The Ole Miss Softball team will start SEC tournament play on Tuesday, May 5 at 6 p.m. in Lexington, Ky. The Rebels enter the competition as the No. 13 seed and will open play against No. 12 seed South Carolina.
Ole Miss won their third SEC series of the year last weekend against in-state rival Mississippi State. They ended the regular season 32-23 (6-18 SEC) and will look to make a deep SEC tournament run to improve their NCAA tournament chances.
Seeds 10-15 play in the first round, while seeds 6-9 get first-round byes. The top four seeds do not play until the quarterfinals on Thursday.
This will be the first time the Rebels and Gamecocks meet this season. With a win, the Rebels will move on to face No. 5 Tennessee on Wednesday at 5 p.m.
Though Tennessee is tough in the circle, the Rebels defeated them for their first series win in March. If Ole Miss can get past Tennessee, they will play reigning national champions Texas in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
Ole Miss and Texas met over spring break in March. The Longhorns swept the Rebels, including two run-rule victories. The well-rested Texans will have a significant advantage over Ole Miss, who will have played back-to-back days if they advance to the quarterfinals.
In Lexington, Ole Miss will continue to lean on freshman Madi George. The power hitter leads the team in batting average at .384 and home runs with 21. So far this season, George has been named the SEC Freshman of the Week, won D1Softball, Softball America and Softball on SI National Freshman of the Week honors and broke Ole Miss’ single-season home run record.
In the circle, the Rebels will likely look to Emilee Boyer. The senior pitcher leads the team in innings pitched with 148.2 and has a 3.81 ERA. Boyer is coming off a successful weekend series against Mississippi State. She picked up two wins and her record improved to 11-12.
Fans can watch the first three rounds of the tournament on SEC Network and the semifinals and final matchup on ESPN.
