The Ole Miss softball team went 2-2 in Troy, Ala., at the Trojan Classic Tournament this weekend. The Rebels faced off against the University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB) twice, as well as Troy and Belmont at the tournament.
Ole Miss started its season out strong, defeating UAB 8-2 on Friday in the first game of the season. The Rebels scored five runs in the second inning to put them at 5-0, with UAB not answering back until the fourth inning where the Blazers scored one run and added another run in the fifth. The Rebels then added one more run in the fifth inning and two in the seventh to tally the final score of 8-2.
Junior Savannah Diederich got the win for the Rebels in the circle, pitching a solid four innings. Diederich gave up only two runs on four hits and struck out five.
Despite the effort against UAB, the Rebels lost their second game of the day 5-2 to the tournament’s host, Troy University. The Rebels scored once in the third inning and once in the sixth, while the Trojans put up two big runs in the third inning and then one run in each inning until the seventh.
Senior Ava Tillman was on the mound for the Rebels and went four innings, giving up three earned runs with one strikeout. Senior Anna Borgen came in as relief for the remainder of the game.
On Saturday, the Rebels took down Belmont 10-2. Ole Miss put up three runs in the third and four runs in the fourth. The team added three more runs to put the cherry on top in the sixth inning.
The Rebels tallied four home runs to help them clinch the win, with senior Jessica Puk claiming two of those. Diederich was back on the mound and allowed two hits and a walk in her four innings while racking up nine strikeouts.
UAB took the final win against Ole Miss, 13-5 in their second matchup of the weekend. The Rebels put up two runs in the first inning, but UAB answered right back and tallied three runs on the board.
UAB then went on to have a big third and fourth inning, putting up six runs in the third and five runs in the fourth. It was a group effort on the mound. Tillmann started, then senior Lindsey Johnson came in, followed by Diederich. Borgen finally came in from the bullpen.
The Rebels will be back in action this weekend at the Florida Atlantic University “Strike-Out Cancer” Tournament featuring Iowa State and FAU on Feb. 19-21.
