The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Missouri
Softball Commence SEC Play at Mizzou
3/5/2020 | Softball
Rebel and Tigers Kick Off Conference Play in Columbia
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OLE MISS (12-10, 0-0 SEC) at No. 23 MISSOURI (16-6, 0-0 SEC) Columbia, Mo. Mizzou Softball Stadium (2,600) |
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| Ole Miss Notes (PDF) • SEC Notes (PDF) | ||||||||
| Friday, March 6 6 p.m.  |
Saturday, March 7 4 p.m. Live Stats Only |
Sunday, March 8 4 p.m.  |
| Watch • Live Stats | Live Stats | Watch • Live Stats |
LEADING OFF
• Having completed a seven-game home stand, Ole Miss hits the road to open up SEC play, taking on Missouri in a three-game series at the Mizzou Softball Stadium in Columbia.
• Friday's game will be streamed live on SEC Network +, while Sunday's contest will be Ole Miss' national TV debut, airing on the SEC Network. Saturday's clash will not feature a broadcast, though live stats will be available via OleMissStats.com
• While the Tigers hold a sizable 12-5 lead in the all-time series with the Rebels, Ole Miss has had the better side of the series in recent years, winning five of the last seven matchups, including a 2-1 series win in Columbia in 2017.
• The Rebels won each of their seven games during the recent home stand, taking all five games at the Ole Miss Classic while also coming out victorious in midweek tilts with North Alabama and Central Arkansas. During the home stand, the Rebels defeated their opponents by a combined margin of 46-7.
• After posting a 1-8 record to start the season, Ole Miss has won 11 of its past 13 games.
• Ole Miss has hit at least one home run in 10 of its last 12 games, totaling 15. Abbey Latham leads the team with five long balls, ranking fifth on the career home run list with 22 in her three seasons in Oxford.
• Since taking over the starting role at first base eight games ago, Sydney Gutierrez is batting .474 with a .500 on-base percentage.
• Jessica Puk paces Ole Miss with seven multi-hit games, more than twice as many as the next closest Rebel (five tied with three).
• Gutierrez and Puk have both reached in 10-straight games, the longest streak on the team this season.
• Autumn Gillespie has drawn a walk in eight of the last 10 games, totaling 12 free passes during that stretch.
SCOUTING REPORT
Missouri is in its second season under head coach Larissa Anderson, the 10th head coach in the program's history. In her first season in Columbia, Anderson guided the Tigers to an NCAA Tournament bid, tying for sixth in the SEC with a 12-12 record in the SEC. Prior to taking over the Tiger program, Anderson spent 14 seasons at Hofstra, the final four as the head coach of the Pride. As the head coach, Anderson helped HU to a 130-73-1 record, making two trips to the NCAA Tournament and capturing a pair of CAA Championships.
Entering league action as the No. 23 ranked team in the NFCA Coaches Poll, Missouri is 16-6, including 4-1 at the Mizzou Softball Stadium. The Tigers own a pair of ranked wins, defeating No. 8 Minnesota during opening weekend and earning an extra-inning win over No. 16 Oklahoma State at the ESPN St. Pete/Clearwater Elite Invitational. Additionally, half of Mizzou's six losses have come against teams ranked in the top-25.
Junior Kayla Kessinger leads Missouri with a .403 batting average and 27 runs driven in, providing tremendous pop with six home runs and a pair of doubles for a .701 slugging percentage. Fellow junior Brooke Wilmes paces the Tigers with 25 runs scored, coming into the weekend with a .389 batting average, six doubles, three homers and 11 RBIs. Junior Hatti Moore and sophomore Jazmyn Rollin also hit for both average and power, with Moore posting a .349 average and a team-best seven dingers and Rollin garnering a .328 batting average and six big flies.
On the rubber, freshman Megan Schumacher leads the way with 44.1 innings across 12 appearances and eight starts, posting a 3.63 ERA and a 3-2 record. Two more rookies, Emma Nichols and Jordan Weber, are the other two primary starters selected by Anderson. Nichols owns a 2-2 record and a 3.96 ERA in her 35.1 innings, making eight appearances and seven starts. Meanwhile, Weber sits at 4-1 with a 2.48 ERA, posting 31.0 innings, making the start in half of her 10 appearances.
