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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Softball Begins Four Game Homestand with Memphis
4/11/2017 | Softball
Game 40
Memphis (23-18) at No. 22 Ole Miss (26-13)
Date: April 12, 2017
First Pitch: 6 p.m.
Location: Oxford, Miss.
Venue: Ole Miss Softball Complex (1,000)
TV: SEC Network +
Seth Austin, play-by-play
Madi Osias, analyst
Mobile: ESPN App
Live stats: Series: Ole Miss leads 4-1
Last Meeting: April 19, 2016
Ole Miss won 5-3
Oxford, Miss.
Twitter Updates: @OleMissSoftball
Promotions
- $1 Hot Dogs and Popcorn
- Faculty/Staff Appreciation Night
LEADING OFF
- No. 22 Ole Miss returns home to begin a 4-game homestand, hosting Memphis Wednesday in the only meeting this season.
- The Rebels and Tigers met twice last season, with Ole Miss claiming both, 7-3 and 5-3. Ole Miss is 2-0 vs. Memphis in Oxford.
- Ole Miss is 4-1 in midweek matchups, with the last two resulting in a combined 23 innings in the last two weeks.
- The Rebels are coming off a 1-2 weekend at No. 5 Auburn, where they outscored the Tigers, 12-10.
- In the middle game of that series, Ole Miss dominated in a 10-4 victory, the first win over a top five team since 2014.
- In two games against both participants from last year's Women's College World Series Championship, the Rebels have combined for 18 runs scored (8 - vs. Oklahoma, 10 - at Auburn), the most any team has scored on those two teams this season.
- The Rebels remained at No. 36 in this week's updated RPI, and their eight remaining opponents have an average RPI of 45.
- According to total number of wins left on the schedule, Ole Miss has the third-toughest slate remaining of any team in the NCAA.
- For the first time since Week 6, the Rebels are in the top 25 again in both national polls, falling one spot to No. 22 in the USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll, and re-entering the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 at No. 25.
- The Rebels have won five games against top-25 opponents in 2017, including three in the last two weeks alone.
- Wednesday's contest will feature two of the nation's leaders in stolen bases as Memphis has 96 steals and Ole Miss has 80.
- The midweek will also pit two of the top hitters nationwide, as both Ole Miss' Elantra Cox and Memphis' Lindsay Crowdus rank second in the NCAA in average (.485).
- Ole Miss has a 1.58 team ERA in midweeks this season, allowing only 10 earned runs in those five contests.
- Head coach Mike Smith is just three wins away from No. 100 as the Rebels' head coach.
- Junior RHP Kaitlin Lee has thrown 75 percent of the team's last 52 innings, and is 3-2 in that stretch with a 0.90 ERA.
- She ended her consecutive scoreless innings streak at 24 in the series at Auburn, the second-longest streak in school history.
- In games she has started, Lee has worked five consecutive complete games, allowing just five earned runs in that stretch.
- Cox continues to maintain her hot hitting pace, with the fourth-most hits (64) of any player in the country. She's just 12 from tying the single-season school record, and is also just six runs away from tying that single-season record.
- Senior Miranda Strother needs just two runs to break the Ole Miss career record, and has crept up to third in career steals (69), only three behind Cox, who needs three to tie the career record.
- The Rebels have scored first in 67 percent (26-of-39) of their games this season, and are 23-3 when scoring first.
- Ole Miss has posted 73 percent of its run production in the first four innings alone, outscoring opponents 173-65 in innings 1-4.
- For the first time since early March, the Rebels played two-straight games with the same lineup, snapping a streak of 16-straight outings with a different batting order.
SCOUTING REPORT
Memphis enters Wednesday's midweek matchup at 23-18 overall with a 5-5 mark in its last 10 contests. Coming off a series loss to UCF, the Tigers have won their last three midweek matchups, sweeping UT Martin last week, and taking one of two from Austin Peay at the end of March. Memphis spent the first six weeks of the season in tournament play, hosting three-straight at home to begin the month of March. The Tigers went 11-4 in that 15-game home stretch, which included a 15-1 loss to No. 7 Texas A&M in a midweek affair. Memphis opened the year at FIU's tournament in Miami, going 3-2 with a key win over the host Panthers, before going a combined 1-5 in tournament play in Las Vegas and Boca Raton.
The Tigers boast a team batting average of .297, led by senior Lindsay Crowdus' .485 clip, which is tied for second in the nation with Elantra Cox. Crowdus leads the Tigers in nearly every category, ranking second in the country with eight triples, and 26 stolen bases, also top-30 nationally. She's totaled 65 hits, third-most of any player in the NCAA, and leads the club with 23 RBI. As a team Memphis ranks seventh in total steals (96) and steals per game (2.34), led by 26 each from Crowdus and Kyler Trosclair. Trosclair is second offensively with a .424 average and 12 RBI off 53 hits. Tyler Johnson has the team lead in home runs with three, while Addison Maxwell and Lindsey Stickrod have 17 RBI each.
Memphis has five pitchers of record thus far with a 2.89 team ERA, which ranks third in The American conference. Molly Smith leads the staff with a 2.24 ERA in 17 starts, working nine complete games in 97 innings pitched. Christian Novak leads the team with eight wins at 8-8 in 14 starts, with a team high 110 innings pitched and 55 runs allowed. Katie Brignac is 6-2 with a 4.58 ERA in eight starts and 47.1 innings pitched, having given up 31 earned runs thus far with a .314 opposing batting average. Bayleigh Wisher and Calli Irvin have combined for the other 26.1 innings pitched, and each are 1-0.
