Softball Preps for Tuesday Meeting with UT Martin

			OLE MISS (30-11, 9-5 SEC) vs. UT MARTIN (25-19, 7-7 OVC) Oxford, Miss. Ole Miss Softball Complex (1,000)
Ole Miss Notes • UT Martin Notes • SEC Notes

Tuesday, April 16
6 p.m.

Watch • Live Stats

PROMOTIONS
• $1 Hot Dogs

LEADING OFF
• Ole Miss plays in one of its final two non-conference game sof the season on Tuesday, taking on UT Martin at the Ole Miss Softball Complex.
• The Rebels and Skyhawks have met up 16 times previously, including at least once every season since 2013. Ole Miss has dominated the series with a 12-4 record, including 9-1 in Oxford.
• The Rebels are coming off of a 2-1 series win over Missouri this past weekend. Ole Miss took two tight games in Friday's doubleheader against the Tigers, falling in the series finale on Sunday.
• The Rebels have been on a roll through the second half of the 2018 season, winning 22 of their last 27 games.
• Ole Miss' 9-5 start to SEC play is the best record through 16 conference games in program-history, never having won more than 11 games in league play in a single season. The Rebels are currently in 4th place in the SEC standings.
• The Rebels have yet to lose in 2019 when outhitting their opponent, earning the win in all 22 occurrences this season.
• Ole Miss has racked up 10 wins over teams ranked in the top-25 in the nation. Last season, the Rebels earned just eight ranked wins over the entirety of the season.
• Ole Miss remains inside the top-20 in all three national polls, coming in at No. 17 in the NFCA Poll, No. 15 in the USA Softball Poll and even as high as No. 9 in the Softball America Poll. The No. 9 ranking is the highest the Rebels have ever climbed in one of the national polls.
• The Rebels came in at No. 14 to remain in high standing in the latest NCAA RPI report. The Rebels own 11 wins over top-30 RPI teams, including three in the top-15 and seven in the top-20.

SCOUTING REPORT
The Skyhawks are in their 18th season with head coach Donley Canary at the helm. During Canary's tenure began in 2002, UT Martin has won two Ohio Valley Conference Championships, a pair of OVC Tournament titles and made three trips to the NCAA Tournament. Canary, the all-time winningest coach at UTM with the fourth-most wins in OVC-history, has led the Skyhawks to the conference tournament in 15 of the past 17 seasons.

UT Martin comes to Oxford with a 25-19 overall record, including a 7-7 mark in OVC play. The Skyhawks have played fairly well away from home, sporting an 8-6 away record, but have fallen on hard times recently with four-straight losses. Ole Miss and UT Martin have played three common opponents in Sam Houston State, Memphis and Belmont. The Rebels won all four games against those teams, while UTM posted a 1-3 record.

The Skyhawks are led offensively by sophomore outfielder Paige Clark, who ranks second on the OVC with a .422 batting average, leading the team with 29 runs scored while adding in three doubles, four triples, one home run and 20 runs driven in. Clark is also a tremendous threat on the bases, stealing successfully on 26-of-29 attempts. Junior outfielder Haylee Short is batting .325 with 27 runs scored and 23 RBIs, pacing the Skyhawks with eight doubles. Senior infielders Gracyn McBride and Alli Fulcher are the main power threats with six and five home runs, respectively, with McBride leading UTM with 28 RBIs in 2019. The Skyhawks pride themselves on taking extra bases, ranking seventh in the nation in steals with 101.

UTM has used four pitchers this season, with all receiving extensive action in the circle. Despite only making nine starts, freshman Erin Gallagher leads the team with 76.2 innings in 22 appearances, posting a 6-2 record with a 2.37 ERA. Junior Hannah Ridolfi has made a team-high 14 starts, tossing 75.2 frames in 18 appearances with a 7-7 record and a 3.61 ERA. Meanwhile, freshman Lexi Ray has garnered a 3.31 ERA and a 6-6 record in 67.2 innings and sophomore Caitlin Karo has posted a 6-4 record and a 3.28 ERA in 64 complete frames.

TAKE FOUR
With a Friday doubleheader sweep over Missouri, Ole Miss locked up its fourth SEC series victory of the season, the most series wins for the Rebels in program-history with three series left to play. Ole Miss has yet to drop a series so far this season, with the only non-win coming in the weather-shortened two-game split with South Carolina. Ole Miss currently sits in fourth in the league standings with a 9-5 record, one half game back of third. The Rebels have never finished higher than eighth in the final SEC standings.

CRUNCH TIME
During her first collegiate season, freshman Mikayla Allee has shown a knack for coming up clutch in the biggest moments. The Corona, California native has just six total RBIs to her credit in 2019 but of the six, four have been game-winners. Allee was up to her old tricks in Wednesday's battle with UAB, drawing a walk with the bases loaded to score the winning run and give Ole Miss the walk-off win. It was the second walk-off RBI of the year for the Rebel shortstop after she squeezed home the winner earlier in the campaign against Pitt.

