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LEADING OFF
• Ole Miss Softball gears up to start the second half of SEC play on the road in Columbia with a three-game series against Missouri April 15-17.
• Missouri leads the all-time series 16-8; however the Rebels swept the series last season in Oxford.
• Keila Kamoku recorded her first two-homer game in the 6-1 win over Louisiana Tech. The sophomore is hitting .500 in her last five games.
• Head coach Jamie Trachsel notched her 100th win at Ole Miss on Sunday with a 9-3 victory over No. 15 Kentucky.
• Playing in Oxford this past week, junior Aynslie Furbush went 5-for-13 with four extra-base hits, including two home runs.
• Tate Whitley is in the midst of a eight-game hitting streak. During that span, she is batting .481 with 13 hits.
• Catelyn Riley ranks third in the SEC and 12th in the nation with a 1.04 ERA in 54.0 innings pitched on the season.
• The Rebel pitching staff boasts a 2.06 ERA on the season, the sixth best mark in the SEC and 22nd best in the nation.
• Ole Miss boasts one of the nation’s top defenses, ranking 12th in the country with 0.50 double plays per game and 14th with a .978 fielding percentage.
SCOUTING MISSOURI
Larissa Anderson is in her fifth season as head coach at Missouri, boasting a 158-89 record during her tenure. Missouri enters the weekend series with a 24-18 record on the year and a 3-12 mark in conference play. The Tigers are 4-6 in their last 10 games, having faced Lindenwood, No. 11 LSU, No. 13 Alabama and No. 21 Auburn. Missouri leads the all-time series with Ole Miss 16-8, although the Rebels swept the last series in Oxford last season. Alex Honnold leads the offense and ranks 16th nationally with a .446 batting average. She paces the Tigers who are hitting .276 as a team. Honnold is joined by Jenna Laird as the only two Tigers hitting above .300 and have 40 hits on the season. Julia Crenshaw and Kara Daly have been the run producers for the Missouri attack both boasting a team-high 34 RBIs. In the circle, Missouri is led by Cierra Harrison with a 2.51 earned run average and a 7-1 record through 47.1 innings pitched. As a staff, the Tigers boast a 3.17 ERA while holding opponents to a .259 mark at the plate.
GOING STREAKING
Left fielder Tate Whitley has recorded a base hit in eight straigt games entering the weekend series at Missouri. In that span she is batting .481 with 13 hits and has a .500 on-base percentage. The senior is looking to extend her hitting streak to nine games and match her career-best streak set back in 2021.
HOT HITTING
Playing its last five games in Oxford, Ole Miss got the bats going. The Rebels have tallied nearly 40 hits as a team while boasting a .305 mark at the plate. Among those leading the offensive attack are Tate Whitley and Keila Kamoku who are both batting .500 or better, followed by Savana Sikes at .462 and Aynslie Furbush at .385. In that span, Kamoku and Furbush each have a pair of home runs.
KEEPING IT 💯
Lexie Brady’s career day at the plate helped Jamie Trachsel earn her 100th victory as a Rebel as Ole Miss toppled No. 15 Kentucky 9-3 Sunday afternoon. With the victory, Trachsel became the quickest coach to 100 wins in program history, needing only 159 games to reach the century mark. The Rebels put on an offensive clinic against the Wildcats, scoring seven runs in the second inning. Tate Whitley and Savana Sikes each sparked the offense going 3-for-4 on the afternoon, but it was Brady who shined at the plate, hitting a three-run bomb and a double. Catelyn Riley was battled in the circle, holding the Kentucky offense on only one earned run on four hits while striking out five in the complete game effort.
A LEAGUE OF HER OWN
Freshman catcher Jamie Mackay started playing baseball from the time she was four until she graduated high school. Playing both catcher and serving as a relief pitcher, Mackay was a two-time letterwinner at Pacifica Christian High School and a member of the United States Women’s National Baseball Team. Despite not playing softball, Mackay signed with Ole Miss’ 2022 class. She stepped foot on a softball field for the first time less than a year ago and is now the starting catcher for the Rebels. Through 26 starts, she is batting .279 with 12 hits, seven runs scored and eight RBIs.
