The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
UConn
Softball Set to Tussle in Texas
2/25/2021 | Softball
Challenging Slate Awaits at Lone Star Invitational
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Lone Star Invitational Feb. 26-28 Multiple Locations, Texas Multiple Venues |
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| Ole Miss Notes (PDF) • Baylor Notes (PDF) • Sam Houston Notes (PDF) • Texas Notes (PDF) • SEC Notes (PDF) |
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| Friday, Feb. 26 UConn | No. 23 Baylor 1 p.m. | 6 p.m. |
Saturday, Feb. 27 Sam Houston | Texas State 11 a.m. | 1:30 p.m. |
Sunday, Feb. 28 No. 7 Texas 12:30 p.m. |
| Game One: Watch | Live Stats Game Two: Watch | Live Stats |
Game One: Live Stats Game Two: Live Stats |
Watch | Live Stats |
LEADING OFF
• Ole Miss is coming off of a 2-3 showing at the FAU "Strike-Out Cancer" Tournament in Boca Raton, Florida. The Rebels topped the host Owls twice, while dropping a pair of matchups with Iowa State and one non-conference tilt with then-No. 21 Missouri
• The Rebels will be hosted by three different Texas schools this weekend at the Lone Star Invitational, making trips to Waco, San Marcos and Austin, Texas.
• Ole Miss has five Texas players on its roster, the second most of any state. Anna Borgen, Sydney Gutierrez, Ashlee LaRue, Amanda Roth and Tate Whitley all hail from the republic.
• Ole Miss is in the midst of a 14-game road trip to start the season. The Rebels were to open their home schedule this past Tuesday against Alabama State, but the game was postponed due to travel issues. Ole Miss will open its home slate on March 3 against North Alabama.
• True freshman Aynslie Furbush registered the first two hits of her collegiate career at the FAU "Strike-Out Cancer" Tournament, both no-doubt grand slam home runs. Furbush became the first Rebel ever to register a grand slam as her first career hit and needed just three at-bats to become the fifth player in program history with multiple grand slams in a career.
• Fellow freshman Blaise Biringer paced the Rebels with a .556 average in Boca Raton. The Arizona native posted multiple hits in 4-of-5 games, the first four multi-hit games of her career. Biringer is on a seven-game hitting streak, leading the team.
• The Rebels have scored double-digit runs in three of their four wins this season. In its victories, Ole Miss has outscored its opponents 39-5, registering three run-rule victories.
• Junior Savannah Diederich picked up 18 strikeouts in 14 innings in Boca Raton. The righty ranks fourth in the SEC with 32 strikeouts in 2021.
SCOUTING REPORT
Baylor
The Bears are in their 21st season under head coach Glenn Moore, who enters his 24th season as a head coach at the collegiate level. Under Moore, the Bears have recorded a winning record in all but one season, received an NCAA bid 14 times, advanced to six NCAA Super Regionals and made four trips to the Women's College World Series. Prior to Baylor, Moore served as head coach at LSU for three seasons.
Baylor sits at 2-1, bouncing back from a loss to No. 25 Arkansas in the season opener with back-to-back wins over McNeese State and UT Arlington.
The Bears have struggled to gain traction as a team, batting a collective .250 through three games. Aliyah Binford leads Baylor with a .364 average, sitting as the only Bear with more than two hits. Taylor Ellis and Hannah Thompson is one of two Baylor players with multiple RBIs, each with two, while four players are tied for the team lead with a pair of runs scored.
The Bears have used a pitcher-by-committee approach in the early going, with Gia Rodoni leading the way with 7.2 innings in three appearances and two starts, posting a 6.39 ERA with seven strikeouts and four walks. Sidney Holman-Mansell started the other game for the Bears and has made two appearances. Holman-Mansell has allowed just four hits, recording a 1.17 ERA with seven Ks.
Sam Houston
Sam Houston is in its third season under head coach Garrett Valis, who was elevated to the position after a three-year stint with the Bearkats as an assistant coach. In Valis' first year, he was named the Southland Conference Coach of the Year after leading Sam Houston to its first conference regular season title since 1993, also winning the Southland Tournament to receive an NCAA bid. The Bearkats pulled an upset over No. 9 Texas in the Austin Regional before ultimately bowing out.
Similarly to the rest of the Texas schools taking part in this weekend's affairs, Sam Houston had its opening weekend tournament canceled. The Bearkats have played just twice thus far, splitting a doubleheader with Houston Wednesday in Huntsville.
