OXFORD, Miss. -- Mississippi's bats started hot and stayed hot throughout the game Friday, as the Rebels (18-13, 2-5 Southeastern Conference) hit four home runs and defeated Arkansas (21-9, 1-3 SEC) 11-4 at the Ole Miss Softball Complex. Ten of the Rebels’ 11 runs in the game came with two outs away.
“Arkansas had a pretty good game plan coming in against Carly [Hummel] with what they were trying to do, but she really had some good stuff working today,” Ole Miss head coach Windy Thees said. “It wasn’t her best, but she threw well. They are absolutely a mash-hitting team. We did a good job of keeping some ground balls and made some great plays in the outfield. Offensively, when we got people on base, we were hungry to hit and we were excited to hit.”
After the game, Thees pointed to the Rebels’ ability to rally with two outs away in the first, third and fifth innings as a key to the victory.
“That’s something we struggled with at the beginning of the season,” Thees said about scoring with two outs on the board. “It started to come around, but man, if we can keep doing this for the rest of the year, watch out. That was fun to coach and it was exactly what we want our hitters to do.”
Each of the Rebels’ first four batters in the lineup hit home runs Friday night. Junior third baseman Allison Brown hit a solo home run in the first inning, senior outfielder RT Cantillo hit a three-run home run to left-center field in the third inning, sophomore shortstop Haley Culley hit a two-run home run to right field in the fifth inning, and senior first baseman Londen Ladner closed out the scoring with a solo shot to center in the sixth.
