The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Missouri State
Softball Returns Home To Host Ole Miss Classic
3/2/2023 | Softball
Rebels Welcome Missouri State, Mount St. Mary's and SEMO to Town
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OLE MISS CLASSIC March 3-5 Oxford, Miss. Ole Miss Softball Complex |
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| Ole Miss Notes (PDF) • Missouri State Notes (PDF) • Mount St. Mary's Notes (PDF) • SEMO Notes (PDF) SEC Notes (PDF) • Tournament Central |
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| Friday, March 3 vs. Missouri State & Mount St. Mary's 3:30 p.m. | 6 p.m. |
Saturday, March 4 vs. Missouri State & SEMO 3:30 p.m. | 6 p.m. |
Sunday, March 5 vs. SEMO & Mount St. Mary's 12:30 p.m. | 3 p.m. |
| Game One: Live Stats | Watch Game Two: Live Stats | Watch |
Game One: Live Stats | Watch Game Two: Live Stats | Watch |
Game One: Live Stats | Watch Game Two: Live Stats | Watch |
LEADING OFF
• After spending the first 15 games of the 2023 season on the road, Ole Miss softball returns to Oxford to host the annual Ole Miss Classic March 3-5. This year's tournament features Missouri State, Mount St. Mary's and SEMO.
• In her last five games, senior Mya Stevenson is hitting .467 with seven hits, including three home runs, six runs scored and five RBIs.
• Ole Miss boasts one of the nation's top defenses. The Rebels lead the SEC with 0.73 double plays per game and a .981 fielding percentage.
• Shortstop Mikayla Allee is coming off a career-best 3-for-4 performance against Louisiana. The fifth-year senior leads the Rebels with a .400 batting average.
• The Rebels have been nothing short of dominant in Oxford, boasting a 76-14 record at the Ole Miss Softball Complex since the start of the 2019 season.
• Ole Miss' 2022 signing class that arrived on campus this past August was ranked No. 3 in the nation by ExtraInningSoftball.
• Through the first 15 games, 26 different Rebels have suited up for Ole Miss in the lineup.
• Ole Miss returns 15 players from last season's roster, including fifth-year seniors Mikayla Allee and Tate Whitley. The 2023 roster also includes four impact transfers in Makenna Kliethermes, Jenna Lord, Mya Stevenson and Savana Sikes.
SCOUTING MISSOURI STATE
Head coach Holly Hesse is in her 35th season at the helm of the Bears program. She ranks second in the MVC in overall career victories with 877 and second in MVC career victories with 379 league wins. Missouri State is off to a 5-8 start this season. Last weekend, they went 2-2 at the Michelle Short Collegiate Classic hosted by Central Arkansas with an 8-6 win over South Dakota State and a forfeit victory against Mississippi Valley State. The Bears dropped two contests to host UCA. Freshman Abby Ford (Fr., Ozark, Mo.) leads the way for the Bears offensively so far this season with a .387 batting average, 12 hits and 8 runs scored. She also leads the Missouri Valley Conference and ranks 6th nationally with 13 stolen bases on the season. In the circle, the Bears boast a 4.05 staff ERA with 43 strikeouts through 74.1
SCOUTING MOUNT ST. MARY'S
Mount St. Mary's opened the 2023 season by going 2-2 at the Chanticleer Showdown hosted by Coastal Carolina last weekend. The Mount picked up a 2-0 shutout against Saint Joseph's, was edged by UAlbany and earned a doubleheader split with Coastal Carolina. Abigayle Perry and Avery Neuhart collected Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference weekly honors after strong performances at Coastal Carolina. Perry was named the MAAC Player of the Week after hitting .700 (7-for-10) in the four games with a .786 on-base percentage and a 1.200 slugging percentage. Neuhart went 1-0 with a 0.68 ERA in two starts. She tossed a complete game, allowing one earned run, in the 3-2 win over Coastal Carolina.
