Some nights get away from you early, and Sunday was one of those for Ole Miss.
Oklahoma came in as the No. 4 team in the country and played like it, jumping on the Rebels from the first pitch and rolling to a 14-2 win at the Ole Miss Softball Stadium.
The Rebels are now 0-8 in SEC play, and this one felt uphill from the moment the Sooners put four runs on the board in the first inning.
Two more in the second made it 6-0 before Ole Miss even had a chance to settle in. Cassie Reasner tried to jolt the dugout with a solo home run in the bottom half, a clean swing that cut the deficit to 6-1 and at least gave the crowd something to cheer.
But Oklahoma never really loosened its grip.
A two-run shot in the third pushed the lead to 8-1, and the fourth inning turned into the breaking point as the Sooners stretched it all the way to 14-1. Ole Miss had a small window to answer in the bottom of the fourth when Madi George doubled and moved to third on a wild pitch, but nothing came of it.
There were a few bright spots late.
Lilly Whitten came in and struck out the side in the fifth, and the Rebels scratched across a run in the bottom half thanks to a pinch hit double from Rachel Connors and a sacrifice fly from Mackenzie Pickens.
It made the score a little more respectable, but the game still ended early once Oklahoma recorded the final out.
So now the Rebels head into Monday still looking for that first SEC win and still trying to find a way to steady themselves against elite competition.
They get one more shot at the Sooners on Monday at 6 p.m. on SEC Network.
It’s another tough matchup, but at this point Ole Miss just needs to show it can settle in, compete, and keep the game from slipping away before it even starts.