Through two games, Emily Telg leads Sam Houston with a .429 average, also posting a team-high two runs and smacking the only home run on the team. Ellie Grill is next in line at .400 and is the only Bearkat with multiple RBIs.
Mika Vento is the only pitcher to appear in both games, starting one. Vento picked up the win in the victory over the Cougars and sits at a 0.91 ERA in 7.2 innings. Former Rebel Taylor Bachmeyer started the other game, allowing nine earned runs.
Texas
Texas is in its third season under head coach Mike White, one of the most successful softball coaches in recent memory. In his first two seasons White guided the Longhorns to a 70-20 overall record as well as the first trip to NCAA Super Regionals since 2013 in 2019. Prior to Texas, White built Oregon into a powerhouse as the Ducks claimed five Pac-12 Championships and made five trips to the Women's College World Series.
Due to cancelations, the UT schedule has been light. Texas enters the weekend undefeated at 3-0, picking up victories over Wichita State, North Texas and Texas State.
Janae Jefferson and Lauren Burke lead the Longhorns on the young season in hitting, each at .400 with four hits in 10 at-bats. Among Jefferson's hits are a double and a triple, while Burke has posted a triple and a home run, scoring four runs. Burke is also tied with Colleen Sullivan for the UT lead with three RBIs apiece.
On the rubber, Shea O'Leary has carried a bulk of the load with 12.2 innings in her two starts. O'Leary has allowed just five hits, striking out seven while walking three. Former Rebel Molly Jacobsen has tossed four innings in relief, picking up the win in both appearances and surrendering two hits. Overall, UT is yet to allow an earned run.
Texas State
Ricci Woodard has been at the helm of the Texas State softball program for 19 seasons, having led the Bobcats to 12 conference championships and eight trips to the NCAA Tournament. Entering the weekend, Woodard has racked up 672 wins during her sting in San Marcos.
Much like Texas, Texas State has had a light slate of games to start the year due to cancelations, posting a 2-1 record in its three games. The Bobcats swept a doubleheader at home against Abilene Christian on Monday before dropping a tight 1-0 extra inning affair with the Longhorns on Wednesday.
UConn
Laura Valentino is in her second season as the head coach at UConn, leading the Huskies to a 19-7 record thus far in her short time in Storrs, Connecticut. Prior to making the move to UConn, Valentino served an assistant coach at Duke for two seasons. The Hofstra graduate also had assistant coaching stops at Charlotte and Fairflield.
After having their first tournament of the season canceled, the Huskies opened up with a 3-2 record at the FGCU Invitational in Fort Myers, Florida. During its stay down south, UConn defeated Northern Illionis and picked up a couple of wins over FIU before falling twice to host FGCU.
The Huskies are led offensive by Hollis Wivell and Reese Guevarra, who posted respective batting averages of .467 and .409 in Fort Myers. Jana Sanden was the main run producer for the Huskies with five RBIs, while Taylor Zatyk paced the team with five runs scored.
In the circle, it was a two woman show. Payton Kinney appeared in four of the five games and made three starts, posting a 2-1 record with a 0.52 ERA and seven total runs allowed, striking out 26 batters in 27 innings. Meghan O'Neil made a pair of starts, allowing six runs (one earned) for a 0.55 ERA in 12.2 frames, going 1-1.
OLE MISS ANNOUNCES ATTENDANCE POLICY
Ole Miss has announced its attendance policy for the 2021 season at the Ole Miss Softball Complex. As is mandatory under the current state executive order, attendance will be limited to no more than 25 percent of capacity. Additionally, Face coverings will be required for entry and at all times, except when actively eating and drinking.
After player guest lists have been received from both the home and visiting teams, the remaining seating availability will be offered to a select group of fans through the Ole Miss Softball Diamond Club and the Rebel Rewards app. Unfortunately, due to social distancing restrictions, seats will not be offered to the general public.
In order to maximize capacity, those in attendance will be restricted to a socially distant "pod" system, with pods limited to groups of two, three or four members of a family or household. This includes the left field area, where camping chairs will be provided. Throughout the venue, no seating will be permitted outside of the preset locations.
GRAND OPENING
True freshman Aynslie Furbush made about as loud of a statement to open her Rebel career as possible, plowing a grand slam in just her second career at-bat in the 10-1 victory over FAU. The following day, the Winter Springs, Florida, native did it again, clearing a base path that was full of Rebels. Furbush became the first Ole Miss player ever to register a grand slam as her first collegiate hit. Additionally, it took the rookie just three at-bats to come the fifth player in program history with multiple grand slams. Furbush finished the weekend with nine RBIs, leading the team.
