Ole Miss Completes Twin Bill Sweep of Alcorn State

Photo courtesy Joshua McCoy

Ole Miss had its way during Tuesday’s doubleheader with Alcorn State, sweeping the Lady Braves by respective scores of 14-0 and 8-1 at the Ole Miss Softball Complex.

The Rebels (27-18) collected 18 hits and 11 walks on the night, reaching base in half of their plate appearances against the Lady Braves (11-29).
Game One | Ole Miss 14, Alcorn State 0
Ole Miss racked up 11 hits in five innings in the early game and rode the right arm of Brittany Finney to a 14-0 victory over the Lady Braves. Finney earned the win in the circle, surrendering a pair of hits and collecting four strikeouts in her three innings of work. Elisha Jahnke came on in relief, allowing just one hit in two frames, striking out a pair.
Elantra Cox used her speed to put the Rebels in business early. The senior laid down a bunt for a single and stole both second and third to move 60 feet from home before being brought in on Kaylee Horton’s single up the middle. Ole Miss would go on to load the bases and extend the lead to 2-0 as Bry Castro was hit by a pitch to bring Horton in.
Ole Miss loaded the bases once again in the second before Finney plated Amanda Roth with a sacrifice fly to center field. Autumn Gillespie then came through with a clutch single down the right line, bringing Cox and Horton around to score for the second time in the game.
The Rebels then completely took control in the third inning, batting around and scoring eight runs to go up 13-0. Cox opened scoring with an RBI single, scoring shortly thereafter on pinch-hitter Izzy Werdann’s single to right. Back-to-back walks with the bases juiced by Abbey Latham and Alex Schneider brought in two more runs before Castro smoked a double down the left field line, clearing the bases for three RBIs. Castro was then brought home by Gabby Alvarez, who singled up the middle to complete the outburst.
Ole Miss tacked on one final run in the fourth as Latham went yard for the first time since blasting a home run against Rutgers in the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge back during the second weekend of the season. The Rebels collected three outs in the top of the fifth to wrap up the run rule victory.
Game Two | Ole Miss 8, Alcorn State 1
Alcorn State hung around early but Ole Miss proved to be too much in the second game of the twin bill. The Rebels scored in five-of-six innings on the way to an 8-1 victory to complete the sweep.
Morgan Bruce made the start in the circle and garnered her third win of the year, throwing five complete and allowing one run on five hits, collecting four strikeouts. Anna Borgen came out of the bullpen for the fourth-straight game and tossed a pair of perfect frames.
Cox used her speedy wheels to get the Rebels on the board early, singling up the middle and stealing second. The senior moved up on a deep fly out to center and came in on a wild pitch to put Ole Miss up 1-0.
The Lady Braves tied the game in the third when Amari Ramsey took Bruce deep to center, knotting the game at a run apiece. However, Ole Miss answered right back with a trio of runs in the bottom half to take a lead it would not concede.
Roth got the fun started with a deep fly of her own to left-center after Paige McKinney reached on an error. Cox tallied another single and moved to third on a steal and wild pitch, coming across the plate on Horton’s grounder to second.
The Rebels tacked on a run in the fourth via Jessica Puk’s RBI single to left-center and added two more runs in the fifth thanks to a pair of Alcorn errors in the field.
Puk drove in the final run of the night for Ole Miss in the sixth, doubling home pinch-runner Kylan Becker from second. Borgen then induced three quick outs to give Ole Miss the doubleheader sweep.
Quick Hits
Ole Miss ran rampant over Alcorn, stealing successfully in all 11 attempts. Five of those steals came from the Rebels’ all-time leader, Elantra Cox.
The Rebels batted .429 with runners on during the two games, including .400 with runners in scoring position.
11 different Rebels drove in a run, led by Bry Castro’s four RBIs.
The Lady Braves could do nothing with the top-two batters in the Rebel lineup. Cox went 5-for-6 on the day with six runs scored and an RBI, while Kaylee Horton had a 3-for-5 day with four runs and a pair of RBIs.
Cox is now riding a six-game hitting streak and team-high 15-game reached base streak.
Amanda Roth crushed her fourth home run of the season, taking sole possession of the team-lead.
In the circle, the Ole Miss pitching staff held Alcorn State to a .182 batting average, racking up 12 strikeouts on the day.
Anna Borgen has now retired each of the last 19 batters she has faced.
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. Fans can also follow head coach Mike Smith on Twitter at @msmithsb16.

Courtesy of Ole Miss Sports
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