Softball Stays in Oxford for Wednesday Midweek with Southern Miss

			OLE MISS (18-10, 3-3 SEC) vs. SOUTHERN MISS (18-10, 0-0 C-USA) Oxford, Miss. Ole Miss Softball Complex (1,000)
Ole Miss Notes (PDF) • Southern Miss Notes • SEC Notes (PDF)

Wednesday, March 24
5 p.m.

Watch • Live Stats

PROMOTIONS
• $1 Hot Dogs

LEADING OFF
• Ole Miss is coming off of a tough three-game sweep at No. 17 Arkansas, falling in extra innings on both Saturday and Sunday.
• Despite the sweep, Ole Miss stands in sixth place in the SEC standings with a 3-3 league record.
• The Rebels have won 22-consecutive games at home, having not fallen in Oxford since the 2019 NCAA Oxford Regional.
• Ole Miss has been victorious in each of its last 35 non-conference home games, having not lost since a defeat to Boston College in Oxford in 2018.
• Originally scheduled to be played in Hattiesburg, Wednesday's game was moved to Oxford due to inclement forecasted weather.
• Wednesday's game will be the 35th all-time meeting between Ole Miss and Southern Miss. The Rebels and Golden Eagles have met up every year other that two (2017 & 2020) since 2000.
• Ole Miss has won each of the last two meetings between the two sides and 12 of the last 15 matchups.
• Abbey Latham hit the 27th home run of her career at Arkansas, moving the senior into solo possession of third place in the all-time Rebel record book.
• Officially qualifying with 150 career innings, Anna Borgen ranks first all-time at Ole Miss in both career ERA (1.90) and opponent batting average (.209).
• Blaise Biringer ranks fourth in the nation with 38 hits on the season, while also ranking fifth nationally with five triples.
• Ole Miss' 11 shutouts in 2021 is the third most in the nation, while Borgen ranks seventh individually with four shutouts.

SCOUTING REPORT
In-state foe Southern Miss is led by head coach Brian Levin. Levin was named the head coach of the Golden Eagles in July 2019 and has yet to actually get a full season under his belt in Hattiesburg. Hailing from Belmont, Levin posted a 91-70 record with the Bruins and led them to two OVC tournaments in his three years with the program. Prior to the cancellation of the 2020 season, Levin was 14-8 with the Golden Eagles. This season, they are 18-10 overall and are off to a 5-1 start in Conference USA action.

The Golden Eagles have been hot, winning six of their last seven games. Over the weekend they took two-of-three from Samford but dropped Sunday's game 2-8, which snapped a six-game winning streak. In the three-game series, Southern Miss shutout the Bulldogs on Friday, 4-0, and won 6-2 on Saturday. The Golden Eagles also took on SEC foe Auburn earlier in the season, dropping two close games on the road, 4-6 and 1-2.

Second baseman Alyssa Davis has logged a standout season thus far with a team-high .341 batting average. She leads C-USA with 30 hits and 22 runs batted in. Destini Brown paces Southern Miss with a .474 on-base percentage and 23 walks on the season. Brown is also a serious threat on the base bath. The Senior is a perfect 18-18 this season and has come around to score 29 times this season.

Kaylan Ladner has been a star for Southern Miss in the circle through her first 13 appearances. She is 8-1 on the year with a team-leading 1.35 ERA in 51.2 innings of work. Despite allowing 44 hits, Ladner has been able to keep opponents off the board. As a team, the Golden Eagles are only allowing opposing teams to hit .228.

OLE MISS ANNOUNCES UPDATED ATTENDANCE POLICY
In accordance with the State of Mississippi's latest executive orders, Ole Miss Athletics has announced updated attendance plans for softball this spring. These policies will take effect beginning with games this weekend.

After player guest lists have been received from both the home and visiting teams, priority admission will be offered to a select group of supporters through the Ole Miss Softball Diamond Club. Once those RSVPs are secured, remaining spots, which are expected to increase throughout the spring, will be offered to the general public on a first come, first served basis at the gates.

Current members of the Diamond Club (formerly the Dugout Club) that meet criteria will receive an email with details on attending games. Fans interested in the Diamond Club may join here.

Fans are required to wear a face covering upon entry into the facility, while in transit around the stadiums and may only remove them when at their seat. All other previously announced COVID-19 safety measures remain in place.

BEST ABILITY? DEPENDABILITY
Over the past few seasons, no two players have been as rock solid dependable as Jessica Puk and Paige Smith. The duo are the only Rebels to start all 53 games the past two seasons, with Puk serving as the ultimate Swiss Army Knife and Smith splitting time between second and third base.

In fact, Puk has taken it a step further, starting every game of the last three seasons, a total of 114 games, after making just eight starts as a true freshman in 2018. Again, the Iowa native has shown flexibility too, making starts at six different positions during her career (catcher, second base, third base, left field, right field, designated player).

