Softball
Ole Miss Explodes Early, Holds Off Auburn for Crucial SEC Win
Ole Miss did not make anything easy Saturday afternoon, but the Rebels walked out of Auburn with something they have not had much of this season: a real SEC road win that mattered.
A 13-11 kind of mattered, the kind where you score early, score often and then hang on for dear life when the game refuses to stay quiet.
After dropping so many close ones in league play, Ole Miss finally got to be the team that built the big lead and forced someone else to chase.
The Rebels jumped ahead 8-0 before Auburn could settle in, then kept answering every time the Tigers tried to turn the afternoon into chaos.
The tone was set right away. Kennedy Bunker and Persy Llamas opened the first inning with hits, Mackenzie Pickens wore a pitch, and suddenly the bases were loaded for Madi George. She punched in the first run with a single, Cassie Reasner and Rachel Connors added sacrifice flies, and Ole Miss had a 3-0 lead before Auburn had a chance to breathe.
OOOO SHE'S DANGEROUS 🫢
Madi George homers to left field to bring in three runs!
Ole Miss 8 | Auburn 0@madilynn_george x #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/8mDhsNd1EW
— Ole Miss Softball (@OleMissSoftball) April 25, 2026
Then came the second inning, which felt like the Rebels finally cashing in on all the little breaks that have gone against them this year.
A leadoff error turned into a two-run Bunker homer. Pickens got hit again. Llamas walked. George stepped in and launched her 21st home run of the season, a three-run shot that pushed the lead to 8-0 and made it look like Ole Miss might run away with the whole thing.
Auburn pushed back, as expected, but Ole Miss kept answering. Two more hit batters in the third set up Llamas for an RBI single. George followed with another run-scoring hit. By the time the fourth inning ended, the Rebels were still up 10-6 and doing just enough to stay in control.
Lilly Whitten gave them a steady stretch in the circle, getting three big outs in the fourth and a clean fifth to settle things down. The Rebels tried to put the game away in the sixth with singles from Laylonna Applin and Taylor Malvin, then took advantage of an Auburn error and a Llamas sacrifice fly to stretch the lead to 12-6. Reasner added an RBI single to make it 13-6, and it felt like the Rebels had finally created enough space.
SMOOTH CRIMINAL 🥱@madilynn_george x #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/AQn1t71ltL
— Ole Miss Softball (@OleMissSoftball) April 25, 2026
Of course, nothing about this season has been simple.
Auburn scored five in the bottom of the sixth and forced Ole Miss to make one more move. Emilee Boyer came in, stopped the bleeding, and then worked a calm seventh inning with a strikeout to lock down the save.
George finished 3-for-3 with five RBI, continuing a stretch where she has basically carried the lineup. Bunker homered and drove in two. Llamas reached base four times and knocked in three.
It was the kind of offensive day Ole Miss has been waiting for, and the kind of response they needed after every Auburn push.
The Rebels will try to finish the sweep on Sunday at noon on SEC Network. After a season full of tight losses and missed chances, Ole Miss finally has a little momentum to work with.
Softball
Ole Miss Softball Lands Two Players on All-SEC Second Team
Ole Miss picked up a pair of All-SEC selections on Friday, with freshman Madi George and sophomore Persy Llamas earning spots on the second team.
George continues to stack postseason honors in what has already become one of the best freshman seasons in program history.
She joins Llamas, Amanda Fine and Stephanie Vaglica (1997) as the only Ole Miss freshmen to earn All-SEC recognition, and she becomes the 13th Rebel all time to make an All-SEC team.
Llamas landed on the second team for the second straight year, putting her in rare company. Only four other Rebels have earned multiple All-SEC selections in their careers: Kylan Becker, RT Cantillo, Lauren Grill and Fine.
George has been the headliner all spring. The Leander, Texas native is hitting .385 with 21 home runs, 58 RBI, nine doubles and 27 walks.
She set single-season program records for home runs, RBI and total bases, and she’s one of only two freshmen in the SEC with 20 or more home runs. Her production hasn’t slowed in the postseason either, including two key RBI in the Rebels’ second-round win over No. 5 Tennessee.
Llamas has followed up her breakout freshman year with another strong season at the plate, posting a career-high 70 hits and a .374 average. She’s added nine home runs, seven doubles and 39 RBI, and her 70 hits rank sixth in single-season program history.
She’s also been one of the SEC’s steadiest defenders, holding a .996 fielding percentage with 434 putouts, the fourth-highest single-season total in school history. She already sits inside the top 10 all time at Ole Miss in both fielding percentage and putouts.
Ole Miss now turns its attention to Selection Sunday. The NCAA Tournament field will be revealed at 6 p.m. on ESPN2.