ZIP, ZILCH, NADA
With the Rebel offense struggling to find its footing in Friday's night cap against Missouri, Ole Miss needed a lights out performance in the circle from Molly Jacobsen. That's exactly what the Rebels got as the junior held the Tigers to just three hits in her fifth shutout of the season. The five shutouts is tied for the fourth-most in Ole Miss-history, just two away from a tie for seventh.

THE CLUTCH GENE
In its doubleheader sweep against Mizzou, Ole Miss received some clutch hitting from one of its senior leaders, Brittany Finney, who knocked the winning hit in both games. After surrendering the lead in the circle earlier in the game, the Wichita, Kansas native atoned in the bottom of the eighth in the early game, taking a pitch way past the left field fence for a two-run walk-off home run. Not long after, Finney came up big again in the second game, lining a double down the left field line for what turned out to be the only RBI of Ole Miss' 1-0 victory.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE OXFORD
While the Rebels have been in winning form for much of the season, the level of play has been ramped up to an even higher level inside the walls at the Ole Miss Softball Complex. Ole Miss sits at 17-3 in the comfy confines of their home stadium, having won every single non-conference matchup and going 6-3 in conference play in Oxford. Junior Autumn Gillespie has especially dialed in her game at the Ole Miss Softball Complex, batting .339 with 8 of her 10 extra-base hits and 11 of her 15 RBIs coming in Oxford.

RUN AT YOUR OWN RISK
Over her two seasons at Ole Miss, junior catcher Autumn Gillespie has established herself as one of the most feared arms not only in the SEC but across the nation. The Redlands, California native leads the league having caught 11 runners attempting to steal. With just 19 total steals attempted against her in 2019, Gillespie has gunned down 57.9 percent of runners risky enough to attempt to swipe a base.

GO THREE! GO THREE!
With speed in bunches Mike Smith's teams are always extremely aggressive on the base path and that aggression shows up when looking at Ole Miss' power numbers. The Rebels rank seventh in the nation in triples per game at 0.37. Kylan Becker's seven triples is third-most in Division I, while her 0.17 triples per game is also good for third.

NO EASY BASES
If there is one area the Ole Miss pitching staff has particularly excelled at this season it has been the ability to keep the ball in the strike zone. The Rebels rank 14th in the nation with a 3.73 strikeout-to-walk ratio, allowing one or fewer bases on balls in 24 games in 2019. Ole Miss ranks tied for 14th in the nation with 67 total walks, second fewest in the conference. Additionally, Ole Miss boasts two of the nation's top-100 pitchers in walks allowed per seven innings pitched in Molly Jacobsen (85th, 1.58) and Ava Tillmann (86th, 1.58).

STINGY IN THE CIRCLE
One of the keys to success for the Rebels in 2019 has been the pitching staff's ability to keep runs to a minimum for the opposing side. Ole Miss ranks fourth in the SEC with a 2.06 team ERA, the 26th-lowest in the nation. When the pitching staff is in prime form, the Rebels are nearly unbeatable, posting a 22-1 record when allowing two runs or fewer this season. The Rebels have allowed more than three runs in just 13 games in 2019, registering a 26-2 record in all other contests.

BOMB SQUAD
After posting just 27 home runs all of last season, Ole Miss has already registered 32 big flies in 2019, putting the Rebels on pace to crank out over 40 round trippers on the year. After Abbey Latham led Ole Miss with seven homers in 2018, Jessica Puk and Brittany Finney already bested that number with eight big flies apiece to pace the Rebels, with Latham not far behind at seven dingers.

FAST STARTS
The Rebels have wasted absolutely no time in getting action rolling so far this season. The Rebels have scored in the first inning in 21 of their 41 contests, posting a 19-2 record in those ball games. Ole Miss has failed to put a runner on in the opening frame just eight times in 2019. Additionally, the Rebels have cracked the scoreboard first 29 times this season, going 24-5 in those games. In general, the Rebs have done most of their damage in the early going, scoring 125 of their 217 total runs for the season in the game's first three innings.

RUNNIN' REBS
During the Mike Smith era, Ole Miss has always been known for using its speed on the base path. The 2019 season has been no different as the Rebels have used their speed and aggressive nature on the bases to create havoc for opposing defenses. The Rebels have stolen successfully on 89-of-111 attempts to rank second in the SEC and 12th in the nation in steals per game at 2.17. Kylan Becker leads the team and ranks third in the league with 23 swiped bags, with Kaylee Horton tied for fourth with 16 and Abbey Latham tied for sixth with 14 steals.

For all Ole Miss softball news and information, go to OleMissSports.com and follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissSoftball, on Facebook at Ole MissSoftball and on Instagram at Instagram.com/olemisssoftball. Fans can also follow head coach Mike Smith on Twitter at @msmithsb16.

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Players Mentioned

Mikayla Allee

Kylan Becker

Brittany Finney

Autumn Gillespie

Kaylee Horton

Molly Jacobsen

Abbey Latham

Jessica Puk

Ava Tillmann

The University of Mississippi Athletics