Ole Miss didn’t just close out the Easton Classic with a win. The Rebels walked out of California looking like a team intent on repeating last season’s historic success.
A 10-1 run‑rule over CSUN on Saturday capped a five‑game stretch in which Ole Miss piled up 40 runs, the most through five games in program history.
It wasn’t a fluke, and it wasn’t empty February noise. It looked like the early formation of an identity; aggressive, relentless, and powered by a lineup that suddenly has multiple ways to break open a game.
At the center of it all were two players who feel like tone‑setters for this new season.
Persy Llamas and Cassie Reasner ended the weekend with some big swings and moments. Llamas drove in five runs, Reasner added four, and both hit home runs in the win.
Every time Ole Miss needed a swing to tilt the game, one of them delivered it.
Behind them, Kyra Aycock gave the Rebels exactly what a team with a surging offense needs: calm, steady control in the circle. One run allowed over six innings, four strikeouts, and not a hint of panic even after CSUN grabbed an early lead.
If Ole Miss is going to build something real this spring, outings like that are the foundation.
What stood out most, though, was how routine the Rebels made their scoring look.
Down 1-0? No problem. Just string together three singles, force a mistake, tie it up.
Need a spark? Reasner’s solo shot in the fourth flipped the game for good.
Want to bury an opponent? Llamas’ three‑run blast in the fifth did that, and her two‑run single an inning later made sure the run rule wasn’t just possible, but inevitable. Reasner’s bases‑clearing double was the exclamation point.
This wasn’t a team surviving the first weekend. This was a team imposing itself.
Five games in, Ole Miss looks deeper, more confident, and more dangerous than it did a year ago. The newcomers are producing, the returners are setting the table, and the pitching staff has already shown it can settle games down when needed.
It’s early, but early is exactly when you want to see signs of a team discovering who it can be.
If this week in California is any indication, the Rebels aren’t easing into 2026—they’re sprinting into it.
They’ll take that momentum to Louisiana Lafayette next, opening the Ragin’ Cajuns Invitational with a Thursday doubleheader against McNeese.
The competition will stiffen, the season will stretch, and the questions will grow more complicated.
But for now, Ole Miss heads home with something every program wants in Week 1: proof that the ceiling might be higher than anyone realized.