RISING TO THE TOP
Throwing 10.2 innings at Arkansas, Anna Borgen crossed the 150 innings threshold for her career, officially qualifying for the all-time career marks in the Ole Miss record book. The Heath, Texas, native immediately vaulted all the way to the top, ranking first in program-history with a 1.90 career ERA and a .209 batting average against. Borgen has also posted seven shutouts in her career, all in the last two seasons, to tie for seventh most all-time.

HEY OLD FRIEND
The Rebels will see a familiar face when looking across the field on Wednesday in former Rebel Izzy Werdann, who serves as the graduate assistant for Southern Miss. Werdann played two seasons at Ole Miss after transferring from Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, appearing in 33 games with four starts from 2018-19, batting .281 for her career.

AGAINST THE GOLDEN EAGLES
In fairly limited action during their careers, the Rebel pitching staff has fared well against Southern Miss. Anna Borgen made one relief appearance against USM in 2018, throwing 4.1 scoreless frames with one hit allowed. In appearances, one start and one out of the bullpen, Ava Tillmann has combined to throw 11 complete against the Golden Eagles, allowing a single run on eight hits with seven strikeouts.

STATEMENT SWEEP
For the first time in the 25-year history of the rivalry, Ole Miss swept a three game series over Mississippi State this past weekend, outscoring the Bulldogs 18-1 at the Ole Miss Softball Complex. It was the first sweep of an SEC of any kind for the Rebels since 2017, when Ole Miss took all three against No. 11 LSU in Oxford. The Rebel pitchers were nothing short of dominant against the formidable Bulldog lineup, holding MSU to a single run for a collective 0.37 ERA. The Ole Miss staff held Mississippi State to a meager .162 average over the weekend, compared to a .302 average at the plate for the Rebels. With the sweep, Ole Miss begins SEC play at 3-0 for the first time in program history. Ole Miss has won seven of the last eight and 13 of the last 17 matchups with Mississippi State.

NO PLACE LIKE HOME
The Ole Miss Softball Complex has been an absolute fortress for the Rebels over the last few years. After going a perfect 8-0 at home in 2020 and kicking off the 2021 slate by tying the program record with 11-straight wins in Oxford, Ole Miss has rattled off 22-straight home wins and has won 44-of-49 games in Oxford dating back to the start of the 2019 season.

Outside of SEC play, the Rebels have been nothing short of dominant when playing in front of its home crowd. Ole Miss has won 35-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.

SWITCHED HITTER
When Kelsha Loftin first arrived at Ole Miss in 2019, she had been a right handed hitter her entire career. In fact, the Jones College transfer was an extremely accomplished hitter from the right side of the plate, garnering the 2018 NJCAA Division II Player of the Year Award. However, as a consummate team player, when asked to switch to the left side and become a slapper the Mississippi native relished the challenge. In Loftin's first two seasons at Ole Miss she took just three at-bats, primarily serving as a pinch runner and doing so with a smile on her face, scoring 33 times in 57 appearances. This season, Loftin has been rewarded for her patience and team spirit with more opportunities at the dish and has taken full advantage. Entering the year without a single hit at the Division I level, the senior has made six starts and taken 16 at-bats, tallying six base knocks for a .375 average.

HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT
Ole Miss has resorted to a "by any means necessary" policy when it comes to getting on base, easily leading the nation with 42 HBPs on the season, five ahead of second best Saint Francis (PA). The Rebels have been plunked at least once in all but five games in 2021, tallying multiple HBPs 15 times. Paige Smith and Mikayla Allee have been particularly adept, tying for fifth most in the nation with 10 HBPs apiece. Allee has been wearing pitches her entire Rebel career, ranking second in school history with 31 HBPs despite only playing in 108 total games.

ONE'S NOT ENOUGH
Throughout her freshman campaign, Blaise Biringer has proven to not only be one of the most consistent bats in the Ole Miss lineup, but across the entire SEC. The true freshman is tied for the SEC lead with 13 multi-hit games in 2021, matching Arkansas's Danielle Gibson, Kentucky's Kayla Kowalik and South Carolina's Mackenzie Boesel. Biringer is not only the only freshman among the group, but the only of the four players who is not a junior or older.

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 29 runners caught stealing is second most in the SEC behind Mississippi State's Mia Davidson (30) and tied with Missouri's Hatti Moore. However, Gillespie has been far more efficient with controlling the run game than the two aforementioned players, with the California native throwing out 38.2 percent of would be base stealers, compared to 30.2 percent for Moore and 28.6 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.

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 during the second week of the season. 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.

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. Rietkovich 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.

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Players Mentioned

Mikayla Allee

Maddi Banks

Kylan Becker

Blaise Biringer

Anna Borgen

Elantra Cox

Aynslie Furbush

Autumn Gillespie

Abbey Latham

Kelsha Loftin

Jessica Puk

Paige Smith

Ava Tillmann

Izzy Werdann

The University of Mississippi Athletics