Ole Miss Softball: No.19 Rebels Drop Series To No.7 Aggies

No.19 Ole Miss softball was coming off consecutive losses and travelling to College Station Texas to take on the No.7 ranked Texas A&M Aggies.

Ole Miss softball (13-6, 0-2) couldn’t have asked for a better shot to redeem themselves from two consecutive losses. On the road against the No.7 Texas A&M Aggies would be a big test. The Rebels needed to respond in a big way and find a big start to the SEC part of their season. However, the Rebels couldn’t find the game-one win and fell to the Aggies in a 8-6 decision Friday night.

The Rebels struck first in the 2nd inning with a run but the Aggies answered in the bottom of the frame to take the 2-1 lead. The Aggies maintained the slight lead until the bottom of the 4th when they exploded for 4 runs. The Aggies then added 2 runs and extended the lead 8-1. The Rebels battled back and salvaged 5 late runs in the 6th and the 7th but they weren’t enough to overcome the deficit.

Saturdays game was a chance for Texas A&M to pick up where they left off Friday night and the Aggies did just that. The Aggies got on the board first in game-two with a single run in the 2nd. The Aggies added 2 runs in the 4th and 4 runs in the 6th to take a 7-0 lead. Ole Miss failed to produce offensively and fell to the Aggies 7-0.

Of course, Texas A&M is a very good team and College Station is not an easy place to get a win. The Aggies are very strong in the circle and at the plate and it showed in the first two games. Naturally when we look at the stats we can see the deficiencies.

By The Numbers

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Game 1

Senior Kaitlin Lee was starter for the Rebels in the circle. Lee went 3.2 innings and allowed 5 earned runs on 7 hits. Lee had 2 Ks and 2 BB. Junior right-hander Brittany Finney entered in the 4th in relief and went 1.1 innings. Finney allowed 2 earned runs on 2 hits. Finney had 1 K and 2 BB. Freshman Ava Tillman entered in the 6th and finished out the circle for the Rebels. Tillman had 2 Ks while allowing only 1 hit against 4 Aggies batters.

At the plate Ole Miss softball combined for 6 runs 8 hits. Sophomore Kaylee Horton led all Rebels going 3 for 4 at the plate with a RBI. Sophomore Autumn Gillespie went 2 for 4 and knocked in 3 RBI while scoring 2 runs. Red-shirt freshman Gabby Alvarez went 1 for 3 with 2 RBI and a run scored. Senior Elantra Cox went 1 for 4 and scored a run while freshman Jessica Puk went 1 for 2.

Game 2

Freshman Anna Borgen drew the start in the circle. Borgen went 3.1 innings and allowed 3 earned runs on 5 hits. Borgen had 2 Ks and 1 BB. Sophomore Morgan Bruce entered in relief in the 4th and went 2.0 innings in the circle. Bruce allowed 3 earned runs on 4 hits. Bruce had 1 K and 3 BB. Freshman Ava Tillman once again finished out the final frame and faced 4 Aggie batters. Tillman allowed 1 earned run on 2 hits.

At the plate Ole Miss softball struggled. Of course, it’s very difficult to win games when you only combine for 3 hits. On the day sophomore Kaylee Horton and junior Kylan Becker went 1 for 2 while senior Elantra Cox went 1 for 3.

There is no doubt the Aggies have excellent pitching. However, this is a Ole Miss softball team which can hit the ball. We know they can because we’ve seen it already this season. From what we saw the first two game the losses to Southern Miss and Boston College are having a hangover effect. Of course, these two losses pushes the Rebels losing streak to 4 consecutive games.

Next: Highly Anticipated!

Ole Miss softball will hope to avoid the series sweep Sunday afternoon as they face the Texas A&M Aggies in game-3 of the weekend. First pitch is set for 1pm CT and will be televised via SEC Network. Good luck to coach Mike Smith and the Rebels. Hotty Toddy!