Mississippi junior Madi Madi Osias pitches during the softball game between Mississippi and Georgia, Friday, April 10, 2015. (DM Photo | Kayla Beatty)
First year head coach Mike Smith has led the Ole Miss women’s softball team to a 23-19 record thus far. With 15 games left in the season, the team hopes to snag some wins from in-state rival Southern Miss and top-ranked SEC opponents South Carolina and Texas A&M.
Although 12th ranked Georgia swept the three-game series in Oxford this past weekend, the Lady Rebels showed some impressive play that should help boost their confidence going into these next matchups.
After falling to the Lady Bulldogs 8-0 on Friday night, Ole Miss had something to prove in game two on Saturday. Georgia collected seven runs throughout the game and stayed ahead of the Lady Rebels’ two runs until the bottom of the seventh inning.
Junior Haley Culley and freshman Elantra Cox started off the rally by hitting back-to-back singles. As the bases loaded, the Lady Rebels quickly followed with RBIs from sophomore Miranda Strother, freshman Alex Schneider, and senior Allison Brown to tie the game. Ole Miss batted through the lineup and scored all five of their runs that sent the game into extra innings. Ole Miss continued to battle for the next two innings until Georgia’s senior Niaja Griffin hit a walk-off, two-run bomb to give Georgia the win.
Junior Madi Osias and freshman Kayla Landwehrmier were on the mound for the Lady Rebels this weekend. Landwehrmier suffered her first season loss after pitching seven innings of relief; however, despite the result on the scoreboard, Landwehrmier was able to stifle the Lady Bulldogs’ aggressive offense. Coach Smith commented on her play.
“I can’t say enough about the performance from Kayla (Landwehrmier) and how she really shut down a potent offense to allow us the chance to continue to fight and come back in that game,” Smith said. “When we play well in all phases of the game, we’ve shown we can play with anyone and we showed that again today. We’re a young team and we’re still learning so much about how to play the game and how to dictate the pace of a game, instead of letting the game dictate how much we try to do and forcing us to try to do too much.”
As they prepare for this weeks doubleheader against in-state rival Southern Miss, Ole Miss hopes to build some momentum as they enter the bottom part of their regular season play. Since the series was delayed in February due to bad weather, the Lady Rebels have awaited this match-up. The Southern Miss Golden Eagles are 16-24 on their season thus far.
Last season for Southern Miss, then sophomore infielder, now junior Sarah Evans carried the offense for the Golden Eagles. Evans went 3-for-4 from the plate last season against the Rebels with two doubles, two RBI’s and a run scored. Evans 6-for-9, including three doubles and three RBI’s in her career against the Rebels.
If the Lady Rebels can find their groove offensively and stay calm on the defensive end with the leadership of Osias and Landwehrmier on the mound, they should be able to handle their opponent, and pick up the team’s self-assurance before they face top-ranked competitor Louisville on April 17th.
Ole Miss Softball will host a double-header against Southern Miss at the Ole Miss Softball Complex. First pitch was originally scheduled for 4 p.m., but due to predicted inclement weather, first pitch is now set for 3 p.m.
