Rebel Softball Closes Regular Season at Missouri

May 4, 2017

Games 52-54
No. 21 Ole Miss (34-17, 8-13 SEC) at (RV) Missouri (28-23, 6-14 SEC)
Dates: May 5-7, 2017
First Pitch: Fri: 6:30 p.m. | Sat: 2 p.m. | Sun: 12 p.m.
Location: Columbia, Mo.
Venue: Mizzou Stadium (2,000)
TV: SECN+: Friday | Saturday | Sunday
Ben Arnet, play-by-play
Ashley Moore, analyst
Mobile: ESPN App
Live stats: OleMissSports.comSeries: Missouri leads 10-1
Last Series: March 11-13, 2016
Missouri won 2-1
Oxford, Miss.
Twitter Updates: @OleMissSoftball

LEADING OFF

No. 21 Ole Miss hits the road to Missouri to close out the 2017 regular season.
Despite a 10-1 series lead for Mizzou, the Rebels claimed the last meeting, 9-5, in last year's series finale in Oxford.
The Tigers head into weekend play tied for 10th with South Carolina in the league standings at 6-14, while the Rebels hold the tiebreaker for eighth place over Mississippi State at 8-13.
Just three wins separate the fifth through ninth place teams, as three schools have 11 wins (Alabama, LSU, Kentucky), two are at eight (Ole Miss, Mississippi State), and three have six league victories (South Carolina, Missouri, Arkansas).
After starting 0-6 in SEC play, the Rebels have since gone 8-7 with three series wins (No. 16 UK, No. 11 LSU, No. 13 Alabama).
Four of those victories have come via walk-off, as Ole Miss swept the No. 11 Tigers back in April with two walk-offs, and most recently used back-to-back walk-offs vs. the No. 13 Crimson Tide to win that series.
Overall, the Rebels have nine walk-off wins on the season, including five in the last three weeks alone.
Ole Miss was scheduled to close out its regular season home slate this past Wednesday vs. Southern Miss, but inclement weather forced a cancellation. The Rebels finish the home slate with a 20-6 record, just one win from tying the school record.
This weekend's series marks the first time in SEC play the Rebels will face a program not ranked in the top 25.
The Rebels jumped up to No. 20 in this week's updated RPI, its highest mark in school history, and eighth-best in the league.
Ole Miss is one of only 11 programs in the country with at least eight wins over top-25 RPI teams. Missouri also has eight, putting the two schools tied for 10th-most of any team in the NCAA.
The Rebels have played 22 games against top 25 RPI teams. Only three schools can top that at 23 (Washington, UCLA, Mizzou).
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.
Dating back to the start of the Kentucky series, Ole Miss' pitching has been especially effective with a combined 1.73 ERA, three shutouts, 10 complete games and just 25 earned runs allowed.
Junior RHP Kaitlin Lee has accounted for most of that workload with a 5-5 record and 1.66 ERA in 10 starts. Sophomore RHP Brittany Finney is 2-0 in three appearances, allowing only one earned run in 14 innings.
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.
Senior Miranda Strother needs just one run to become the all-time leader in career runs. Elantra Cox has 73 career steals, three off breaking the record, while Strother is one behind at 72.
Cox is also just four hits off the single-season record, and four runs from the runs record.ÂÂ

SCOUTING REPORT
Missouri heads into weekend play 28-23 overall and 6-14 in SEC action. The Tigers are currently tied for 10th in the league standings with South Carolina, a half-game ahead of 12th (Arkansas). Mizzou had success early on in its SEC slate taking a game from then No. 7 Texas A&M, before going on to take 2-of-3 from No. 9 Alabama the next week. Since, the Tigers have gone 3-9 in league action, most recently winning the series finale over No. 17 LSU. Like Ole Miss, the Tigers also topped No. 7 Auburn once. They also took a game from Arkansas, but got swept by No. 20 Kentucky. Mizzou faced tough competition back in February and March splitting two games with No. 14 James Madison, before also defeating No. 7 Washington, and also taking on No. 4 Oregon.

As a team Mizzou ranks ninth in the SEC in average (.287) and eighth in scoring (5.08 runs/game). The Tigers are led by slugger Braxton Burnside, who ranks 26th in the country in RBI (49) and top-40 in home runs (12). She leads the team in nearly all slugging categories with a team-high 23 extra-base hits (10 doubles, 1 triple, 12 HRs). Kirsten Mack holds the team lead in slugging percentage (.633) and has 35 RBI off nine homers and 12 doubles. Regan Nash leads the team with a .359 average and is 15-for-18 in steals, also a club best. Gabby Garrison is 13-for-15 in steals, while Burnside has stolen 10 bases and been caught only twice. Overall, the Tigers have eight players with a .300-plus average. In SEC play alone, Nash leads the way with a .356 clip as one of only two hitters above .300, while the Tigers carry a .223 average in league action.

