Sophomore Emily Gaitan pitched her third shutout of the season on Tuesday night as Ole Miss (13-5) blanked Memphis (6-8) in the home opener with an 8-0 victory over the Tigers at the Ole Miss Softball Complex.
Gaitan (8-1) picked up the victory as she scattered three hits across 5.0 innings with four walks and seven strikeouts for her third complete-game shutout of the season. The loss snapped a three-game win streak for the Tigers.
Jordan Richwood (4-4) took the loss for the Tigers as she allowed eight runs – three of them earned – on eight hits with two walks and five strikeouts in the outing.
“We weren’t sure we would get the game in with the sporadic storms popping up in the area, but our grounds crew did an awesome job getting the field ready to go,” said Ole Miss head coach Mike Smith. “Our players were itching to get home and play in front of our fans. They swung the bat well and we got another great pitching performance from Emily (Gaitan). It was a great performance all around.”
Ole Miss wasted no time getting the offense going on Tuesday night.
Elantra Cox opened the game with a single and advanced to second on a fielder’s choice from Allison Brown, sliding into the bag safely thanks to a fielding error on the play to put two men on base. Following a fly out, Bri Payne and Alex Schneider brought Cox and Brown home with back-to-back singles before Courtney Syrett drove them both in with a two-RBI double to left field.
Ole Miss held a 4-0 lead at the end of the first as the Rebel offense came roaring out of the gates.
The Rebels added a fifth run in the second inning on a fielding error at second off a sharply hit ground ball from Cox. Grayce Majam scored from second on the play after drawing a walk to open the inning and stealing second during the Cox at bat. The Rebels led 5-0 after the second as the Tigers were able to limit the inning to the one run.
Ole Miss added another crooked number to the scoreboard in the third, plating three more runs to take the lead out to eight runs.
Ole Miss will return to action this weekend when the Rebels hit the road to face the fourth-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide in a three-game series. Game one is set to begin at 6:30 p.m. on Friday.
