The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Chattanooga
Softball Set to Defend Home Turf at NCAA Oxford Regional
5/16/2019 | Softball
Ole Miss Opens Regional with Friday Matchup Against No. 4 Seed Chattanooga
 OLE MISS
(37-17, 13-10 SEC) |
 LOUISIANA
(50-4, 25-0 SBC) |
 SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
(45-16, 17-5 OVC) |
 CHATTANOOGA
(37-15, 11-7 SoCon) |
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| Roster Schedule Stats Game Notes @OleMissSoftball |
Roster Schedule Stats Game Notes @SEMOsoftball |
Roster Schedule Stats Game Notes @GoMocsSB |
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| Regional Central Page | ||||||||
LEADING OFF
• Ole Miss hosts the 2019 NCAA Oxford Regional, the second regional ever hosted by the Rebels. The No. 1 seeded Rebs will welcome No. 2 seed and seventh-ranked Louisiana, No. 3 seed Southeast Missouri State and No. 4 seed Chattanooga to Oxford.
• Ole Miss is competing in its fourth-straight NCAA Tournament, the only four appearances in program-history. The Rebels are 7-6 all-time in postseason play, advancing to their only Super Regionals in 2017. Ole Miss has never failed to make the regional championship when earning an NCAA bid.
• The Rebels are 2-10 all-time against Louisiana, while posting a 7-2 record against Southeast Missouri State and a 2-1 mark against Chattanooga.
• Ole Miss defeated Chattanooga 10-2 in five innings in 2018. The Rebels have not played Louisiana since 2009, last taking on Southeast Missouri State in 2011.
• Ole Miss had four players named to the 2019 All-SEC Teams. Kylan Becker earned a spot on the First Team for the second time in her career, while Molly Jacobsen landed on the second team. Tate Whitley received all-freshman laurels, while Kaylee Horton was named the Rebels' first ever all-defense honoree.
• With her game-winning grand slam in Ole Miss' SEC Tournament First Round win over Mississippi State, sophomore Abbey Latham set the single-season school-record for RBIs, sitting at 48 for the season.
• Ole Miss has racked up 12 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 Coaches Poll and No. 19 in the USA Softball Poll, while coming in at No.9 in the Softball America Poll.
• The Rebels dropped to No. 18 in the most recent edition of the NCAA RPI report. The Rebels own 14 wins over top-30 RPI teams, including nine in the top-15.
SCOUTING REPORT
• Louisiana is led by long time SEC assistant coach Gerry Glasco, who is in his second season at the helm of the Ragin' Cajuns program. During his tenure, Louisiana has collected a 91-20 overall record, including 46-6 in Sun Belt Conference action. The Ragin' Cajuns will be playing in their second NCAA Regional under Glasco. Ranked No. 7 in the nation, Louisiana claimed the Sun Belt regular season and tournament crowns with a 50-4 record, going 25-0 in league action.
The Ragin' Cajuns are led by sophomore shortstop Alissa Dalton, who owns a .403 average with 11 doubles, three triples and four home runs, driving in 41 runs and scoring 47 more. Junior Julie Rawls leads the team with 49 RBIs, batting .373 with nine doubles and 10 home runs. In all, nine Ragin' Cajuns are batting above .300 with at least 100 at-bats, while six different players have scored at least 40 runs. Louisiana ranks second in the nation with 167 stolen bases on 194 attempts.
In the circle, the vast majority of the work for the Ragin' Cajuns has been done by junior Summer Ellyson, who sits at 37-4 in 46 appearances and 41 starts, posting a 0.98 ERA in 249.1 innings. Ellyson has struck out 324 batters to just 52 walks.
• Southeast Missouri State is coached by Mark Redburn, who is in his fifth season with the Redhawk program. The Redhawks have broken the program-record for wins in a season with a 45-16 record, claiming a share of the Ohio Valley Conference title for the first time since 1999.
Junior outfielder Rachel Anderson ranks sixth in the nation with a .455 batting average, slugging .847 with 12 doubles, nine triples and 13 home runs. Anderson has driven in 55 runs and scored 53 more. Senior outfielder
Mykaela Arellanes paces SEMO with 58 runs while batting .356, while junior infielder Ashley Ellis leads the team with 16 home runs and 59 RBIs.
Senior Haley Thogmartin has established herself as the Redhawk ace with a 22-6 record and a 1.75 ERA in 167.2 innings, while sophomore Rachel Rook ranks second on the team with a 2.34 ERA and a 10-4 record in 83.2 innings.