BLAISIN' HOT
After starting out with a modest two hits during the first weekend of the season, freshman Blaise Biringer turned up the heat down in Boca Raton. The Rebel infielder finished the weekend with 10 hits in 18 at-bats, leading the Rebels with a .556 average. The native Arizonan posted multiple hits in 4-of-5 games in South Florida, extending her hitting streak to a team-best seven games while also tying for the team lead with four runs scored at the FAU "Strike-Out Cancer" Tournament.
THAT PUK POWER
Through the first two weeks of the season, senior utility player Jessica Puk has added some much needed pop to the Rebel lineup. The Cedar Rapids, Iowa, native has clobbered four home runs to tie for second most in the SEC, leading Ole Miss and ranking tied for seventh in the league with 12 runs driven in. Puk is now on the precipiceof joining the elite ranks of Ole Miss power hitters, sitting just one big fly shy of entering the top-10 for career home runs at 16 in her career.
SETTING 'EM UP, KNOCKING 'EM DOWN
At times in 2021, junior right handed pitcher Savannah Diederich has been downright unhittable. In just 22.1 innings of work in the circle, Diederich has posted 32 strikeouts. Entering the season with a career-high of seven strikeouts in a single game, the Californian has matched or bested that mark three times already this season. The righty flamethrower has always shown a penchant for punchouts, having struck out 67 batters in only 56.1 career innings.
NO PLACE LIKE HOME
The Ole Miss Softball Complex has been a place of comfort for the Rebels in non-conference clashes in recent years. With a perfect 8-0 record at home in 2020, Ole Miss has won 33-of-38 games in Oxford in the last two seasons. The Rebs have not lost back-to-back home contests since dropping both ends of a doubleheader to No. 23 Mississippi State on April 15, 2018.
Outside of SEC play, the Rebels have been nothing short of dominant when playing in front of its home crowd. Ole Miss has won 27-straight non-conference regular season home games in a row, having not fallen to a non-SEC team in Oxford during the regular season since a 5-0 defeat to Boston College in 2018. Dating back to 2019, when Ole Miss went 13-0 at home in non-conference play, the Rebels have outscored their opponents 149-25 on home soil in non-league action.
WELCOME TO THE SHOW
Six players have made their Rebel debut during the first two weeks of the season in freshmen Jess Acosta, Blaise Biringer, Landyn Bruce, Aynslie Furbush and Macey Keester as well as junior transfer Maddi Banks. Biringer is the only player to appear in all nine games, making seven starts. Furbush has also cracked the starting lineup twice.
BALL MAGNET
Over the past two seasons, nobody on the Rebel roster has been more consistently on base than junior Mikayla Allee, having posted a .449 on-base percentage in her collegiate career. One of the key contributing factors to this is the Corona, California, native's uncanny ability to draw HBPs. Despite having played just 92 total games in her career, Allee has been hit by 22 pitches, already ranking fifth all-time at Ole Miss. Utilizing another year of experience, senior Autumn Gillespie has also shown a knack for reaching base by being plunked, sitting just ahead of Allee with 24 HBPs in a Rebel uniform.
VETERAN GROUP
Thanks in part to the extra year of eligibility allowed by the NCAA due to the 2020 season being cut short, Ole Miss returns one of if not the most experienced lineup in the SEC. Ole Miss boasts a roster of 12 seniors, including three players entering their fifth collegiate season and one player entering her sixth. Arkansas is the only other team in the conference with 12 players who are in at least their fourth season at the collegiate level.
The Rebels return five players with more than 100 games of experience (Gabby Alvarez, Autumn Gillespie, Abbey Latham, Jessica Puk, Amanda Roth), including three with greater than 100 starts (Gillespie, Latham, Roth). Entering her sixth season, Gillespie leads the way, cracking the starting lineup in 180 of her 185 appearances at the collegiate level. From top to bottom the Rebels boast experience, with 10 of the 23 players who play a position in the field having made at least 75 appearances in their career.
With every every-day player returning to the field for the Rebels in 2021, Ole Miss returns nearly all of its production in every offensive category, including at-bats (98.1%), runs (94.6%), hits (99.4%), RBIs (97.9%), doubles (100%), triples (100%), home runs (100%), walks (98.9% and stolen bases (100%). With four of six pitchers returning in the circle, Ole Miss returns a bulk of its production in appearances (71.4%), starts (56.0%), innings (56.2%) and strikeouts (51.9%).