REBS ON A ROLL
After starting out the season 1-8, Ole Miss has rebounded to take 11 of its last 13 games heading into the first weekend of SEC play. The main difference for the Rebels has been the resurgence of the bats, with Ole Miss seeing a marked turn around in every offensive category during the winning run. The team batting average is up 79 points from .218 to .297, while the slugging percentage over the past 12 games is up to .519, more than doubling the .239 mark put up in the first nine games. Ole Miss is averaging 6.8 runs per game over the 13 game stretch, mustering just 2.3 runs over the first nine contests.
POWERING UP
It took 11 games for Ole Miss to muscle up and hit its first home run of the season. Since then, the balls have been flying out of the yard. With Jessica Puk's third-inning two-run bomb in the Rebels' first game of the Ole Miss Classic, Ole Miss made it seven-straight games with a home run. It matched the longest streak in program-history, also accomplished in 2012. Since recording the first homer of the year in the victory over Oklahoma State, Ole Miss has left the park in 10-of-12 games, totaling 16 big flies.
RUN FACTORY
One of the hallmarks of Ole Miss softball in recent years has been the ability to manufacture runs without the benefit of a base hit, a fact that continues to apply to the Rebel program in 2020. Of the 109 runs scored by Ole Miss this season, 33 have been generated without a base knock, including 11 on ground balls, six on sacrifice bunts, four on sacrifice flies and two on double steals.
GUTIERREZ, PUK HEATING UP
Since taking over the starting role at first base, Sydney Gutierrez has been on an absolute tear, registering a hit in seven of the last eight games entering this weekend's series. During that stretch, Gutierrez is batting .474, adding some pop with three doubles and a triple on the way to six RBIs and a pair of runs scored. In fact, Gutierrez's nine hits in the last eight games is one more than she had produced in her first 33 games in a Rebel uniform.
During that same stretch the only Rebel with a hotter bat than Gutierrez has been Jessica Puk. Over the last eight games the Cedar Rapids, Iowa, native has logged 20 at-bats and has come away with a base hit in half of them, racking up a pair of homers and doubles apiece to match Gutierrez's six RBIs while also scoring six runs herself. Puk has also demonstrated a patient presence at the plate, drawing four walks and an HBP during the stretch to bring her on-base percentage to a whopping .600.
JUNIOR ASCENSION
In the quest to identify a replacement for graduated senior Brittany Finney in the Ole Miss pitching rotation, juniors Anna Borgen and Ava Tillmann have risen to the top. After pitching in just four games in 2019, totaling 8.0 innings, lefty Anna Borgen has emerged as one of the more consistent arms on the Rebel staff. This season, Borgen has appeared in eight games with five starts, posting a team-best 1.09 ERA with a 4-1 record. Through her first two collegiate seasons, Borgen had never thrown more than 5.0 innings in an appearance. In 2020, the Heath, Texas, native has tossed three complete game shutouts.
Tillmann has rebounded from an 0-2 start to the season to pick up the win in each of her last three decisions, having not surrendered a run in her last 9.1 innings of work. Tillmann ranks second on the team with a 1.54 ERA, currently holding the lowest career opponent batting average (.226) in Ole Miss softball history. Tillmann has also been trusted with the ball in late game situations, pacing Ole Miss with a pair of saves.
BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY
Despite not always putting up gaudy numbers in terms of batting average, sophomore Mikayla Allee has shown a knack for consistently finding her way on base. The sophomore is batting just .253 for her career, though that number has risen significantly in 2020, currently ranking third on the team at .327. Either way, the Rebel shortstop has found a way to get on no matter what, earning a .437 on-base percentage for her career, which would rank third all-time at Ole Miss. One of Allee's biggest skills is her ability to draw HBPs, already wearing 20 pitches to rank fourth in program history despite only appearing in 82 games.
BORGEN, BATS LEAD TO SHUTOUT OVER CENTRAL ARKANSAS
Finishing off a seven-game home stand at the Ole Miss Softball Stadium, the Rebels overpowered Central Arkansas for their seventh-straight win, downing the Bears 8-0 in five innings. Anna Borgen shut UCA down in the circle, scattering four hits over her five innings of work for her third shutout of the season and second in as many appearances. Meanwhile, the Rebel offense ensured the contest would not go the regulation number of innings. After failing to score in the opening two frames, Ole Miss broke things open in the final three innings, tagging the Bear pitching staff for eight runs, including a pair of no-doubt home runs from Abbey Latham and Autumn Gillespie. Taylor Watford finished things off in the fifth, lining a two-run single to left for the walk-off.
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.
