Day one of the Ragin’ Cajuns Invitational didn’t start the way Ole Miss wanted, but it ended with the Rebels looking a lot more like themselves.
A wild 12-11 loss to McNeese in the opener could’ve easily derailed the afternoon. Instead, Ole Miss steadied things, reset, and handled the Cowgirls 8-3 in game two.
It wasn’t perfect, but it was productive and for a team still figuring out its early-season identity, that matters.
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Game One: A Messy Start
The opener felt like two different games stitched together. Ole Miss fell behind 10-1 almost immediately, and for a moment it looked like the kind of afternoon you just try to survive. But once the Rebels settled in, the bats woke up in a big way.
Persy Llamas and freshman Madi George basically tag‑teamed the comeback effort. George’s first home run cut into the deficit, and by the fifth inning the two were going back‑to‑back like they’d been doing it for years. Grace Thompson joined the party with her first collegiate homer, and suddenly a blowout had turned into a three‑run game.
Freshman pitcher Payton Kennedy deserves credit for giving Ole Miss a chance. In her collegiate debut, she calmed everything down with 4.2 innings of steady relief. It was exactly what the Rebels needed while the offense tried to claw back.
By the seventh, Ole Miss had one more push in them. Thompson reached, Grisham walked, McNeese kicked the ball around a bit, and Mackenzie Pickens ripped a two‑run single to make it 12-11.
The tying run was at the plate. But the Cowgirls made a pitching change and slammed the door.
Game Two: A Fresh Start
If game one was chaos, game two was the reset button. Ole Miss came out with the kind of energy you’d expect from a team that felt like it let one slip away.
Cassie Reasner set the tone with a solo shot in the second. Thompson doubled to start the third, and the Rebels manufactured runs the old‑fashioned way with a walk, a double steal, a timely double from Pickens, and an RBI single from Llamas. George capped the inning with a triple into the corner, and suddenly it was 4-0.
Pitching-wise, Lilly Whitten gave Ole Miss exactly what it needed: four innings, four hits, and no real drama.
McNeese trimmed the lead to 4-2, but the Rebels answered with two more runs, including another RBI from George, who looked completely comfortable all afternoon.
Kyra Aycock took over with the bases loaded and didn’t blink. Three hitless innings, one run allowed on a fielder’s choice, and a save that looked routine. Ole Miss tacked on two more in the sixth thanks to a passed ball and a groundout, and that was that.
Ole Miss is back at it Friday with Texas A&M–Corpus Christi and Louisiana. If the Rebels bring the version of themselves that showed up in game two, they’ll be just fine.
