus far, ranking fourth nationally in scoring (8.67 runs/game), 14th in average (.362), seventh in on-base percentage (.456) and 13th in slugging (.562).
Outside 11 runs surrendered to No. 4 Oklahoma, the Rebels' pitching staff has gone 11 games with two runs or less allowed.

SCOUTING REPORT
Mississippi Valley State heads into the weekend at 2-11 on the year. The Devilettes opened the 2017 season in Hammond, Louisiana, where they went 1-4 in Southeastern Louisiana's tournament. In week two, they took on Jacksonville State, Nicholls State and Southern Miss, dropping all four by a combined score of 47-9. The Devilettes are hitting .242 as a team led by Jordan Brown's .324 clip. Deja Talton is the team leader in home runs (4) and RBI (12). Rebekah Clinton has carried the load in the circle thus far, and is 1-6 with a 4.96 ERA.

Austin Peay, led by second-year head coach Shane Showalter, is 5-4 on the year. The Governors started 3-0 on the year at Kennesaw State's home tournament, before dropping four of their last six. The Governors are hitting .248 as a team through nine contests, led by Carly Mattson's .458 clip. Danielle Liermann and Kacy Acree both have 11 RBI tying for the team high, while Acree has a club-best four long balls. In the circle, two pitchers have thrown all but two innings, led by Kelsey Gross' 3-2 record and 5.13 ERA in 28.2 IP, while Autumn Hanners is 2-2 with a 4.89 ERA in five starts.

Led by sixth-year head coach Angel Santiago, the Colonels head into the Red & Blue Classic with a 12-6 record. They spent the first weekend of 2017 also in Hammond, Louisiana, where they went 4-1, dropping the only contest to Nevada. From there, they picked up wins over Jackson State, Mississippi Valley State, Southern Miss, Alcorn State, and UT Arlington. As a team Nicholls is hitting .288 led by Samantha Mracich's .441 average. Amanda Gianelloni is the team's leading power hitter with three home runs and 11 RBI. In the circle, Megan Landry has thrown 57 of the innings and is 7-3 with a 1.72 ERA, while Jackie Johnson is 4-3 with a 2.20 ERA in 47.2 innings.

Winners of two straight, UT Martin takes a 12-2 record into the Red & Blue Classic, most recently earning wins over Christian Brothers and Northwestern State. Led by 16-year head coach Donely Canary, the Skyhawks also played in Southeastern Louisiana's opening-weekend tournament, going 4-0. The team won seven straight to start the year, before dropping a pair of games to Akron and Chattanooga. The Skyhawks are hitting .378 as a team led by Renate Meckl's .455 clip. Jodie Duncan and Rachel Williams both have a team-best 17 RBI, as the offense has tallied 40 extra-base hits thus far. Brooke Kennedy is 5-1 with a 3.23 ERA, while Sara Hooten is 2-1 in four starts.

TOURNAMENT CONNECTIONS

Mississippi Valley State utility player Ane Pahulu, and Ole Miss OF Allison Stark and 1B Gabby Alvarez all hail from Riverside, Calif. Pahulu attended Ramona HS, while Stark and Alvarez graduated from Martin Luther King, Jr. HS.
Austin Peay P Hannah Thompson and Ole Miss OF Elantra Cox both hail from Hendersonville, Tenn. Thompson graduated from Hendersonville HS, while Cox graduated from Chester County HS.

The Governors also have a Riverside, Calif. native on their roster, OF Kacy Acree.
Nicholls State 1B Gretchen Morgan and Ole Miss 1B Alex Schneider both hail from Southlake, Texas and were high school teammates at Southlake Carroll HS.
Saturday's matchup with Nicholls State will feature sisters in either dugout, as Ole Miss OF Miranda Strother's sister, Moriah, is a sophomore catcher for the Colonels.
The Skyhawks of UT Martin also have a Hendersonville, Tenn. native on their roster in INF Alli Fulcher.

RUNS, RUNS, AND MORE RUNS
There has been no shortage of runs through three weeks of play, as the Rebel offense ranks fourth in the country in scoring average at 8.67 runs per game. Ole Miss scored eight runs in nine-straight games from Feb. 12-25, the longest streak in school history. Overall, the Rebels have scored at least eight runs in all but four contests, and totaled double-digit run totals in six games.

Elantra Cox EARNS SEC PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS
Following a productive weekend at the plate, junior outfielder Elantra Cox was named the SEC Player of the Week for the week of Feb. 20-26. In five games, she went 10-for-15 with nine runs scored, one double, one RBI and three walks, while going 7-for-7 on the base paths. The junior recorded at least one hit in all five games, and tied her career high against Colgate in the 8-2 win on Saturday, going 4-for-4 with two runs and two steals. Her lone RBI came in the opener against the Raiders when she had an RBI double in the 14-2 victory. In the first of two matchups with No. 23 USF on Friday, she finished 2-for-2 with three runs, two walks and a steal. She also scored once, stole once, and recorded a hit in the 3-0 win against Stetson on Saturday, before posting two hits, two runs and two steals again in the 12-1 win over the Bulls to close out play in Florida.

NATIONALLY-RANKED REBELS
For the first time in school history, Ole Miss has broken into the top 25 of both national polls, checking in at No. 23 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball, and at No. 25 in the USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll. The Rebels received votes off and on during the 2016 season, and finished ranked No. 24 in the final ESPN.com/USA Softball poll. After receiving votes in both polls all of this season, Ole Miss officially made its way into the regular season rankings for the first time.

FINNEY'S WALK-OFF HR PUSHES REBELS OVER LA TECH IN HOME OPENER
In a back-and-forth midweek battle Wednesday night, Louisiana Tech tied the game up at 3-3 in the sixth, sending the Rebels' home opener to extra innings. Sophomore Brittany Finney, who was previously 0-for-2 at the plate and was actually replaced defensively, stepped in and delivered a 2-out, solo shot to left-center securing the Rebels' 4-3 win.

ON DECK
Ole Miss continues its homestand with the Ole Miss Classic next weekend, March 9-12, welcoming Bowling Green, Eastern Kentucky, Oklahoma State and Jackson State to Oxford for the four-day event.

For all Ole Miss Softball news and information, go to OleMissSports.com and follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissSoftball, on Facebook at Ole Miss Softball and on Instagram at Instagram.com/olemisssoftball. Fans can also follow head coach Mike Smith on Twitter at @msmithsb16. Additionally fans can get a behind the scenes look at Ole Miss Athletics on Snapchat under the handle, @WeAreOleMiss.

RebelsCalendar

Players Mentioned

Gabby Alvarez

Elantra Cox

Brittany Finney

Madi Osias

Alex Schneider

Miranda Strother

The University of Mississippi Athletics