No. 21 Ole Miss Hosts Southern Miss in Home Finale

May 2, 2017

Game 52
Southern Miss (26-26, 9-14 C-USA) at No. 21 Ole Miss (34-17, 8-13 SEC)
Date: May 3, 2017
First Pitch: 6 p.m.
Location: Oxford, Miss.
Venue: Ole Miss Softball Complex (1,000)
TV: SEC Network
Mark Neeley, play-by-play
Jenny Dalton-Hill, analyst
Mobile: ESPN App
Live stats: Series: Ole Miss leads 20-11
Last Meeting: Feb. 24, 2016
Ole Miss wo 10-1 (5)
Hattiesburg, Miss.
Twitter Updates: @OleMissSoftball

PROMOTIONS
- $1 Hot Dogs & Popcorn

LEADING OFF

No. 21 Ole Miss hosts Southern Miss Wednesday for the 32nd meeting all-time between the two in-state foes.
The Rebels lead the series, 20-11, and have won six of the last seven dating back to 2013.
Wednesday's matchup marks the home finale for Ole Miss in the 2017 regular season, with a 20-6 record, just one win from tying the school record for home wins set just last season.
Ole Miss is also on the brink of breaking the school's single-season attendance record for the third consecutive year.
The Rebels have played particularly well at home as of late, winning 10 of the last 12 games in Oxford.
Walk-off wins and comebacks have become the theme, with nine walk-off victories on the year, including five in the last two weeks alone. The last four wins at home have all been walk-offs, dating back to the series sweep over No. 11 LSU.
Just Monday night, the Rebels came-from-behind to defeat No. 13 Alabama, winning a series over the Tide for the first time ever.
Despite the series win, and a midweek victory over Jacksonville State, who was No. 40 in the RPI, the Rebels fell one spot to No. 21 in the coaches' poll, and are 21/21 in both major polls this week.
Following the midweek matchup, Ole Miss hits the road for the first time in two weeks to Missouri to close the regular season.
Ole Miss has won eight games against top-25 RPI teams this season, five of which have come in the last 11 games.
In Monday's latest RPI report, Ole Miss jumped up to No. 20, its highest mark ever, eighth-best in the SEC.
The Rebels have 12 wins against teams 1-50 in the RPI, with an average RPI loss of just 19.
Ole Miss has 10 wins this season over top-25 programs, with eight of those coming in SEC play.
The Rebels are 6-0 in home midweek games this season, allowing only six earned runs in 48 innings of play with a .324 average.
With 10 games against four teams that played in the 2016 Women's College World Series, the Rebels won six of those, sweeping No. 11 LSU, defeating No. 5 Auburn once, and most recently taking the series over No. 13 Alabama.
Ole Miss is one of only six teams in the NCAA to play both participants from last season's WCWS Championship Series. (BYU, Washington, Nebraska, Evansville, Mississippi State.)
Sophomore OF Kylan Becker was named SEC Co-Player of the Week on Tuesday after recording the walk-off hit in both wins over No. 13 Alabama. She finished week 12 6-for-15 at the plate with two RBI, both of which secured wins over the Tide.
Two Rebels are on the brink of breaking two Ole Miss career records, as Miranda Strother needs just one run to become the all-time leader in career runs. Elantra Cox has 73 career steals, three of breaking the record, while Strother is one behind at 72.
Cox is also nearing two single-season record marks, just four hits off the hits record and four runs from the runs record. She is seventh nationally with 73 hits, third-most in the SEC.
Junior RHP Kaitlin Lee moved up to a tie for third on the school's single-season wins list with 15, tied for 10th-most in the SEC.

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SCOUTING REPORT
Southern Miss officially closes its 2017 regular season this week with a pair of midweek matchups, first up at Southeastern Louisiana on Tuesday, before the contest with the Rebels on Wednesday. The Golden Eagles are 26-26 heading into the pair of games, and 9-14 in Conference USA action. The Golden Eagles have won two of their last three C-USA series, including taking two of three from Charlotte and UTSA most recently. Southern Miss has played 16 games against common Ole Miss opponents, with an 8-8 record against those teams, including notable losses to LSU (4-2), Mississippi State (3-2) and Alabama (2-0).

The Golden Eagles have four players with a clip of .300 or better, led by Lauren Holifield's .333 average and team-high 34 RBI. She leads the club in home runs (9) and has also drawn 23 walks, second-most on the team. Samantha Reynolds is at a .326 clip with 25 walks, a team high, while Arielle Pollock is hitting .306. Tori Dew is next closest with 27 RBI and a team high 12 doubles, while Rachel Johnson leads the team with 10 steals.

Three pitchers have accounted for most of the innings pitched this season, Kim Crowson (125.1), Samantha Robles (110.2) and Jillian Johnson (82). Crowson has the most starts (21) and is 7-12 with a 2.35 ERA. She's struck out 59 and walked 48, while giving up 42 earned runs off 120 hits. Robles is 8-7 in the circle with a 2.59 ERA in 26 appearances, and has allowed 41 earned runs with a .240 average against. Johnson has 13 decisions with a 6-7 record, allowing opponents to hit .258 off her with 36 walks and 36 strikeouts.