RUN AT YOUR OWN RISK
Since joining Ole Miss ahead of the 2018 season, senior catcher Autumn Gillespie has struck fear in the eyes of opposing base stealers. Over the past three seasons Gillespie's 27 runners caught stealing has been topped by just two active SEC players (Mississippi State's Mia Davidson - 28, Missouri's Hatti Moore - 28). However, Gillespie has been far more efficient with controlling the run game than the two aforementioned players, with the California native throwing out 38.0 percent of would be base stealers, compared to 31.5 percent for Moore and 28.9 percent for Davidson. In fact, since Gillespie entered the league in 2018, no catcher with at least 25 runners caught stealing has gunned down a higher percentage of runners. Even when runners don't take the risk of attempting to swipe a base, Gillespie has flashed her arm with a pair of pickoffs in 2021.
ROOKIES IN THE RANKINGS
In addition to having nearly the entire 2020 roster returning, Ole Miss bolstered its lineup with a talented group of six true freshmen. Included in that crew are a pair of rookies who were ranked in FloSoftball's Hot 100 Rankings in infielder Blaise Biringer and Aynslie Furbush, who plays both in the field and in the circle.
A middle infielder from Nogales, Arizona, Biringer was tabbed as the No. 59 incoming freshman in the nation by FloSoftball. Biringer helped lead Cienega High School to a pair of state championships, earning all-state laurels three times, including back-to-back first team nods in 2018 and 2019.
In addition to being ranked No. 85 in FloSoftball's class of 2020 Hot 100, Furbush was also slotted as the No. 16 rookie in the nation in Softball America's Top-25 Freshmen list. A 2018-19 Florida State Champion with Winter Springs High School, Furbush garnered Junior All-American laurels from MaxPreps and was also tabbed as the FACA 8A Player of the Year in 2019.
WHO YOU CALLING HOKIE?
Among the new faces in the Ole Miss lineup is utility player Maddi Banks, a transfer from Virginia Tech. The Iowa native is expected to make an immediate impact, earning D1Softball's SEC Preseason Newcomer of the Year laurel. In her two seasons in Blacksburg, Banks played in 75 total games among various positions. After establishing herself as a regular contributor as a freshman, Banks broke out in 2020. The junior started 22 games for VT, ranking fifth on the team with a .340 average while posting a .581 slugging percentage with three doubles, a triple and a pair of home runs.
A NEW ERA
A new era of Ole Miss softball begins in 2021, with Jamie Trachsel being named the sixth head coach in program history on April 24, 2020. Trachsel brings 18 years of coaching experience to Oxford, including 10 as head coach at successful programs in Minnesota, Iowa State and North Dakota State.
In her 10 seasons as a head coach, Trachsel has guided her teams to the postseason seven times. The Duluth, Minnesota, native has steered her teams to 11 conference regular season and tournament championships, coaching 47 all-league players along the way. Trachsel's crowning achievement came in 2019, earning NFCA Great Lakes Coach of the Year honors after taking the Golden Gophers to the program's first-ever Women's College World Series.
A familiar face in Oxford, former Rebel volunteer assistant coach Katie Rietkovich Browder returns to Ole Miss after spending two years on Trachsel's Minnesota staff. In addition to helping the Golden Gophers in their run to the WCWS, Rietkovich Browder was a key piece in Ole Miss' 2017 SEC Tournament Championship and trip to Super Regionals. Reitkovich Browder was also crucial in the development of the Rebels' corps of slappers, including the likes of Kylan Becker and Elantra Cox.
Former United States Junior Men's National Team member Ryker Chason is in his first season as Ole Miss' pitching coach. Prior to making the move to Oxford, Chason spent four seasons as a student at LSU, assisting Tiger head coach Beth Torina with pitching charts and pitch calls. During his time in Baton Rouge, Chason worked with a plethora of top-end talent, including All-Americans Carley Hoover and Allie Walljasper. While at LSU, Chason also served as the pitching coach for the nationally renowned Georgia Impact Premier Club travel ball team in Atlanta.
Rounding out the new faces on the pitching staff is former Elon standout Kara Shutt. Shutt spent the past two seasons as a graduate assistant at fellow SEC foe South Carolina. During her playing career, Shutt put together one of the finest careers in the history of Elon softball, setting the Phoenix' all-time record for career doubles with 63, while ranking second in school history with 253 career hits. Shutt also filled up her mantel with plenty of awards, earning a trio of All-CAA and NFCA All-Region awards apiece.
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. Also, follow head coach Jamie Trachsel on Twitter at @Jamie_Trachsel.
