Ole Miss Softball: Rebels fall to Cats, exit College Station early
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.
Next. The 2019 Diamond Rebels!. dark
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!