Softball Opens SEC Play in Starkville

			OLE MISS (21-4, 0-0 SEC) at MISSISSIPPI STATE (16-10, 1-2 SEC) Starkville, Miss. Nusz Park
Ole Miss Notes (PDF) • Mississippi State Notes (PDF) • SEC Notes (PDF)

Friday, March 18 6 p.m.	Saturday, March 19 4:30 p.m.	Sunday, March 20 12 p.m.
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LEADING OFF
• Looking to continue its historic start to the 2022 season, Ole Miss softball travels to Starkville to take on Mississippi State to open SEC play. This marks the second straight season that the Rebels will take on the Bulldogs to begin conference action.
• The Rebels swept Stephen F. Austin in a three-game series in their final weekend of action before conference play starts. They have now won 12 straight games dating back to February 26.
• Ole Miss' 21-4 start to the season is tied for the best record through 25 games in program history with the 2017 team that won the SEC Tournament Championship and advanced to the NCAA Super Regional.
• Outfielder Tate Whitley has perfectly assumed the role of leadoff batter for the Rebels. The senior leads the nation with 41 hits and is sixth in the country with a .506 batting average.
• Playing in Oxford, the Rebels have now won 51 consecutive non-conference games, having not fallen to a non-SEC team at home during the regular season since 2018.
• Transfer Bre Roper has stepped into the Rebel lineup and made an immediate impact. The senior is batting .417 with 30 hits and 15 walks. Roper has also collected a hit in 13 of her last 17 games.
• One of the Rebels' top offensive weapons in Abbey Latham is back for an extra season in Oxford. The fifth year senior currently ranks inside the top five in program history in doubles (37), home runs (31), RBIs (135) and slugging percentage (.530).

SCOUTING REPORT
Samantha Ricketts is in her third season as head coach of the Mississippi State Bulldogs. After guiding the program to an NCAA Regional in her first full season last year, Ricketts and the Bulldogs have their sights on another strong season. Mississippi State owns a 16-10 record heading into the weekend series, including victories over Georgia Tech and a 1-0 shutout of No. 4 Florida during its opening weekend of SEC play last Sunday. Mississippi State leads the rivalry with Ole Miss 43-33, although the Rebels have dominated the series since 2015, boasting a 13-5 record, including their first sweep over the Bulldogs in program history last season.

Offensively, MSU is led by the SEC's career home run leader, Mia Davidson. The graduate student paces the Bulldogs with a .412 average, 11 home runs, 26 RBIs and a 1.015 slugging percentage. Senior Chloe Malau'ulu ranks closely behind Davidson with 27 hits on the year and a .346 mark at the plate. In the circle, Annie Willis leads the team with a 1.69 ERA through 37.1 innings pitched. The reigning Co-SEC Pitcher of the Week is coming off a complete-game shutout win over the Gators last week. Kenley Hawk also has been strong in the circle for the Bulldogs with a 6-2 record and 1.88 ERA this season.

ONE LAST RIDE
In 2022, four Rebels will be exercising their fifth season of eligibility as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Three returners in Abbey Latham, Anna Borgen and Sydney Gutierrez, along with Georgia Tech transfer Bre Roper are set to cap off their collegiate careers in Ole Miss uniforms.

TRACHSEL'S 400TH CAREER VICTORY
Head coach Jamie Trachsel picked up her 400th career victory as the Rebels shutout Samford 2-0 to close out an undefeated weekend at the Ole Miss Classic Sunday afternoon. Catelyn Riley was dominant in the circle, going the distance for her first career complete-game shutout as she faced 25 batters and only allowed three hits. Offensively, Nyomi Jones delivered a clutch RBI single to break the tie in the fifth. The milestone victory for Trachsel gives her 400 career wins in her 11th season as a head coach.

HOTTY TODDY TATE
Senior Tate Whitley has been a sparkplug for the Ole Miss offense this season. Hitting in the leadoff spot, Whitley has reached base in all but five games for the Rebels this season and has collected multiple hits in 15 games, including seven three-hit games. Through 25 games, the Angleton, Texas, native has tallied 41 hits, just three shy of her total from last season (44). Whitley leads the NCAA in hits this season and ranks sixth nationally with a .506 batting average.

SHUT DOWN STUFF
After ranking second in the SEC and 11th in the nation last season with 16 shutouts, the Rebels' pitching staff is back at it in 2022. Ole Miss has tallied seven shutouts so far this season, including four complete-game efforts. Junior Brooke Vestal owns a pair of shutouts and leads the team with a 0.50 ERA through 28.0 innings pitched. Savannah Diederich also owns one of the complete-game shutouts, nearly tossing the first no-hitter of her career as she went 6.2 innings without allowing a hit. Freshman Catelyn Riley is responsible for the other complete-game effort, blanking Samford to close out the Ole Miss Classic.

IMMEDIATE IMPACT
Following the conclusion of the 2021 season, Ole Miss announced the addition of two transfers who look to contribute right out of the gate. Utility player Bre Roper joins the Rebels from Georgia Tech as a fifth-year senior and has already established herself as a mainstay in the Ole Miss lineup. Roper has tallied a hit in 13 of her last 17 games and is hitting .417 on the season with 13 runs scored and 16 more batted in.

