Ole Miss softball pulled out a victory over the Samford Bulldogs 5-4 Tuesday at the Ole Miss Softball Complex.
The Rebels ended the game with four hits and zero errors. The winning pitcher, Kayla Landwehrmier, pitched 3.1 innings giving up only two hits and no earned runs.
Teammates greet Natalie Martinez at home plate after hitting a home run in Ole Miss’ 5-4 win over Samford. (Photo by: Cameron Brooks)
The Rebels call Landwehrmier their “secret weapon” after the former walk-on outfielder impressed during a pitching drill at practice. She has now become a valuable relief pitcher on the field.
“It’s special,” Landwerhrmier said. “I feel like this is a good way for me to bring something to the team and really help the team out as a whole. It’s a lot of fun, and I’m just really glad that I was given the opportunity.”
Samford struck first with a two-run home run from Hannah Trombley and an RBI single from Megan Dowdy, closing the top of the second and leading the Rebels 3-0.
Ole Miss would start scoring in the bottom of the second, with Natalie Martinez hitting her fourth home run of the season while cutting the Bulldog lead by 2.
Alex Schneider hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth to bring the score to 4-3.
Courtney Syrett hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning to give the Rebels a 5-4 lead.
“It was not prototypical of Ole Miss softball tonight. That’s how we won, three home runs,” head coach Mike Smith said. “Sometimes we get down by a few runs and teams start to panic. We started to do that for the first four innings, and we were trying to do too much. We told the girls to be patient and focus on what we’re trying to do and try to get that pitch to drive, and that’s exactly what we did.”
The Ole Miss softball team will travel this weekend to Starkville to play their rival Bulldogs. Ole Miss won the series against the Bulldogs in Oxford last year, and are looking to continue their success. Ole Miss will return home April 8 as they take on top-ranked Florida.
Sunday’s game will be featured on ESPNU at 6 p.m., and Monday’s game will be on the
SEC Network.
– Jonathan Creekmore