SCOUTING SOUTHEAST MISSOURI STATE
After going 30-24 last season, Mark Redburn enters his ninth season as the head coach for Redhawks. They are off to a 4-4 start to the 2023 season. Redburn is fresh off his 300th NCAA Division 1 win, which he secured after a doubleheader sweep against Saint Louis. Offensively, SEMO is led by Alyson Tucker, who is batting .409 on the year with nine hits. She is also tied with Paige Halliwill with a team-best .500 on-base percentage. In the circle, Delaney Kell boasts a 3-1 record to go along with her 3.98 ERA through 19.1 innings.
MY OH MYA
Slugger Mya Stevenson ranks second in the SEC and seventh nationally with six home runs through the first 15 games this season. She blasted one in each game of Ole Miss' doubleheader with North Dakota State, hit a three-run shot against Wisconsin and recorded the seventh multi-home run game of her career this past weekend. The graduate transfer leads the team lead with 11 RBIs and a .780 slugging percentage. Stevenson is up to 65 career home runs, the most among all active players in Division I College Softball.
NO PLACE LIKE HOME
The Ole Miss Softball Complex has been an absolute fortress for the Rebels since the arrival of head coach Jamie Trachsel. After going 24-3 at home in 2021 and 19-6 in Oxford last season, Ole Miss is ready to defend its home field again in 2023. Further, the Rebels have won 76-of-90 games at home, 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 55-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 an 8-2 defeat to Boston College in 2018.
LEAVING IT ALL(EE) ON THE TABLE
Although it's early in the 2023 season, fifth-year senior Mikayla Allee is quietly putting together one of the best offensive seasons of her career. The Corona, California, native anchors the bottom of the order and currently leads the team with a .400 batting average. Allee has a team-best 16 hits in the first 15 games and has collected multiple hits in four contests.
REBEL DEBUTS
Through the first 15 games of the season, 26 different players appeared in the lineup at some point for Ole Miss. Of the 26 Rebels to see the field, 11 made their debut in an Ole Miss uniform.
WELCOME TO THE SHOW
In the Rebels' first two weeks of the season at the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge, Jalia Lassiter, Jamie Mackay and Natalie Ray stepped up, proving to be clutch in crunch time. The freshman trio batted a combined .348 with 11 RBIs and 13 runs scored.
VIVA LA REBS
The Rebels wrapped up their 12 day stay in Puerta Vallarta, Mexico, battle tested. Ole Miss competed against five teams coming off NCAA Tournament appearances in 2022, including No. 3 Oklahoma State and No. 24 Oregon. Overall, the Rebels went 6-4 during their stay south of the border, with wins over North Carolina, Wisconsin, North Dakota State, Liberty and Southern Illinois. The tough competition in Puerto Vallarta gave the Rebels an early challenge that will have them ready for SEC play.
SPINNY REBELS
Since the arrival of pitching coach Ryker Chason, the Ole Miss pitching staff has been one of the SEC's best. The Spinny Rebels boast a 2.94 ERA over the past two seasons and rank third in the conference with 29 shutouts. As a staff this year, they already have two shutouts, ranking 69th in the nation, and boast a 2.31 ERA.
TRANSFER TO THE 'SIP
Head Coach Jamie Trachsel dipped into the transfer portal this offseason to add top-tier talent to her 2023 roster, welcoming in four transfers who look to immediately contribute this season.
Makenna Kliethermes graduated in May from Oregon and joins the Rebels pitching staff with two years of eligibility remaining. This past season, she handled the bulk of the work on the Oregon staff, making 32 appearances, including 16 starts. The Wardsville, Missouri, native tallied an 11-7 record and 3.65 ERA in 117.0 innings of work. Kliethermes finished the season with five complete-game efforts, including a one-hit shutout of the Rebels last February.
Staying in the SEC, Jenna Lord joins the Rebels after playing one season at Alabama. She appeared in 45 games for the Crimson Tide, making 30 starts. Lord split time between second base, right field and the DP position in Tuscaloosa. As a freshman, she recorded 26 hits, including six doubles and two home runs, while hitting .289.
Making her way to Oxford as a graduate transfer, Mya Stevenson wrapped up her career at Marshall as one of the program's top sluggers. This past season, she earned NFCA Third Team All-America status after batting .361 with 56 hits, 41 runs scored and 55 RBIs. Stevenson also became Marshall's all-time home run leader with 59 career bombs after mashing 19 in 2022. The Lone Star product ranks second all-time in slugging percentage (.771) and fourth in runs batted in with 169 while tallying 171 hits in her four years with the Herd. Heading into the 2023 season, Stevenson has garnered preseason praise, being named as the No. 52 player in D1Softball's preseason top 100 and the No. 14 outfielder in the position power rankings.
