Softball
Ole Miss Shakes Off Wild Opener, Splits Day One at Cajuns Invitational
Day one of the Ragin’ Cajuns Invitational didn’t start the way Ole Miss wanted, but it ended with the Rebels looking a lot more like themselves.
A wild 12-11 loss to McNeese in the opener could’ve easily derailed the afternoon. Instead, Ole Miss steadied things, reset, and handled the Cowgirls 8-3 in game two.
It wasn’t perfect, but it was productive and for a team still figuring out its early-season identity, that matters.
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Game One: A Messy Start
The opener felt like two different games stitched together. Ole Miss fell behind 10-1 almost immediately, and for a moment it looked like the kind of afternoon you just try to survive. But once the Rebels settled in, the bats woke up in a big way.
Persy Llamas and freshman Madi George basically tag‑teamed the comeback effort. George’s first home run cut into the deficit, and by the fifth inning the two were going back‑to‑back like they’d been doing it for years. Grace Thompson joined the party with her first collegiate homer, and suddenly a blowout had turned into a three‑run game.
Freshman pitcher Payton Kennedy deserves credit for giving Ole Miss a chance. In her collegiate debut, she calmed everything down with 4.2 innings of steady relief. It was exactly what the Rebels needed while the offense tried to claw back.
By the seventh, Ole Miss had one more push in them. Thompson reached, Grisham walked, McNeese kicked the ball around a bit, and Mackenzie Pickens ripped a two‑run single to make it 12-11.
The tying run was at the plate. But the Cowgirls made a pitching change and slammed the door.
Game Two: A Fresh Start
If game one was chaos, game two was the reset button. Ole Miss came out with the kind of energy you’d expect from a team that felt like it let one slip away.
Cassie Reasner set the tone with a solo shot in the second. Thompson doubled to start the third, and the Rebels manufactured runs the old‑fashioned way with a walk, a double steal, a timely double from Pickens, and an RBI single from Llamas. George capped the inning with a triple into the corner, and suddenly it was 4-0.
Pitching-wise, Lilly Whitten gave Ole Miss exactly what it needed: four innings, four hits, and no real drama.
McNeese trimmed the lead to 4-2, but the Rebels answered with two more runs, including another RBI from George, who looked completely comfortable all afternoon.
Kyra Aycock took over with the bases loaded and didn’t blink. Three hitless innings, one run allowed on a fielder’s choice, and a save that looked routine. Ole Miss tacked on two more in the sixth thanks to a passed ball and a groundout, and that was that.
Ole Miss is back at it Friday with Texas A&M–Corpus Christi and Louisiana. If the Rebels bring the version of themselves that showed up in game two, they’ll be just fine.
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
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.
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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