2026 SEC Softball Awards
- Player of the Year: Katie Stewart, Texas
- Pitcher of the Year: Jocelyn Briski, Alabama
- Newcomer of the Year: Alyssa Faircloth, Mississippi State
- Freshman of the Year: Kendall Wells, Oklahoma
- Coach of the Year: Patrick Murphy, Alabama
SEC All-Defensive Team
- Pitcher: Karlyn Pickens, Tennessee
- Catcher: Reese Atwood, Texas
- First Base: Abby Hay, Missouri
- Second Base: Gabi Comia, Florida
- Shortstop: Gabbie Garcia, Oklahoma
- Third Base: Ella McDowell, Arkansas
- Left Field: Dakota Kennedy, Arkansas
- Center Field: Reagan Johnson, Arkansas
- Right Field: Ella Parker, Oklahoma
All-SEC First Team
- Jocelyn Briski, Alabama
- Brooke Wells, Alabama
- Robyn Herron, Arkansas
- Dakota Kennedy, Arkansas
- Jocelyn Erickson, Florida
- Keagan Rothrock, Florida
- Taylor Shumaker, Florida
- Townsen Thomas, Florida
- Jaydyn Goodwin, Georgia
- Sarah Gordon, Georgia
- Kylee Edwards, LSU
- Gabbie Garcia, Oklahoma
- Kai Minor, Oklahoma
- Ella Parker, Oklahoma
- Kendall Wells, Oklahoma
- Jori Heard, South Carolina
- Alannah Leach, Tennessee
- Sage Mardjetko, Tennessee
- Karlyn Pickens, Tennessee
- Kayden Henry, Texas
- Teagan Kavan, Texas
- Viviana Martinez, Texas
- Katie Stewart, Texas
- Mya Perez, Texas A&M
- Kennedy Powell, Texas A&M
All-SEC Second Team
- Marlie Giles, Alabama
- Alexis Pupillo, Alabama
- Payton Burnham, Arkansas
- Ella McDowell, Arkansas
- Alyssa Hastings, Auburn
- Kenleigh Cahalan, Florida
- Cassidy McLellan, Florida
- Bailey Lindemuth, Georgia
- Randi Roelling, Georgia
- Keirstin Roose, Georgia
- Carly Sleeman, Kentucky
- Tori Edwards, LSU
- Alix Franklin, LSU
- Jalia Lassiter, LSU
- Madi George, Ole Miss
- Persy Llamas, Ole Miss
- Nadia Barbary, Mississippi State
- Alyssa Faircloth, Mississippi State
- Abby Dayton, Oklahoma
- Isabela Emerling, Oklahoma
- Audrey Lowry, Oklahoma
- Reese Atwood, Texas
- Leighann Goode, Texas
- Hannah Wells, Texas
- Sidne Peters, Texas A&M
- Micaela Wark, Texas A&M
Softball
Ole Miss Softball Bows Out of SEC Tournament With Loss to Texas
Ole Miss finally ran out of magic on Thursday night, and that’s alright. It was still a fun week in Lexington.
The Rebels bowed out of the SEC Tournament with a 6-0 loss to No. 6 Texas, a team that can make even good pitching staffs look uncomfortable.
Ole Miss fell behind early, never quite found the big swing it needed, and spent most of the night trying to claw back against a lineup that rarely gives anything away.
Texas broke the scoreless start with a solo shot from Leighann Goode, then added three more in the third and two in the fifth. That was enough separation for a Longhorns team that’s been one of the most complete groups in the league all season.
Ole Miss had a couple of chances to make things interesting. Tenly Grisham and Taylor Malvin strung together singles in the third, but Texas escaped. In the seventh, a dropped fly ball put Madi George on second and Izzy Rettiger on third after a passed ball. Even then, the Rebels couldn’t push a run across.
So yes, the night ended quietly. But the week didn’t.
Ole Miss came to the SEC Tournament needing something to spark its postseason case, and it got exactly that on Wednesday by upsetting Tennessee.
That win alone changed the tone of the trip. It showed the Rebels still had some fight left after a long regular season, and it gave the selection committee something to think about.
Now the waiting begins. Ole Miss sits at 34-24 and will spend the next couple of days hoping Wednesday’s upset carries weight.
The NCAA selection show is Sunday at 6 p.m. on ESPN2.
Whatever happens, the Rebels didn’t leave Lexington empty handed.
They left with a win that mattered and a reminder that they can still punch above their weight when the moment calls for it.
Softball
Rebels Shock Lady Vols, Advance to Face Texas in SEC Tournament
Ole Miss showed up in Lexington on Wednesday expecting a fight. What the Rebels delivered was something closer to a jolt.
They knocked off a Tennessee team that spent part of the season ranked No. 1 in the country, and they did it with a calm, steady game that never looked too big for them.
A 4-1 win over the No. 5 Lady Vols isn’t supposed to look routine, but Ole Miss made it feel that way.
The formula wasn’t complicated. Kyra Aycock and Emilee Boyer split the work in the circle and held one of the SEC’s most dangerous lineups to four hits.
Tennessee scratched across a run in the second, but that was it. Aycock pitched out of trouble twice, then handed the ball to Boyer, who slammed the door just like she did in the opener.
Once the Rebels settled in, the offense found its rhythm. Mackenzie Pickens and Persy Llamas set the table in the fourth, and Madi George tied it with a ball Tennessee couldn’t handle.
Tenly Grisham followed with a sharp single up the middle to give Ole Miss the lead, and suddenly the team that wasn’t supposed to be here was up 2-1 on a national contender.
The fifth inning is where the upset really took shape.
Ryan Starr walked, Pickens wore a pitch, Llamas walked, and George stepped in again with the bases loaded. The freshman didn’t try to do too much. She just shot a single up the middle and drove in two more. That 4-1 cushion felt bigger than it looked.
From there, Boyer handled the rest. She gave up a single in the sixth, shrugged it off, and finished the game with a strikeout that sent the Rebels spilling out of the dugout.
Tennessee never mounted a real push after Ole Miss took the lead. That alone tells you how locked in the Rebels were.
For a team that entered the tournament as an underdog, this is the kind of win that changes the temperature of a week. Ole Miss didn’t just survive.
It beat a national power straight up and earned another shot on Thursday against No. 6 Texas.
If Wednesday was any indication, the Rebels aren’t done surprising people.
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