The University of Mississippi Athletics
Saturday, April 20
Starkville, Miss.
1 PM
Ole Miss
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Mississippi State
27-19, 0
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Ole Miss
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Mississippi State
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Finney’s Gem Carries Softball to Series Win Over Mississippi State
4/20/2019 | Softball
Senior Hurler Dazzles for Eight Innings as Rebels Prevail in Extras
STARKVILLE, Miss. – In one of the finer pitching duels you could ever hope to see, Brittany Finney and Emily Williams battled back-and-forth all day long at Nusz Park Saturday. In the end, Ole Miss (33-12, 11-6 SEC) came out on top, defeating Mississippi State (27-19, 4-14 SEC) 3-1 in eight innings to capture its fifth SEC series of the season.
One day after limiting the Bulldogs to a single hit, Finney was once again electric. The senior tossed seven innings of shutout ball to keep the Rebels in things, ultimately allowing one run on six hits, striking out five over eight frames.
The Rebels put a runner in scoring position in each of the first, fourth, fifth and sixth innings but each time were unable to come up with the timely hit the crack the scoreboard. Meanwhile, MSU threatened to score in the second and third frames with a runner on second but both times Finney was able to get out of danger.
With neither team able to scrap together enough offense to break the scoreless tie through seven, the game headed into extras, where the Rebels would prevail.
After Mikayla Allee got the eighth started with a double down the left field line, the inning was extended on an error at third base for MSU and Ole Miss took advantage. Facing her Bulldog counterpart, Finney wond a long battle with Williams, fouling off six-straight pitches in a 14-pitch at-bat to draw a walk and put ducks on the pond for Autumn Gillespie.
The Rebel backstop took the second pitch she saw hard up the middle and past the outstretched glove of MSU shortstop Bevia Robinson for a double, clearing the bases and putting three Rebel runs on the board.
The Bulldogs pulled a run closer in the bottom half on a solo home run by Mia Davidson and went on to put the tying run on-base but as she had done all day long, Finney came through, inducing a groundout to second to seal the win and the series for the Rebs. With their 11th SEC victory of the season, Ole Miss has tied the program-record for conference wins.
Winners of 25 of their last 31 games, the Rebels will look to keep things rolling in the final non-conference game of the season on Wednesday, hosting Southern Miss at 6 p.m. CT at the Ole Miss Softball Complex.
Quick Hits
• The five SEC series wins is a program-record for Ole Miss, never having previously won more than three in a single season.
• The 11 league wins ties the program-record, matching the SEC victories racked up by the Rebels during the 2016 season.
• In 11 total innings over the weekend, Brittany Finney allowed just one run with 11 strikeouts recorded.
• The Rebels became the first team this season to hold MSU slugger Fa Leilua hitless for a series.
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.
One day after limiting the Bulldogs to a single hit, Finney was once again electric. The senior tossed seven innings of shutout ball to keep the Rebels in things, ultimately allowing one run on six hits, striking out five over eight frames.
The Rebels put a runner in scoring position in each of the first, fourth, fifth and sixth innings but each time were unable to come up with the timely hit the crack the scoreboard. Meanwhile, MSU threatened to score in the second and third frames with a runner on second but both times Finney was able to get out of danger.
With neither team able to scrap together enough offense to break the scoreless tie through seven, the game headed into extras, where the Rebels would prevail.
After Mikayla Allee got the eighth started with a double down the left field line, the inning was extended on an error at third base for MSU and Ole Miss took advantage. Facing her Bulldog counterpart, Finney wond a long battle with Williams, fouling off six-straight pitches in a 14-pitch at-bat to draw a walk and put ducks on the pond for Autumn Gillespie.
The Rebel backstop took the second pitch she saw hard up the middle and past the outstretched glove of MSU shortstop Bevia Robinson for a double, clearing the bases and putting three Rebel runs on the board.
The Bulldogs pulled a run closer in the bottom half on a solo home run by Mia Davidson and went on to put the tying run on-base but as she had done all day long, Finney came through, inducing a groundout to second to seal the win and the series for the Rebs. With their 11th SEC victory of the season, Ole Miss has tied the program-record for conference wins.
Winners of 25 of their last 31 games, the Rebels will look to keep things rolling in the final non-conference game of the season on Wednesday, hosting Southern Miss at 6 p.m. CT at the Ole Miss Softball Complex.
Quick Hits
• The five SEC series wins is a program-record for Ole Miss, never having previously won more than three in a single season.
• The 11 league wins ties the program-record, matching the SEC victories racked up by the Rebels during the 2016 season.
• In 11 total innings over the weekend, Brittany Finney allowed just one run with 11 strikeouts recorded.
• The Rebels became the first team this season to hold MSU slugger Fa Leilua hitless for a series.
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.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Finney, Brittany (13-5)
L: Emily Williams (9-10)
Batting:
2B: Gillespie, Autumn 1 ; Allee, Mikayla 1
RBI: Gillespie, Autumn 3
Base Running:
RUNS: Puk, Jessica 1 ; Cooper, Katelin 1 ; Allee, Mikayla 1
SB: Becker, Kylan 1 ; Latham, Abbey 1 ; Puk, Jessica 1 ; Loftin, Kelsha 1
HBP: Roth, Amanda 1
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Batting:
2B: Mia Davidson 1
HR: Mia Davidson 1
RBI: Mia Davidson 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Mia Davidson 1
Game Leaders
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
3
AB
2
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
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