• Chattanooga is in its 18th season under head coach Frank Reed, who has led the program to more than 600 wins, collecting six Southern Conference Coach of the Year honors. Reed is a member of the exclusive 1,000 win club. The Mocs enter the Oxford Regional with a 37-15 overall record, finishing second in the SoCon at 11-7.
Junior outfielder Aly Walker leads the Mocs with a .3687 batting average, also leading the team with 36 runs scored and 12 doubles. Utility player Emily Coltharp was named the 2019 SoCon Freshman of the Year after ranking second on the team with a .346 batting average while scoring 33 runs and going 12-for-16 on steal attempts. Senior catcher Amanda Beltran swings a big stick, leading Chattanooga with 12 home runs and 43 RBIs while posting a .320 average.
Junior Celie Hudson, the 2019 SoCon Pitcher of the Year, carries a lot of the load in the circle with 174.2 innings of work, posting a 15-10 record with a 2.08 ERA in 33 appearances and 25 starts, throwing 20 complete games in 2019. Freshman Mariah Ramirez ranks second among all Mocs with 97.1 innings on the rubber, posting a 2.59 ERA with a 12-2 record in 23 appearances and 15 starts.
REGIONALS RETURN TO OXFORD
For the second time in program-history, NCAA Regional softball will be played at the Ole Miss softball Complex after Ole Miss earned the No. 11 seed in the 2019 field, the highest seed in program-history. The only other time the Rebels hosted a regional in Oxford came in 2017, when Ole Miss earned the No. 12 seed hot off of the program's first SEC Tournament Championship. Ole Miss would go on to sweep its three games against Southern Illinois, No. 22 Arizona State and North Carolina, advancing to the program's only Super Regional round.
REBS IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
Making their fourth-straight NCAA Softball Championship appearance, Ole Miss boasts a myriad of players who have shown they have the capability to ramp up their play when it matters most. Kylan Becker will become the first player in program-history to play in four NCAA Tournaments during her career, and she's made the most of her opportunities. The senior holds a career postseason batting average of .395, reaching base at a .465 clip. Of Becker's 15 career postseason hits, four have gone for extra bases, including a pair of triples and an inside-the-park home run, good for a .632 slugging percentage. In 2017, Becker led the Rebels with six RBIs.
Senior Brittany Finney has made three appearances in the circle, logging a 1.40 ERA with 13 strikeouts in 11.0 innings. In her first-career postseason appearance, Finney threw a complete game against No. 5 UCLA in the Super Regional round, allowing just one run on four hits in seven frames.
The breakout star for Ole Miss in last season's Tempe Regional was then-freshman Abbey Latham. The Livingston, Alabama native left the park three times in the Rebels' four games, leading the team with five RBIs while posting a .455 average and a 1.455 slugging percentage.
PACKING THE STANDS
With plenty of additional seating being added to the Ole Miss Softball Complex for this weekend's festivities, Ole Miss is expecting record-breaking crowds to pack the stands for the Oxford Regional. The all-time attendance record for the facility was set earlier this season against Tennessee at 1,734, setting the mark to shoot for. Prior to this season, the three games from the 2017 Oxford Regional were the benchmarks for attendance in Oxford, with the regional championship game against North Carolina setting the record at 1,709. Four of the top-10 crowds in the history of the Ole Miss Softball Complex have come this season.
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 concluded the regular season at 21-4 in the comfy confines of their home stadium, winning every single non-conference matchup and going 8-4 in conference play in Oxford. Junior Autumn Gillespie has especially dialed in her game at the Ole Miss Softball Complex, batting .333 with 9 of her 14 extra-base hits and 14 of her 22 RBIs coming in Oxford.
AN ESPECIALLY GRAND SLAM
With Ole Miss leading 4-3 after coming back from an early 3-0 hole in its SEC Tournament First Round game against Mississippi State, sophomore Abbey Latham unloaded on a Grace Fagan Offering, sending a towering shot off the scoreboard at Davis Diamond for her second grand slam of the season. The monster blast not only ended up going down as the game-winning hit, it also broke the school-record for single season RBIs at Ole Miss. Latham currently sits at 48 runs driven in in 2019, topping DeDe Justice's previous record of 45 in 2003. Latham isn't the only record with the potential to make some single season history. Senior Kylan Becker is also on the precipice of breaking a pair of single-season marks, sitting four runs (Elantra Cox, 51, 2017) and six stolen bases (Brittany Broome, 33, 2013) shy.