The Tigers have struggled defensively, with 48 errors thus far for a .959 fielding percentage. Stickrod has committed 10 errors at first base, while four other players have at least five errors.
LAST GAME VS. MEMPHIS
April 19, 2016 • Oxford, Miss. • Ole Miss 5, Memphis 3: Ole Miss softball made history in the last game with Memphis, breaking the wins record in last season's 5-3 victory in Oxford.
The 2016 Rebels became the first team in school history to win more than 30 games, and officially broke the home wins record in that game with 16, before going on to finish with 21.
Alex Schneider and Miranda Strother both went yard, as Schneider's solo shot in the fourth set the tables for the offense, while Strother kept it going and gave the Rebels the go-ahead lead in the fifth thanks to her three-run blast.
In the circle, Madi Osias recorded her 16th win on the year thanks to a five inning effort with two runs and four hits allowed to go along with four strikeouts.
Offensively, Grayce Majam continued her hot streak at the plate with a 2-for-2 night, while five other Rebs chipped in with one hit each.
The Rebels jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first, chasing Memphis' starter Calli Irvin, thanks to a double steal when Lunderman broke for second and Cox crossed home, putting the home team in front 1-0. After two-straight scoreless frames, Schneider's blast to right center in the fourth gave the Rebels a 2-0 advantage, before a two-run double from the Tigers' Lindsay Crowdus tied the contest up at 2-2 in the fifth.
But, the tie didn't last long as it was Strother's shot to the scoreboard in the fifth that put the Rebels back on top. Majam got the rally going thanks to a one out double to left center, before Lunderman walked to put two on for Strother that led to her blast.
FROM ONE (LINEUP) EXTREME TO ANOTHER
In the 2016 regular season, the Rebels had the same batting order only five times, totaling 52 different lineup combinations through 57 games. The theme has become very similar despite having the same batting order in 14-of-15 games from Feb. 19-March 11. Through 39 contests, Ole Miss has 22 different lineups from top to bottom, and just one player has started all 39 (Miranda Strother - CF). The Rebels went 16-straight games with a different order from March 12-April 8, but had the same order in back-to-back games in the Auburn series. Elantra Cox is the only player who has maintained her same spot in the order all year long (leadoff).
IT DOESN'T GET ANY EASIER FROM HERE...
There's no denying the fact that Ole Miss arguably has the toughest SEC slate of any team in the league this season. With 16 games left on the 2017 slate, the Rebels have the third-toughest schedule remaining of any team in the country. The NCAA ranks teams' strength of schedules (past and future) based on opponent records, and Ole Miss' remaining opponents are 223-93 (.706) with an average RPI of 45. Only Kentucky and Eastern Illinois have tougher remaining slates.
TRUE MEANING OF UTILITY PLAYER
Paige McKinney, a junior with 133 games played in her career, has embraced the meaning of a utility player in 2017. She has started at five different positions defensively, and at some point has played every position on the field except pitcher and catcher. Seven of her starts have come at shortstop, five at at second base, and two at first, while the other two have come in the outfield (RF - 1, LF - 1). Not only has she been a versatile player, she's been effective, ranking fourth on the team with 11 steals, and has yet to be thrown out. In 10 of her 16 starts, she's reached safely at least once, and has tallied either a steal or hit in 15 games.
REBELS STAY PUT IN RPI
With another 2-2 record in week nine, Ole Miss remained at No. 36 in this week's updated RPI. Despite a win over then No. 5 Auburn, the Rebels played a midweek contest with then No. 200 Central Arkansas.
With the third-toughest remaining schedule in terms of win totals across the country, Ole Miss has four SEC weekends left against teams that are all in the top-25 in RPI, including No. 3 Florida, No. 10 LSU, No. 12 Alabama, and No. 26 Missouri.
OLE MISS MAINTAINS TOP 25 RANKING
Following a big win over No. 5 Auburn last weekend, Ole Miss held its spot in the USA Today/NFCA Coaches' Poll, dropping only one spot to No. 22 in this week's poll. It comes a week after surging to No. 21, the highest in school history. The Rebels have been ranked in the top 25 of that poll for seven-straight weeks, and are one of eight SEC teams in the top 25 in this week's rankings. Ole Miss also got back into the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 at No. 25, the first time since week six being ranked in both major polls.
REBELS TAKE DOWN NO. 5 AUBURN IN CONVINCING FASHION
After dropping a close 3-1 battle in Friday's series opener, Ole Miss came back for revenge in the middle game of the series at No. 5 Auburn, taking down the Tigers in a dominating road win. It marked the fifth win over a top-25 team for the Rebels this season, and first victory over Auburn since 2013. Ole Miss outscored the Tigers 12-10 in the series, totaling 25 hits and 11 RBI against a stellar pitching staff with the nation's 11th-best ERA.
- First win over a top five opponent since 2014, when Ole Miss won a 2-0 game over then No. 1 Florida.
- 10 runs = most for Ole Miss in a league game this season, & most in an SEC road game since April 7, 2013.
- 15 hits = most in an SEC game since April 4, 2016, & most given up by Auburn in SEC play since 2011.
ON DECK
After Wednesday's midweek tilt, the Rebels will host No. 11 LSU in a three-game, Easter weekend series in Oxford. The two teams will play a doubleheader Friday beginning at 2 p.m., and close the series Saturday at 3 p.m.
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.