Also making her way to Oxford is junior right-hand pitcher Brooke Vestal. The former No. 1 recruit in the nation by FloSoftball and high-school All-American joins the Rebels after spending the last three seasons at Oklahoma. Vestal has six appearances on the season, including a pair of complete-game shutouts against DePaul and Western Kentucky. She picked up a pair of wins against Stephen F. Austin this past week, including a career-high 12 strikeout outing, to move to 5-0 in 2022. The junior leads the Rebel bullpen with a 0.50 ERA through 28.0 innings pitched.

HOT HITTING
Freshman Angelina DeLeon has been one of the hottest hitting Rebels since their return to Oxford. She is batting a team-high .500 through the first nine games at the Ole Miss Softball Complex this season, with a hit in each of her last eight games. This past weekend, she went 4-for-6 as the Rebels swept Stephen F. Austin, collecting two doubles and her first collegiate home run in game one of the series. The Valley Springs, California, product has come into her own at the second base position. DeLeon is batting .395 on the season, ranking third among freshmen in the SEC.

LATHAM'S LEGACY
One of the Rebels' top offensive weapons in Abbey Latham returned for an extra season in Oxford. The fifth-year senior is coming off one of her most productive seasons and is off and running with the Rebels in 2022. Earlier this season against Samford, Latham played in the 200th game of her Ole Miss career. She currently ranks inside the top five in program history in doubles (37), home runs (31), RBIs (135) and slugging percentage (.530). Climbing her way through the record books, the Livingston, Alabama, native continues to cement her legacy as one of the Rebel greats.

NO PLACE LIKE HOME
The Ole Miss Softball Complex has been an absolute fortress for the Rebels over the last few years. After going 24-3 at home in 2021, including a perfect 15-0 against non-conference opponents, the Ole Miss is off to a 9-0 start in Oxford. It picked up a 7-4 victory in their home opener, swept the Ole Miss Classic and swept a three-game series with SFA. The Rebels have now won 66-of-74 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 51-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.

DEBUT DINGERS
Freshmen Annie Orman and Makenna Segal made the most of their first collegiate at-bats, blasting home runs. Orman took only the third pitch of her career for a ride, sending the Rebel dugout into a frenzy against Nicholls State. Segal got all of a 3-2 pitch, launching her first career home run against Eastern Kentucky.

ROOKIES IN THE RANKINGS
Head coach Jamie Trachsel's first recruiting class at Ole Miss welcomed nine freshmen to Oxford. The talented group ranked No. 10 in the nation by Extra Innings Softball bolsters a healthy mix of talent across the field. The class includes eight total signees, including four members of Extra Innings' Elite 100 Player Rankings.

Infielder Brooke Barnard was tabbed as the No. 11 ranked recruit in Extra Innings Softball's 2021 Recruiting Rankings. A three-time letterwinner at Palm Beach Gardens High School in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, Barnard helped lead PBGHS to district championships in 2018 and 2019, while receiving all-district, all-county and all-state honors in both seasons.

A three-time South Dakota First Team All-State and four-time Class A All-Tournament Fastpitch honoree, Lexie Brady checks in tied for 52nd in Extra Innings Softball's Recruiting Rankings. As a senior at O'Gorman High School in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Brady hit .544 with nine doubles, a triple and eight home runs, scoring 35 runs and driving in 28 more.

Makenna Segal comes to Oxford ranked tied for 65th in Extra Innings Softball's Recruiting Rankings. A four-time letterwinner at South Forsyth High School in Cumming, Georgia, she set school records in career batting average (.489), career on-base percentage (.620), home runs (34) and career walks (118).

KK Esparza rounds out the Rebel freshman class in the Extra Innings Softball's Recruiting Rankings at No. 69. Esparza was a three-time letterwinner at Friendswood High School in Friendswood, Texas, where she played under Olympic gold medalist Christa Williams-Yates.

OLE MISS PICKED 9TH IN PRESEASON SEC POLL
Ole Miss has been picked 9th in the 2022 Preseason SEC Softball Poll. Last season, Ole Miss finished eighth in the conference after being picked last in the coaches' poll. The Rebels garnered a 12-12 record in league play in 2021, with the 12 wins ranking as the second-most ever in a season in program history. In five of the past six completed seasons, Ole Miss has outperformed its projection in the conference preseason rankings.

CHAMPIONS. NOW.
The $350 Million CHAMPIONS. NOW. capital campaign has been established to vastly improve the Ole Miss Athletics facilities and raise the standard for the Rebels' level of competitiveness and success within the Southeastern Conference and nationally. The Ole Miss Softball Complex is one of the first phases of the plans with a $20 million stadium renovation, featuring a larger press box, upgraded grandstands, enlarged bullpens, as well as improved team offices and storage, helping raise the standard.

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

Brooke Barnard

Anna Borgen

Lexie Brady

Angelina DeLeon

Savannah Diederich

KK Esparza

Sydney Gutierrez

Nyomi Jones

Abbey Latham

Annie Orman

Catelyn Riley

Bre Roper

Makenna Segal

Brooke Vestal

Tate Whitley

The University of Mississippi Athletics