Softball Opens SEC Play At No. 4 Tennessee

			OLE MISS (13-8, 0-0 SEC) at #4 TENNESSEE (17-1, 0-0 SEC) Knoxville, Tenn. Sherri Parker Lee Stadium
Ole Miss Notes (PDF) • Tennessee Notes (PDF) • SEC Notes (PDF)

Friday, March 10 4 p.m. CT	Saturday, March 11 12:30 p.m. CT	Sunday, March 12 11 a.m. CT
Watch • Live Stats	Watch • Live Stats	Watch • Live Stats

LEADING OFF
• Ole Miss softball opens SEC play on the road at No. 4 Tennessee March 10-12. It marks the Rebels' second straight season, beginning conference play away from home.
• Last year, Ole Miss and Tennessee faced off in Oxford, where the Rebels took the series two games to one.
• The Rebels are coming off a 4-2 weekend at the Ole Miss Classic, tossing three shutouts and scoring 23 runs.
• Freshman Natalie Ray has recorded a hit in each of her last five games.
• The Rebels' pitching staff ranks 30th nationally with a 1.81 earned run average.
• Back to full health, Tate Whitley reassumed her role in the leadoff spot. The Angleton, Texas, native hit .500 with eight hits, four runs scored and an RBI this past weekend.
• Ole Miss boasts one of the nation's top defenses. The Rebels lead the SEC with 0.62 double plays per game and rank second with a .981 fielding percentage.
• Shortstop Mikayla Allee saved the best for last. The fifth-year senior leads the Rebels with 23 hits and a .404 batting average.
• Ole Miss' 2023 roster features 15 returners, four impact transfers and eight freshmen who were ranked as the No. 3 signing class in the nation by ExtraInningSoftball.

SCOUTING TENNESSEE
A 25-year collegiate softball head coaching veteran boasting 1,229 career wins, Karen Weekly is in her 22nd season at the helm of the Tennessee softball program. She has guided the Lady Vols to a staggering 1,007 victories, five top-three national finishes and seven appearances in the Women's College World Series in her time with the UT softball program.

Entering the weekend series, Tennessee checks in at No. 5 in the ESPN/USA Softball Top 25 poll. The Lady Vols kick off conference play weekend with an overall 16-1 record and an 11-game win streak.

As a team, UT is batting .357 and has scored 149 runs for an average of 8.75 per game. At the plate, Kiki Milloy paces Tennessee with a .500 batting average and 25 hits, 10 of which have been home runs, and 23 RBIs. In the circle, Ashley Rogers anchors the nation's top statistical pitching staff. Rogers retains a perfect 5-0 record, appearing in seven games and pitching 31.2 innings. The graduate student has a current 0.66 ERA leading the Vols in strikeouts, taking down 52 batters.

OLE MISS CLASSIC RECAP
Playing at home for the first time this season, the Rebels welcomed Missouri State, Mount St. Mary's and SEMO to Oxford for the Ole Miss Classic. The Rebels saw success in all three facets of the game. Offensively, they hit .320 as a team, with eight different players recording multi-hit games. In the circle, the Spinny Rebels registered a 0.54 ERA as a staff, with three shutouts and only three earned runs allowed. On defense, Ole Miss held strong in the field, only committing three errors.

HOTTY TODDY TATE
After missing suffering an early season injury, senior Tate Whitley is back in the lineup and has resumed her leadoff duties as the sparkplug for the Ole Miss offense. 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. With nine games under her belt this season, Whitley is getting back into the swing of things, tallying three multi-hit games over the weekend at the Ole Miss Classic to give her nine base hits on the year. In her five year Rebel career, she now has 182 career hits, passing RT Cantillo for the 10th most in program history.

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 three seasons, including a 1.81 mark through 21 games this season (30th nationally). His pitching staff ranked third in the conference with 29 shutouts over the span of 2021-22, and they already have five this season, ranking 35th in the nation. Three of those five shutouts came this past weekend as the Spinny Rebels only allowed three earned runs at the Ole Miss Classic and tossed 25 straight scoreless innings.

MY OH MYA
Slugger Mya Stevenson ranks seventh in the SEC and 32nd nationally with seven home runs through the first 21 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 at the Cowgirl Classic. The graduate transfer leads the team lead with 13 RBIs and a .702 slugging percentage. Stevenson is up to 66 career home runs, the most among all active players in Division I College Softball.

LANDSHARK DEFENSE
At Ole Miss, Landshark is a term that was first adopted by the Rebel football team's defensive unit. This spring, a different football team on campus has adopted the Landshark defensive mindset. Ole Miss softball boasts one of the most sound defenses in the nation. It leads the SEC and is sixth in the country in double plays, turning 0.62 per game and ranks second in the SEC and 15th in the NCAA with a .981 fielding percentage. The Rebels have only committed 11 errors on 585 chances.

SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST
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, has climbed the lineup to the No. 2 spot and currently leads the team with a .404 batting average. Allee has a team-best 23 hits in the first 21 games and has collected multiple six in four contests already this year. Further, her 23 hits this season are five shy of her single-season career-high of 28, which she set last year.

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. The Rebels are off to a 4-2 start so far this season and now have won 80-of-96 games at home, dating back to the start of the 2019 season.

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.

ONE LAST RIDE
In 2023, four Rebels will be exercising their fifth season of eligibility as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Two returners in Mikayla Allee and Tate Whitley, along with Marshall transfer Mya Stevenson and Georgia transfer Savana Sikes, are set to cap off their collegiate careers in Ole Miss uniforms.

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.

OLE MISS PICKED 10TH IN PRESEASON SEC POLL
Ole Miss has been picked 10th in the 2023 Preseason SEC Softball Poll as voted on by the conference's 13 head coaches. Last season, Ole Miss finished eighth in the conference with a 12-12 record that included series wins over South Carolina, #12 Tennessee, #16 Georgia and #19 Missouri. In six of the past seven completed seasons, Ole Miss has outperformed its projection in the conference preseason rankings.

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.

RebelsCalendar

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Mikayla Allee

Makenna Kliethermes

Jalia Lassiter

Jenna Lord

Jamie Mackay

Natalie Ray

Savana Sikes

Mya Stevenson

Tate Whitley

The University of Mississippi Athletics