Over the weekend, the Ole Miss softball team swept the Ole Miss Classic tournament at the Ole Miss Softball Complex, winning all five of their games.
After starting their season with 12 games on the road, this tournament marked the beginning of a 16-game home stand. They began the tournament with a 4 p.m. Friday match up against Northern Iowa.
Friday evening’s first game resulted in a 5-0 victory for Ole Miss. The game started out slowly but picked up in the fourth inning when junior third baseman Dakota Matiko hit a single to right field to bring home base runner junior outfielder Miranda Strother.
Strother drove in two runs two innings later with a RBI double. The Rebels added two more runs off walks with bases loaded in the sixth.
The second game of the night was against Stephen F. Austin and the Rebels walked away with the 4-2 win.
Big hits by sophomore first baseman Alex Schneider and Miranda Strother contributed to the Ole Miss score. Stephen F. Austin would score its only two runs off of a two-run home run in the sixth inning. These were the only runs the Rebels allowed all weekend.
Miranda Strother led the offense for Ole Miss on Friday with a .667 batting average. She drove in five runs off four hits, including a triple and a double. She also tallied three stolen bases onto her stats.
Ole Miss’ pitching staff allowed only six total hits for Friday night. Alyssa Clayton pitched a shutout in the home opener, and Madi Osias contributed another great game against Stephen F. Austin. Their stellar pitching performances carried over into their play on Saturday.
Saturday consisted of two games against the UTSA Roadrunners. Ole Miss won the first game 9-1, run-ruling in the sixth. The second game was won 8-0 in the fifth.
Freshman shortstop Hailey Lunderman went 3-for-4 at the plate with one RBI, while junior catcher Courtney Syrett, senior outfielder Bri Payne, and freshman outfielder Kennedy Cline each added two RBIs.
Cline’s first hit of her career in the sixth inning was a big one; she drove home the game-winning runs in the Rebels’ 9-1 run-rule victory over UTSA. The Rebels added four more runs the next frame off of a two RBI single from Syrett before Matiko drove her in and score in senior second baseman Haley Culley’s at bat.
In game two, Osias was lights-out in the circle as well as dominate on offense. She hit a three-run home run to deep left field to put the Rebels up 3-0 early on. Sophomore left fielder Elantra Cox followed up later with the first of her two RBI doubles to make it 5-0 before later scoring off base running.
Sophomore infielder Grayce Majam’s RBI in the fifth finished off Saturday night’s contest due to run rule.
As of a result of winning the first four games, Ole Miss faced off against Northern Iowa again in the 12:30 championship on Sunday where they took a 1-0 victory. The unbelievable endurance of Ole Miss’ pitching showed out yet again on Sunday. Junior left-handed pitcher Alyssa Clayton started off the game until Osias came in as relief in the fourth. Osias had four strikeouts and allowed no hits. As a whole, the Rebels’ pitching staff gave up only 13 hits and 2 runs all weekend.
Next weekend the Rebels will host the Red & Blue Classic for five games and will open their SEC Play the following weekend against Missouri at the Ole Miss Softball Complex.
– Natalie Allen
