The Rebel softball team, currently 14-6 on the season, will face its first SEC opponent in the No. 14 Arkansas Razorbacks this weekend in Oxford.
The Rebels are currently on a six-game win streak after sweeping Pittsburgh and Nicholls State at the Ole Miss Classic last weekend and securing a victory against Austin Peay on Wednesday afternoon.
The Rebel offense exploded early in the game against the Austin Peay Governors, scoring five runs in the first two innings.
Senior Kylan Becker, the current SEC Player of the Week, started off the first inning with a single, and sophomore Jessica Puk followed with her fifth homerun of the season to help the Rebels gain an early 2-0 lead. Junior Kaylee Horton singled to center field to plate another Rebel and increase the lead to three.
In the second inning, the Rebel offense was able to plate another runner and showed their skills on the bases by scoring on a passed ball to increase the lead to five. Over the course of the remaining innings, the Rebels tacked on two more to ultimately defeat the Governors 7-2.
One of the highlights of the final innings was Becker’s triple off the right center field wall, which marks her fourth triple of the season and the 11th of her career. Becker is currently tied for second for the single-season school record. The senior also extended her team-high reached-base streak to 19 games and her hit streak to seven straight games.
Puk’s homerun in the first enabled her to remain the team’s homerun leader for the season thus far, and she is just one RBI away from sharing the team RBI lead with sophomore Abbey Latham, who is currently at 17 runs driven in on the season.
In the circle, junior Molly Jacobsen earned her sixth win of the season, striking out six hitters in five innings of work and only allowing one run on eight hits. Sophomore Ava Tillmann pitched the final two innings in relief and gave up just one run.
The Rebels will have their work cut out for them this weekend as they face their first SEC opponent of the season. The No. 14 Arkansas Razorbacks are currently 18-3 on the season and have an eight-game win streak.
The winning streak is driven by the talent and depth of the Razorbacks’ pitchers. Sophomore Marry Haff was a huge asset on the mound this past weekend. The pitcher put in over 22 innings of work and only walked one batter, which earned her the title of SEC Pitcher of the Week. Haff recorded 34 strikeouts in her five appearances last week for a cumulative 0.62 ERA.
The Razorback pitching staff ranks third in SEC and eighth in Division I with an ERA of 1.38. Haff and teammates Autumn Storms and Lauren Graves have pieced together one of the nation’s best strikeout-to-walk ratios, averaging nearly 11 strikeouts for every walk allowed.
The first game between the Rebels and the Razorbacks is set for 4 p.m. Saturday. The two remaining games of the series will be played at 5 p.m. Sunday and at 6 p.m. Monday.
