Ole Miss Softball hosts Red and Blue Classic this weekend
Madi Osias is 7-1 on the mound this season for the Rebels. (Photo credit: Joshua McCoy, Ole Miss Athletics)
Ole Miss Softball hosts the Red and Blue Classic this weekend in Oxford. It is the second weekend for the Rebels to host a tournament, after sweeping the Ole Miss Classic last weekend.
UMass, Penn State and Belmont will visit campus this weekend in the three-day event.
Ole Miss is 14-3 on the year and has been as hot as the record indicates. Offensively, Hailey Lunderman is hitting at a .509 clip with 28 hits in 17 games. Dakota Matiko is batting .474 (9-for-19) and Miranda Strother has a pair of home runs with 14 runs batted in. Natalie Martinez also has two homers and has driven in 10.
Madi Osias has been the ace of the pitching staff with 7-1 record and 42 strikeouts, but she is far from alone. Alyssa Clayton has been a workhorse, throwing a team-best 43.2 innings and Elisha Jahnke is 2-0 with a 0.78 ERA with a save.
Here is a look at the teams the Rebels will face this weekend:
PENN STATE, 1-4, Friday 4 p.m.
The Nittany Lions might not remember where their dorm rooms are when they get home because they have been on the road so long. PSU has played tournaments in Boca Raton, Fla., Jacksonville, Fla., and now comes to Oxford. Next up for the team? Tuesday in Starkville against Mississippi State.
Shelby Miller is the top hitter for Penn State, hitting an even .500. with a double and a triple. Reina Furuya is next on the team with a .333 average.
Marlaina Laubach and Madison Seifert are the one-two pitching punch, combining for 23 strikeouts.
Something cool about Penn State:
The part of the PSU campus known as Obelisk is believed to be the geographical center of the state of Pennsylvania.
BELMONT, 2-11, Friday 6:30 p.m.
The Bruins started 0-11, but has won the last two beating Louisiana-Monroe and Arkansas-Little Rock. Despite the record, Belmont’s Jordan Spicer is hitting .410 with five doubles. Kayla Wells has a team-high 17 hits.
Three pitchers are in double digits in strikeouts, led by Shelby Willard’s 17.
Something cool about Belmont:
Belmont, located just minutes from Music Row in Nashville takes advantage of its location. Time and Rolling Stone has listed the school’s Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business as one of the best in the country.
UMASS, 2-6, Saturday 3 p.m.
Jenn Cozza leads the Minutewomen with nine hits, more than half of them of the extra-base variety (two doubles, a triple and a pair of home runs). Taylor Carbone is hitting .333 for a team that is only batting .212.
Meg Colleran has thrown 33.2 innings and struck out 13.
Something cool about UMass:
UMass has the largest marching band in New England, boasting more than 390 members at Minutemen football games.
(Feature image credit: Joshua McCoy, Ole Miss Athletics)
