The Ole Miss softball team will have a tough task at hand this weekend as it hosts No. 2 Tennessee in a three-game Southeastern Conference series beginning today at the Ole Miss Softball Complex.
Junior pitcher Carly Hummel continues to lead Ole Miss (22-26, 2-16 SEC) with another dominant outing in the Rebels’ win over Louisiana Monroe on Wednesday.
Tennessee (39-6, 12-3 SEC) has won 16 straight games, including a sweep of Auburn last weekend and a midweek win over Appalachian State.
“The biggest thing for our girls to understand is if we come out and every player has a good game or a great game, we’re going to win,” head coach Windy Thees said of facing Tennessee.
“We have that kind of talent.”
The Lady Vols are led in the circle by sisters Ellen and Ivy Renfroe.
Junior Ellen (13-1) boasts a 1.46 ERA in 119.2 innings of work and has racked up 135 strikeouts on the year with 44 walks. Senior Ivy (15-3) has 107 strikeouts to just 38 walks this season and holds a 1.48 ERA.
Tennessee will also be a challenge offensively, as the Volunteers have six players hitting over .300 and two players hitting over .400.
Senior third baseman Raven Chavanne leads the team with a .475 average.
Senior infielder Lauren Gibson holds a .411 average and hit her 11th home run this season against Appalachian State.
“We can’t take plays off. You can’t give them extra outs,” Thees said.
“They are a fast team. If you give them extra outs they’ll take advantage of it. It’s always great because all the pressure is on them, and there is no pressure on us.”
Today’s first pitch is set for 6 p.m., Saturday’s game will begin at 2 p.m. and the series finale will be Sunday at 1 p.m.
For continuing coverage of Ole Miss softball, follow @allison_slusher and @thedm_sports on Twitter.
