Softball Welcomes No. 15 Kentucky For Weekend Series

			OLE MISS (22-16, 2-7 SEC) vs. #15 Kentucky (21-9-1, 5-4 SEC) Oxford, Miss. Ole Miss Softball Complex
Ole Miss Notes (PDF) • Kentucky Notes (PDF) • SEC Notes (PDF)

Friday, April 7 5 p.m. CT	Saturday, April 8 6 p.m. CT	Sunday, April 9 3 p.m. CT
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LEADING OFF
• Fresh off a midweek victory, Ole Miss softball continues its five-game homestand, welcoming No. 15 Kentucky to town.
• Ole Miss leads the all-time series with Kentucky 32-26; however, the Wildcats took the series last year in Lexington.
• Head coach Jamie Trachsel is one win away from 100 victories at Ole Miss.
• The Rebels have been nothing short of dominant in Oxford, boasting an 86-19 record at the Ole Miss Softball Complex since the start of the 2019 season.
• Catelyn Riley leads the SEC and ranks fourth in the nation with a 0.55 ERA in 38.0 innings pitched on the season.
• A pair of Rebels are closing in on 200 career hits. Tate Whitley is just two hits away from the milestone, while Mya Stevenson needs three base hits to reach 200.
• The Rebel pitching staff boasts a 1.95 ERA on the season, the fourth best mark in the SEC and 20th best in the nation.
• Freshman Jalia Lassiter has had an impressive rookie campaign, batting just a tick under .300 with 29 hits.
• Ole Miss boasts one of the nation's top defenses, ranking sixth in the country with 0.53 double plays per game and 12th with a .979 fielding percentage.

SCOUTING KENTUCKY
Rachel Lawson is in her 16th season as the head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats. The program's winningest head coach has guided Kentucky to 13-straight 30-win seasons at UK. This season, Lawson's squad is off to a 21-9-1 start and checks in at No. 15 in the ESPN/USA Softball Top 25 Poll. Kentucky enters the weekend at 5-4 in SEC play after sweeping No. 23 Missouri and taking a game from No. 24 Texas A&M and No. 10 Georgia. The Wildcats boast one of the conference's best offenses, ranking 20th nationally with a .317 average. Kentucky averages just over five runs per game, led by 2022 All-Americans Kayla Kowalik and Erin Coffel, who are both hitting over .400 through 32 games. Coffel, one of UK's top sluggers, leads the team with 39 RBIs and 12 homers. In the circle, Kentucky has a mix of arms, but relies heavily on two starters: Stephanie Schoonover and Alexia Lacatena. Schoonover leads the team with a 1.45 ERA and 12-1 record. The Wildcats' ace has been named SEC Pitcher of the Week twice and has collected a pair of National Pitcher of the Week honors. She also leads the country in shutouts with eight this year.

HOT HITTING
Since returning home for the Rebel Invitational, freshman Jalia Lassiter has been one of the hottest hitting Rebels. The Flomation, Alabama, native is batting .333 over the 13-game stretch with 12 hits, including five for extra bases. In that span she has scored seven times, driven in eight runs and stolen seven bases for Ole Miss. Overall, Lassiter is having an impressive rookie campaign ranking second in the SEC and ninth nationally with five triples on the 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 11-5 at home this season and have now won 87-of-106 games at home, dating back to the start of the 2019 season.

CHASING 200
Ole Miss is looking to become one of six teams in all of Division I softball this year to have multiple active players with 200 career hits on its roster. Mya Stevenson and Tate Whitley are both chasing their 200th career hits in their fifth season of college softball. Stevenson, a graduate transfer, is just three shy of the milestone, while Whitley is two away. Whitley is also climbing the Ole Miss record books, passing Abbey Latham, Miranda Strother and Allison Brown for the fourth most hits all-time in the Rebels' midweek victory over UT Martin.

THREE IS THE MAGIC NUMBER
So far this season, three has been the magic number for the Ole Miss offense. The Rebels boast a 20-1 record when scoring three or more runs, with their only loss coming against No. 24 Oregon on February 11 in the second game of the season. Further, Ole Miss' pitching and defense has kept them in almost every game this season, only allowing more than three runs in six of 38 games.

THE BULL IS BACK
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. She became a mainstay in the Ole Miss lineup, boasting a .361 average at the plate, while posting a 3.46 ERA through 81.0 innings pitched in the circle and collecting a team-high 12 wins, the second-most by an Ole Miss freshman pitcher.

After missing the first month of the season with an injury, the Dandridge, Tennessee, native returned just in time for conference play. She has earned wins over St. Thomas, No. 10 LSU and No. 19 Auburn. Riley currently leads the SEC and ranks fourth nationally with a 0.55 ERA. Although she has only thrown 38.0 innings on the season, the sophomore is showing no signs of slowing down in year two.

HOTTY TODDY TATE
Back in the lineup after missing most of February, Tate Whitley has resumed her leadoff duties as the sparkplug for the Ole Miss offense. With 26 games under her belt this season, Whitley is back into the swing of things, hitting .333 with eight multi-hit games. Playing her fifth year in a Rebel uniform, she has become one of the most consistent hitters in school history. The Angleton, Texas, native collected two hits in Ole Miss' midweek against UT Martin, giving her 198 in her career, the fourth most in school history. She now ranks fifth in program history with a .347 career average at the plate.

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 2.70 ERA over the past three seasons, including a 1.98 mark through 38 games this season (20th nationally). Chason's pitching staff ranked third in the conference with 29 shutouts from 2021-22, and it already has eight this season, ranking 40th in the nation. Six of the eight shutouts this year have come at home, where the Rebels have only surrendered 11 earned runs in 102.0 innings pitched.

MY OH MYA
Slugger Mya Stevenson ranks seventh in the SEC and 29th nationally with 10 home runs in 33 games played this season. Further, her 10 homers are tied for the eighth most in a single season in program history. The graduate transfer leads the team with 26 RBIs and a .637 slugging percentage. Stevenson is up to 69 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 team on campus has adopted the Landshark defensive mindset. Ole Miss softball boasts one of the most sound defenses in the nation. It ranks sixth in the country in double plays, turning 0.53 per game and 12th in fielding percentage with a .979 mark. The Rebels have only committed 22 errors on 1,033 chances.

SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST
Fifth-year senior Mikayla Allee is quietly putting together the best offensive season of her career. The Corona, California, has climbed the lineup and ranks second on the team with a .320 batting average. Allee has a team-best 33 hits this season and has collected multiple in eight contests already this year. Further, her 33 hits this season are a single-season career-high, topping the 28 she had last year.

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.

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Players Mentioned

Mikayla Allee

Jalia Lassiter

Abbey Latham

Catelyn Riley

Mya Stevenson

Tate Whitley

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