Ole Miss softball continued its hot streak on Tuesday with an 11-1 beatdown on Belmont in Nashville.
The scorching hot Rebels have won 17 of their past 20, coming up with big series wins against No. 6 Florida, No. 14 Arkansas and No. 18 Oklahoma State. They also split a two-game series against No. 16 South Carolina after the final game of that series was canceled due to rain.
Ole Miss started off Tuesday’s matchup with a bang, scoring two runs in the first inning, courtesy of a home run by senior Brittany Finney, after sophomore Abbey Latham reached first on an infield single. It was Finney’s seventh homer of the season, tying her with sophomore Jessica Puk for the team lead.
Ole Miss then broke the game open in the third inning, scoring six runs and capitalizing on numerous Belmont errors in the inning. Freshman Mikayla Allee started off the inning with a single to left before advancing to second on a wild pitch during the next at-bat. After senior Kylan Becker lined out, Latham drove Allee in with an RBI double to right field.
Ole Miss first baseman Gabby Alvarez tosses the ball to a teammate in between innings at the game against Florida on Saturday. Photo by Katherine Butler.
Then came Belmont’s errors.
Puk reached first on a dropped third strike. Finney got all the way to second on a fielding error that allowed Latham to score. Junior Kaylee Horton reached base on a single up the middle that scored two more and advanced to second after an ill-advised throw.
After a pitching change, sophomore Amanda Roth smashed a two-run homer to center — her first home run of the year — thoroughly breaking the backs of the helpless Bruins.
The Rebels added another in the fourth after Becker and Latham reached base to begin the inning, with Becker scoring on a double play.
Belmont finally got on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning thanks to an RBI single, but the team stranded two runners on base when a strikeout ended the inning.
Ole Miss put the pedal to the metal in the fifth inning, keeping the bats alive and extending the lead to double digits. Roth led off with a single to second and advanced to third on a double by sophomore Ally Mena one batter later. Senior Izzy Werdann pinch hit for Becker with two outs and delivered a two-RBI double to right, but she was stranded on second after a strikeout.
Sophomore Ava Tillman had a strong outing on the mound, going four innings and giving up just 1 run on 4 hits. She was relieved by sophomore Anna Borgen, who retired the side in the fifth, allowing no hits and punching out the first batter she faced.
After Belmont failed to score in the fifth inning, the game was called because of the eight-run rule, which states that the home plate umpire must call the game if one team is ahead by eight or more runs after at least five complete innings.
The Rebels hope to keep their winning streak alive as they travel to Lexington, Kentucky, this weekend to face the Wildcats.
