Ole Miss softball catcher Kennedy Bunker’s one season as an Ole Miss Rebel is over after her team was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament on Sunday. Head coach Jamie Trachsel gave Bunker glowing compliment afterwards.
“She’s not sensitive,” Trachsel began. “She’s low-ego, high output. She’s passionate. She’s always about her teammates, and she makes it real easy to coach. If there is an MVP, I think, on our team, I would say it’s Kennedy.”
Bunker transferred to Ole Miss over the off-season from Fresno State where she was an All-Mountain West selection. This season at Ole Miss she hit .288 with 14 home runs and 31 RBI. She homered in her last three games at the Lubbock Regional and did a great job behind the plate handling the Ole Miss pitching staff in her final game in the Red and Blue.
She talked about her one season as a Rebel.
“I think coming to Ole Miss…change is always different, but there was a lot of us it was new for,” said Kennedy.
Kennedy Bunker
Ole Miss fielded a team that included 10 portal transfers and six freshmen. The Rebels lost every arm off their 2025 team that reached the Women’s College World Series.
“We had like half and half being new, and then returners, and just so like coming together as a team, especially over the last few weeks, is super important,” Kennedy continued. “This team could have taken it to the World Series. Putting up the fight we did yesterday and then coming back and winning that game (Boston University) was huge for us.
“Today, we were like we have to win two. At the end of the day, they’re supposed to win. They’re supposed to. We’re just going to go out and put our fight down, and I think that we did a good job of that,” Kennedy said.
“As a newcomer, finding our culture on the team and finding out where we belong…I think we did a good of that all season, especially in these last few weeks when it mattered.”
Ole Miss catcher Kennedy Bunker
Ole Miss will now turn its attention to the transfer portal in an effort to find new pieces for next year, as well as keep key parts of its own roster. The 15-day window opens on Mon., June 8 and closes on Mon., June 22.