RECORD FOUR REBELS NAMED TO ALL-SEC TEAMS
The Southeastern Conference office recently announced the 2019 All-SEC Teams, with a program-record four Rebels representing Ole Miss.
Kylan Becker was named First Team All-SEC for the second time in her career, the first since 2017. Becker is the only first team-selection in Ole Miss-history. Molly Jacobsen landed on the second team in her first season at the Division I level, becoming the third Rebel pitcher to be named all-league. Tate Whitley garnered All-Freshman Team laurels, giving Ole Miss an all-freshman team member in four of the last five seasons. Meanwhile, Kaylee Horton became the first player in program-history to be named to the SEC All-Defensive Team.
The four all-league selections are the most the Rebels have ever been bestowed with. Prior to having three honorees in 2017, Ole Miss had never had more than two in a single year.
REBELS FINISH FIFTH, MAKE HISTORY
Concluding the regular season with a 13-10 record in league play, Ole Miss finished in fifth place in the SEC, the Rebels highest-finish in program-history. Previously, the Rebels had never finished higher in the conference standings than eighth in 2017. Ole Miss won six of its eight SEC series, splitting two games with South Carolina and dropping the final series at Georgia. In the SEC Preseason Poll, Ole Miss was picked to finish second to last in the league, garnering the No. 12 spot.
EXTRA! EXTRA!
After playing the first 29 games of the season without going into extra-innings a single time, Ole Miss has need extra frames to conclude eight of its last 25 contests. The Rebels have been very successful when playing bonus softball, posting a 6-2 record in extra-inning, walking off three times. With 10 run-rule wins and a pair of run-rule losses on the season, the Rebels have played the regulation innings in just 35 of its 54 games (65%) this season.
MONEYBALL
While not posting the most eye-popping numbers in the Ole Miss lineup with a meager .193 batting average, freshman Mikayla Allee has found a way to contribute to the Rebel offense in other ways. The Corona, California native ranks third on the team among players with at least 10 at-bats with a .405 on-base percentage, drawing 18 walks and tying for the team lead with 13 HBPs. When leading off the inning and turning the lineup over to the top of the order, Ole Miss' No. 9 hitter is reaching base at a .483 clip.
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 12 runners attempting to steal. With just 21 total steals attempted against her in 2019, Gillespie has gunned down 57.1 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 sixth in the nation in triples per game at 0.35. Kylan Becker's seven triples is fourth-most in Division I, while Autumn Gillespie's four triple-baggers ranks tied for fourth in the SEC.
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 15th in the nation with a 3.74 strikeout-to-walk ratio, allowing one or fewer bases on balls in 33 games in 2019. Ole Miss ranks 15th in the nation with 85 total walks, second fewest in the conference. Additionally, Ole Miss boasts three of the nation's top-100 pitchers in walks allowed per seven innings pitched in Molly Jacobsen (87th, 1.59), Ava Tillmann (94th, 1.62) and Brittany Finney (95th, 1.62).
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 2.28 team ERA, the 30th-lowest in the nation. When the pitching staff is in prime form, the Rebels are nearly unbeatable, posting a 26-3 record when allowing two runs or fewer this season. The Rebels have allowed more than three runs in just 18 games in 2019, registering a 32-4 record in all other contests.
BOMB SQUAD
After posting just 27 home runs all of last season, Ole Miss has already registered 35 big flies in 2019. After Abbey Latham led Ole Miss with seven homers in 2018, Jessica Puk, Brittany Finney and Latham have bested that number with Puk leading the team at nine dingers and Finney and Latham right behind the sophomore with eight apiece.
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 25 of their 54 contests, posting a 22-3 record in those ball games. Ole Miss has failed to put a runner on in the opening frame just 11 times in 2019. Additionally, the Rebels have cracked the scoreboard first 37 times this season, going 31-6 in those games. In general, the Rebs have done most of their damage in the early going, scoring 164 of their 281 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 113-of-139 attempts to rank second in the SEC and 12th in the nation in steals per game at 2.09. Kylan Becker leads the team and ranks third in the league with 28 swiped bags, while Kaylee Horton sits tied for 5th with 19 steals and Abbey Latham is tied for 8th with 17.
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.
