The No. 25 Ole Miss softball team faced a mixed bag on the last day of the Green & Gold Classic at Mary Bowers Field on Sunday afternoon. After falling short against Missouri State in a nail-biting opener, the Rebels bounced back emphatically with a commanding win over Mercer.
Game One: A Narrow Loss to Missouri State
The day began with optimism for Ole Miss as they took an early lead against Missouri State. Mackenzie Pickens kicked things off with a double, followed by Madi George’s RBI single that put the Rebels ahead 1-0.
Emilee Boyer took the mound for Ole Miss and showcased her skills early on, striking out four batters and breezing through the first eight outs without much trouble. However, things took a turn in the third inning when two walks allowed Missouri State to capitalize with a three-run home run, flipping the score to 3-1.
Despite some promising opportunities later in the game—including walks from George and Cassie Reasner—the Rebels couldn’t convert those chances into runs. In the fifth inning, Kennedy Bunker provided hope with a solo home run that cut the deficit to 3-2.
Boyer continued her impressive outing, finishing with ten strikeouts—a season high—keeping Ole Miss competitive until the very end. With runners on first and third in the seventh inning after Bunker’s leadoff walk and Taylor Malvin’s single, Ole Miss had one last shot but fell short as Missouri State secured two final outs.
Game Two: A Dominant Performance Against Mercer
In stark contrast to their earlier game, Ole Miss erupted offensively against Mercer after initially trailing due to an early solo home run by Mercer. The Rebels quickly regained control; Pickens’ RBI single followed by another from George brought them ahead at 2-1.
Kyra Aycock was steady on the mound despite facing challenges in the second inning when bases were loaded against her. She found support from her teammates as they rallied offensively right after. Grisham reached base due to an error which set up Pickens for an explosive three-run home run that extended their lead to 5-1.
As Aycock kept solidifying her performance with groundouts, Ole Miss continued adding runs throughout the game. By the end of three innings, they had established a commanding run-rule advantage thanks to contributions from Grace Thompson and Grisham leading up to Malvin’s two-RBI hit that made it 7-1.
Pickens wasn’t done yet; she added another RBI single shortly thereafter bringing her total for this game alone to six RBIs—tying a single-game program record—and finished with four hits overall.
The offensive barrage didn’t stop there; Taylor Roman launched a two-run homer while Liesl Osteen contributed an RBI double during an explosive fourth inning that saw multiple runs scored by various players including Applin, who hit her first career home run as part of this dominant showing.
Hope Jenkins closed out what became an easy victory for Ole Miss as they finished strong at 16-1 after just five innings played against Mercer.
Looking Ahead
With this split result on Sunday, Ole Miss now stands at 11 wins and 5 losses for the season (0-0 SEC). They will return home for an extended homestand starting Wednesday when they face Central Arkansas at 5 p.m. CT to be aired on the SEC Network +
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