The series finale of No. 22 Kentucky’s series with the No. 17 Ole Miss Rebels, a Saturday doubleheader, went in favor in the visitors from Oxford’s favor, the deciding game in the most painful way imaginable.
Ole Miss (27-10, 7-4) blew the Cats out 8-4 in game one and then came up with a rally in extra innings to clinch the series, 6-4, in game two.
Kentucky (24-15, 8-7) has now dropped its third conference series in a row and have lost eight of its last 11 games.
The defeat in game two drops the Cats record to 0-3 in extra innings this season. They lost prior contests in extra frames on opening day against Illinois and last month against SEC foe Missouri.
The Cats hit the road next week for four games away from John Cropp Stadium: a Tuesday tilt with Northern Kentucky and a weekend series with LSU.
Ole Miss 8, Kentucky 4
The smallest of plays have the most significant consequences in softball, and the top of the 3rd inning proved that for the Wildcats.
With two outs, Ole Miss leading 4-2 and a runner aboard, confusion in the field allowed back-to-back infield singles for the Rebels, loading the bases in the process. Kentucky pitcher Autumn Humes walked in a run and then surrendered a bases-clearing double to Jessica Puk, turning what could have been an easy inning into a six-run deficit at 8-2 that the Wildcats could not overcome.
Puk, a sophomore second baseman, finished 2-of-3 with a trio of RBI and was one of four Rebels with two-hit games.
Ole Miss collected 12 hits off of Kentucky pitchers Meghan Schorman (5-1), Humes and Tatum Spangler.
Schorman endured a rocky top of the 1st inning. The Rebels ripped her five hits, including a couple of two-RBI doubles by Brittany Finney and Amanda Roth, to take a 4-0 lead and end the freshman's day after a single inning.
Humes four-run 4th was followed by a pair of clean innings to somewhat salvage her time in the circle. The junior gave up six hits and also walked a batter.
Spangler tossed two shutout innings and recorded three strikeouts.
The Cats loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the inning but Finney, the Rebs starting pitcher, halted the danger by retiring the next three batters she faced.
Kentucky had trouble getting traction against Finney (10-5). The senior right-hander did allow eight hits, but the Cats runs came across as raindrops in the ocean.
Freshman Kayla Kowalik singled three times in four at-bats, but only one of them brought in a run during the 2nd inning after senior Jenny Schaper plated the Cats first run of the contest.
Sophomore Mallory Peyton homered in the bottom 3rd inning, her 10th of the year, and senior Abbey Cheek launched her team-leading 14th in the bottom of the 7th.
Ole Miss 6, Kentucky 2
Kentucky's defense was solid all game long until they needed it the most. Ole Miss capitalized on errors by Cheek and Reed to extend a four-run rally in extra innings started by Amanda Roth's leadoff, go-ahead home run.
Ole Miss tacked on three more runs from a SAC fly by Autumn Gillespie, a hit by pitch and another courtesy of one of the Cats errors. Only one of its 11 hits were responsible for a run.
The Rebels took a 2-0 lead in the top of the 1st inning courtesy of a wild pitch by UK starter Larissa Spellman and a walk-in run. Spellman never could settle in and walked four battles total, enough for her to get the hook in favor of Grace Baalman.
Baalman (5-8) battled through six scoreless innings in relief before the four-run 8th, though she was responsible for only one earned run. She struck out five batters and did not concede a walk.
The Cats finally put a dent in the Rebels lead in the bottom of the 4th thanks to an unlikely source. Spangler, known better for her pitching than her bat, legged out an infield single to plate pinch runner Kennedy Cowden.
Two innings later, Katie Reed tied the game with a one-out double to score Kowalik who led the inning off with a hard-hit single right at the circle.
Finney (11-5) got the win for the Rebels after throwing two innings in relief of Molly Jacobsen, who pitched six two-run innings.
Martens was the only Wildcat to get more than a single hit by finishing 2-of-3 at the plate.