CHASING 200
Ole Miss is looking to become one of six teams in all of Division I softball this year to have multiple active players with 200 career hits on its roster. Tate Whitley notched her 200th career hit this past weekend against No. 15 Kentucky with an infield single in the first inning. Her teammate Mya Stevenson is chasing her 200th career hit. The graduate transfer is just three shy of the milestone.
THREE IS THE MAGIC NUMBER
So far this season, three has been the magic number for the Ole Miss offense. The Rebels boast a 23-3 record when scoring three or more runs. Further, Ole Miss’ pitching and defense have kept them in almost every game this season, only allowing more than three runs in eight of 42 games.
THE BULL IS BACK
After suffering an injury in the Rebels season opener and missing a month of action, Catelyn Riley returned just in time for conference play. Last season, Riley was a mainstay in the Ole Miss lineup, boasting a .361 average at the plate, while posting a 3.46 ERA through 81.0 innings pitched in the circle and collecting a team-high 12 wins, the second-most by an Ole Miss freshman pitcher. Back healthy in 2023, she has earned wins over No. 10 LSU, No. 19 Auburn and No. 15 Kentucky over the last three weekends. The Dandridge, Tennessee, native currently ranks third in the SEC and ranks 12th nationally with a 1.04 ERA. Although she has only thrown 54.0 innings on the season, the sophomore is showing no signs of slowing down in year two.
HOTTY TODDY TATE
Back in the lineup after missing most of February, Tate Whitley has resumed her leadoff duties as the sparkplug for the Ole Miss offense. With 30 games under her belt this season, Whitley is back into the swing of things, hitting a team-best .371 with 11 multi-hit games. Playing her fifth year in a Rebel uniform, she has become one of the most consistent hitters in school history. The Angleton, Texas, native collected her 200th hit this past Saturday against No. 15 Kentucky, joining Lauren Grill, Kylan Becker and Elantra Cox as the only player in program history to tally 200 hits in their career. She now ranks fourth all-time at Ole Miss with 206 hits and is fifth in program history with a .353 career average at the plate.
MY OH MYA
Slugger Mya Stevenson ranks seventh in the SEC and 47th nationally with 10 home runs in 37 games played this season. Further, her 10 homers are tied for the eighth most in a single season in program history. The graduate transfer leads the team with 26 RBIs and a .598 slugging percentage. Stevenson is up to 69 career home runs, the most among all active players in Division I College Softball.
SPINNY REBELS
Since the arrival of pitching coach Ryker Chason, the Ole Miss pitching staff has been one of the SEC’s best. The Spinny Rebels boast a 2.71 ERA over the past three seasons, including a 2.06 mark through 41 games this season (22nd nationally). Chason’s pitching staff ranked third in the conference with 29 shutouts from 2021-22, and it already has eight this season, ranking 54th in the nation. Six of the eight shutouts this year have come at home, where the Rebels have only surrendered 23 earned runs in 130.0 innings pitched.
LANDSHARK DEFENSE
At Ole Miss, Landshark is a term that was first adopted by the Rebel football team’s defensive unit. This spring, a different team on campus has adopted the Landshark defensive mindset. Ole Miss softball boasts one of the most sound defenses in the nation. It ranks 12th in the country in double plays, turning 0.50 per game and 14th in fielding percentage with a .978 mark. The Rebels have only committed 26 errors on 1,159 chances.
For all Ole Miss softball news and information, go to OleMissSports.com and follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissSoftball, on Facebook at Ole Miss Softball and on Instagram at Instagram.com/olemisssoftball. Also, follow head coach Jamie Trachsel on Twitter at @Jamie_Trachsel.
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