The No. 21 Ole Miss softball team looks to close out their 2017 regular season this weekend in Columbia, Missouri, as the face the Missouri Tigers in a three-game SEC series tilt beginning this evening.
Ole Miss (34-17, 8-13 SEC) comes into this weekend after taking the series from Alabama last weekend in Oxford. The Rebels mid-week game slated against Southern Mississippi was canceled due to expected inclement weather in Oxford Wednesday night.
This season, the Rebels have been lead at the plate by junior Elantra Cox with a .424 batting average. Cox has 73 hits on the season. Her teammate Miranda Strother needs just one run to become the all-time leader in career runs.
The team has bounced back this season after starting conference play 0-6. The Rebels have since gone 8-7 with three series wins.
Missouri heads into weekend play 28-23 overall and 6-14 in SEC action. The Tigers are currently tied for 10th with South Carolina, a half-game ahead of 12th Arkansas. Mizzou had success early on in its SEC slate taking a game from then No. 7 Texas A&M, before going on to take two-of-three from No. 9 Alabama the following week. Since, the Tigers have gone 3-9 in league action, most recently winning the series finale over No. 17 LSU.
Like Ole Miss, the Tigers also topped No. 7 Auburn once. They took a game from Arkansas, but were swept by No. 20 Kentucky. Mizzou faced tough competition in both February and March, splitting two games with No. 14 James Madison before also defeating No. 7 Washington and taking on No. 4 Oregon.
As a team, Mizzou ranks ninth in the SEC in average with .287 and eighth in scoring with 5.08 runs per game. The Tigers are led by slugger Braxton Burnside, who ranks 26th in the country in RBIs (49) and Top 40 in home runs (12). She leads the team in nearly all slugging categories with a team-high 23 extra-base hits (10 doubles, 1 triple, 12 HRs).
Kirsten Mack holds the team lead in slugging percentage (.633) and has 35 RBIs off nine homers and 12 doubles. Regan Nash leads the team with a .359 average and is 15 for 18 in steals, also a club best. Gabby Garrison is 13 for 15 in steals, while Burnside has stolen 10 bases, only being caught twice. Overall, the Tigers have eight players with a .300 plus average. In SEC play alone, Nash leads the way with a .356 clip as one of only two hitters above .300, while the Tigers carry a .223 average in league action.
The Rebels and the Tigers have faced each other 11 times prior to stepping between the chalk tonight. Missouri owns the overall record against Ole Miss as they have only lost one game to the Rebels.
After the series comes to an end, Ole Miss will learn what seed they will carry into the SEC Tournament next week in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Adam Brown is the sports editor of Hottytoddy.com. He can be reached at adam.brown@hottytoddy.com.
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