Mizzou's innings in the circle have been split mainly by three pitchers -- Cheyenne Baxter, Danielle Baumgartner and Madi Norman -- as Baxter leads the team with 138.1 innings pitched. She's worked 24 starts in 33 appearances, and tallied three shutouts in eight complete games. She holds a 104-65 strikeout-to-walk ratio, with 42 earned runs allowed and a .249 average against. In SEC play, she's started 13 of the 21 games with a 6-6 record and 1.89 ERA in 74 innings. Behind her, Norman is second in innings pitched (97) with 18 starts and a 7-8 record and 3.97 ERA. She's winless in SEC action though with a 7.00 ERA in 28 innings pitched (six starts). Baumgartner holds a 5-5 overall record and 3.80 ERA in six starts, none of which have come in conference play. She's appeared in 10 games with a 5.36 ERA, while Parker Conrad has nine SEC appearances with an 0-3 mark. As a team the Tigers have committed 49 errors for a .966 fielding percentage, which ranks 11th in the SEC.

LAST GAME VS. MISSOURI
March 13, 2016 â€¢ Ole Miss 9, Missouri 5: Ole Miss plated nine runs in the third inning, paving the way for a 9-5 victory over No. 13 Missouri in last year's series finale.

After suffering a 2-0 loss in the first game of the doubleheader, the Rebels responded in a huge way pounding out 12 hits, claiming the first win over the Tigers in program history.

Elantra Cox had a big day at the plate with six hits to lead the offense. As a team the Rebels put together 19 combined hits over the two contests.

Missouri took what looked to be a confident lead in the top half of the first when Sami Fagan homered to left-center field giving the Tigers a 3-0 advantage.

The Rebels had a chance at responding in their first chance at the plate, but stranded two after a single from Strother and walk from Ashton Lampton.

Cox started off a string of three-straight singles, hers back to the pitcher, before Lunderman singled up the middle and Strother got an RBI single back to the shortstop. After Lampton walked, all the runners moved up a base on a Tori Finucane wild pitch scoring Lunderman. Grayce Majam kept the frame alive with a two-RBI single back up the middle, before Alex Schneider's bunt single back to the pitcher scored pinch runner Bry Castro. Another wild pitch scored Majam, before Cox's single to center scored Schneider. Lunderman followed with her second single of the inning, this one a shot to right center that plated Becker, before Strother capped scoring in the inning with a sacrifice fly to left field.

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 eight wins over top-25 RPI teams, and 12 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.

BACK-TO-BACK? MORE LIKE BECK-TO-BECK
Sophomore Kylan Becker quickly became the hero twice in the weekend series vs. No. 13 Alabama, providing back-to-back walk-off singles to lift the Rebels to their first ever series win over the Tide. In game two of Saturday's doubleheader, she stepped up to the plate with one out and chopped a ground ball to second, allowing Grayce Majam to beat the throw home and seal a 2-1 victory in seven innings. Then, in Monday night's back-and-forth series finale, the Rebels entered the seventh inning again down by a run, before Becker came up with the bases loaded yet again. This time, she rolled a ground ball to third and the throw to first was late, allowing Elantra Cox to score for the win and series victory.

TIDE ROLLED
Ole Miss and Alabama had met 59 times in 20 years prior to last weekend's series. The Rebels had won just two of those games in a 20-year span. But, within a matter of 72 hours, Ole Miss matched that with a pair of wins over the No. 13 Tide, securing the first-ever series win over Alabama. The five runs scored in game three of the series were the most since the 2012 season, when Ole Miss fell in a 10-7 contest. The Rebels also snapped a three-year scoreless streak to the Tide, and finished the series with the most runs scored in three games since 2012.

BECKER EARNS SEC CO-PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS
After leading the Rebels to a pair of walk-off victories over No. 13 Alabama, sophomore OF Kylan Becker was named SEC Co-Player of the Week, announced this past Tuesday. Becker splits the SEC Player of the Week honors with Auburn's Kasey Cooper. It marks the second weekly honor of Becker's career after she was named SEC Freshman of the Week last May. She earned Ole Miss' third weekly honor of 2017 after Dylinn Stancil was named Freshman of the Week, and Elantra Cox earned Player of the Week honors back in February. Becker finished the week 6-for-15 at the plate, helping No. 20 Ole Miss to a 3-1 record, including the team's first-ever series win over Alabama. She went 3-for-4 in the win over Jacksonville State, and went on to record the walk-off hit in the final two games of the Alabama series, both RBI singles, lifting the Rebels to their third SEC series win.

STROTHER NAMED COSIDA ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT
Ole Miss softball senior Miranda Strother was recognized Thursday by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) for her success both on the field and in the classroom, earning CoSIDA Academic All-District honors. Strother is one of four players representing the SEC on the District 6 list, and is the first CoSIDA Academic All-District selection for Ole Miss since 2010 when Corrine Doornberg earned the accolades. She's just the sixth Rebel to land on the academic list and eighth selection in school history. The exercise science major has maintained a career 3.72 GPA, and is a two-time selection to the Academic All-SEC Team.

ON DECK
Following the weekend series, the bracket for the SEC Tournament will be set Sunday night and released accordingly. The tournament begins Wednesday, May 10, at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee.

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

Kylan Becker

Bry Castro

Elantra Cox

Brittany Finney

Ashton Lampton

Kaitlin Lee

Grayce Majam

Alex Schneider

Dylinn Stancil

Miranda Strother

The University of Mississippi Athletics