Sikes joins the Rebels after electing to play her fifth and final season in Oxford. The former Georgia Bulldog brings a plethora of experience with 195 starts across both the infield and outfield in her four-year career. She is coming off the best season of her career, recording a .285 average with 45 hits and 33 runs scored.
HOTTY TODDY TATE
Senior Tate Whitley was an offensive sparkplug for Ole Miss last season. Hitting in the leadoff spot, Whitley reached base safely in all but 12 games for the Rebels and collected multiple hits in 25 contests, including nine three-hit games and one four-hit outing. Further, she crossed the plate 51 times for the Rebels in 2022, the second-most in a single season in program history. The Angleton, Texas, native led the SEC with 74 hits during the regular season and ended the year with 77 total, the third most ever by a Rebel. Whitley wrapped up the season 12th in the NCAA in hits and posted a .387 batting average, helping her earn NFCA South First Team All-Region Honors.
THE BULL
Nicknamed "The Bull" for her relentless energy and competitive mentality, Catelyn Riley played a big role in the Rebels'charge through the second half of last season. Although she was a freshman, she became a mainstay in the Ole Miss lineup, starting the final 18 games of the regular season and boasting a .361 average. But Riley's impact went well beyond the plate. She was also a difference-maker for the Rebels in the circle, ranking second on the team in innings pitched with 81.0 and a 3.46 ERA. Her success was remarkable, as her team-high 12 wins were the second-most by an Ole Miss freshman pitcher trailing only Amanda Fine (17 in 1997).
ROOKIES IN THE RANKINGS
Head coach Jamie Trachsel's second signing class at Ole Miss brought some of the nation's top talent to Oxford. The Rebel class was ranked No. 3 in the nation by Extra Innings Softball, featuring seven players ranked inside the top-200 in Extra Inning's rankings, with six incoming Rebs garnering Extra Elite 100 status.
A six-time letterwinner at Neshoba High School in Philadelphia, Mississippi, Tenly Grisham was ranked 42nd overall and 28th among middle infielders by Extra Inning Softball. She helped lead NHS to four state championships, earning all-state honors each season. Grisham capped off her career with a .531 batting average as a senior and was named the 2022 Mississippi Softball Gatorade Player of the Year.
Jalia Lassiter, a six-time letterwinner at Flomaton High School in Flomaton, Alabama, was ranked 19th overall and 12th among middle infielders by Extra Inning Softball. She was named to the AHSAA All-Star Team and earned 3A AHSAA First Team All-State honors after registering a .573 average with 12 triples, five doubles, nine homers, 46 runs and 55 RBIs as a junior.
Outfielder Natalie Ray ranked 24th overall and 9th among outfielders by Extra Inning Softball. A four-time letterwinner at Eastside High School in Covington, Georgia, she was named First Team All-State all four years. Ray batted .512 with 10 doubles, three triples and nine home runs with 44 runs and 23 RBIs as a senior, earning her a spot on the PGF All-American team.
Right-hand pitcher Grace Sparks out of Crosby, Texas, ranked 30th overall and 11th among pitchers by Extra Inning Softball. She was a four-year letterwinner, three-time captain and two-time team MVP at Crosby High School and was named Texas 5A Pitcher of the Year in 2021 after posting a 1.27 ERA with 199 strikeouts in 143 innings.
A three-time letterwinner at West Brook High School in Beaumont, Texas, Grace Thompson was ranked 28th overall and 19th among middle infielders by Extra Inning Softball. She collected three all-district nods in her career and batted .576 with 39 RBIs and 10 home runs as a junior.
Mackenzie White ranked 52nd overall and 18th among catchers by Extra Inning Softball. The four-time letterwinner at Heard County High School in Franklin, Georgia, racked up 28 home runs and over 140 RBIs during her high school career. A four-time all-region and two-time all-state honoree, White helped lead HCHS to back-to-back state championships in 2020 and 2021.
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.
