Coach Mike Smith and Ole Miss softball were back in action Friday morning as they faced the Kentucky Wildcats in College Station.
No.5 seed Ole Miss softball (37-17) was back in action Friday morning as they faced off against No.4 seed Kentucky (33-21). The Rebels entered their second game of the 2019 SEC tourney coming off a 9-4 win over No.12 seed Miss State Thursday. The Rebels would have to have a second win against the Cats to stay in College Station and Kentucky would make sure that didn’t happen.
The Wildcats wasted no time scoring 2 runs in the bottom of the first to take the early 2-0 lead. After a scoreless second frame Kentucky added 6 runs in the bottom of the third to extend their lead to 8-0. Unable to produce runs the Rebels fell to the Cats 8-0 in a run-rule decision. OHT looks at the loss by the numbers and has some observations.
By The Numbers
Ole Miss Rebels
In the Friday loss there were 5 Rebels who combined for 6 hits. Leading all Rebels at the plate was senior Kylan Becker who went 2 for 3 while sophomore Jessica Puk went 1 for 1.
Junior Kaylee Horton and sophomore Amanda Roth each went 1 for 2 at the plate while sophomore Abbey Latham went 1 for 3.
Senior right-hander Brittany Finney drew the start in the circle for Mike Smith and the Rebels. Finney went for 2.1 innings allowing 6 earned runs on 6 hits with 3 Ks, 1 BB and 1 IBB.
Mike Smith went to the bullpen in the third and junior left-hander Molly Jacobsen entered the circle. Jacobsen went for 0.1 inning allowing 2 earned runs on 4 hits with 1 K.
Coach Smith went to the pen again and sophomore right-hander Ava Tillmann entered. Tillmann went for 1.1 innings allowing 1 hit with 1 BB.
Observations
It’s easy to see the Rebels simply aren’t playing as well as they should be at this point in the season. The Rebels have now lost 5 of their last 6 games and two of those losses were 8-0 run-rule games. The biggest problem the Rebels seem to have is the inability to produce runs and in Fridays loss the Rebels stranded 6 runners.
Now coach Mike Smith and Ole Miss softball await the NCAA selection to see if they may be able to host a regional. With an RPI of 17 the Rebels have a good shot. Please be sure to check back here for further updates. Hotty Toddy!