LAST GAME VS. SOUTHERN MISS
Feb. 24, 2016 Â• Ole Miss 10, Southern Miss 1 (5): Ole Miss softball closed its Wednesday doubleheader with Southern Miss on a good note, run-ruling the Golden Eagles in five innings at the USM Softball Complex.

After a heartbreaker in game one when pitcher Alyssa Clayton carried a perfect game into the sixth and the Rebels ended up falling, Ole Miss (9-3) bounced back with a big effort in game two behind a season-high 15 hits.

The Rebels posted a season-high 15 hits in the nightcap, posting runs in each of the first four innings to run-rule its second opponent in the last three games.

Lampton was responsible for the first run in the first, singling through the left side scoring Lunderman. Sarah Van Schaik kept it going with a single through the right side scoring Martinez to make it 2-0 after the top half.

Southern Miss got the run back and cut the lead in half in their first chance at the plate after an RBI single into right center field. Lunderman pushed a run across an inning later on a groundout to short making it 3-1, before an errant throw by the Golden Eagles' catcher scored two making it 5-1.

Cox drew a bases loaded walk to start the bottom half of the third earning an RBI, before Lunderman followed with a sacrifice fly to center increasing the advantage to 7-1.

The Rebels pushed the final three runs across in the fourth thanks to a bunt RBI from Lampton, an RBI single from Haley Culley, and an RBI double from Dakota Matiko.

REBELS AGAINST THE 2016 WCWS FIELD
Ole Miss will wrap up its regular season having played 10 games against teams from the 2016 Women's College World Series. The Rebels won six of those, sweeping No. 11 LSU, defeating No. 5 Auburn once, and taking the series over No. 13 Alabama. Ole Miss is also only one of six teams in the NCAA to play both participants from last season's WCWS Championship Series. (BYU, Washington, Nebraska, Evansville, Mississippi State.)

REBELS UP TO NO. 20 IN RPI
With two wins against top-40 RPI teams (Jacksonville State, No. 40; Alabama, No. 14), and not including the Monday night series-deciding win, Ole Miss moved up to No. 20 in the latest RPI. The Rebels now have seven wins over top-25 RPI teams, and 11 total against 1-50 programs. Ole Miss' average RPI loss is 19th, with the No. 7 strength of schedule according to the report. The No. 20 RPI is the highest in school history, and eighth-best in the SEC.

OLE MISS MAINTAINS TOP 25 RANKING
Despite a win over then No. 13 Alabama, and a midweek victory over a Jacksonville State team that was No. 40 in the RPI, Ole Miss fell one spot in the NCA Coaches' Poll, and remained the same in the USA Softball Poll at No. 21. The Rebels have now been ranked in the coaches' poll in 10-straight weeks, and have 10 wins this season over top-25 opponents.

THE HOT HAND
If there was an award for SEC Newcomer of the Year, junior RHP Kaitlin Lee would be right in the mix for plenty of reasons. She's the team's leading pitcher in every category and has literally carried the team for a majority of SEC play. After starting 0-6 in league action, the Rebels have since gone 8-7, and a big reason for that is Lee. Since the start of the Kentucky series back on March 31, she's gone 5-5 with a 1.66 ERA, accounting for 67 percent of the innings pitched. All but one of her starts have resulted in complete games, and she's tallied two shutouts in that period with only 16 earned runs allowed in 67.2 IP. Including non-conference play since the Kentucky series games, Lee is 9-5 with a 1.18 ERA, and has 75 percent of the team's innings with only 17 earned runs given up in 100.2 IP.

REBELS CHASING ATTENDANCE RECORD ... AGAIN
The Rebels are on the brink of the single-season attendance record with just the game with Southern Miss left on Wednesday. Last season Ole Miss completely shattered the previous single-season record with a cumulative attendance of 13,506, 27th-best in the country. This season, the Rebels are at 13,300-plus, within close range of breaking the record yet again. In terms of single-game crowds, Ole Miss has four in 2017 that rank in the top-10 all-time, including 1,049 fans that saw the Rebels defeat No. 11 LSU on April 15, the seventh-largest crowd in school history, and most recently 1,188 in the doubleheader vs. No. 13 Alabama, fifth-most in history. 978 fans were in attendance for the win over Mississippi State (March 22), the eighth-largest crowd all-time. Also in the LSU series, the doubleheader attendance of 839 checks in as the 10th-best in single-game history.

ON DECK
No. 21 Ole Miss hits the road Thursday to begin a three-game series at Missouri starting Friday in the regular season series finale.

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.

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Players Mentioned

Kylan Becker

Alyssa Clayton

Elantra Cox

Haley Culley

Kaitlin Lee

Dakota Matiko

Sarah Schaik

Miranda Strother

The University of Mississippi Athletics