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Southern Miss Tried Everything Against Madi George and It Didn’t Work

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Ole Miss senior Kennedy Bunker swings for a hit against Southern Miss in a midweek game in Oxford. | Ole Miss Athletics

Some nights the bats show up early, stay late, and make the whole thing feel simple. That was Ole Miss on Tuesday.

The Rebels didn’t just beat Southern Miss 12-5. They hit their way through the evening with the confidence of a lineup that was in sync the entire night.

Four home runs, 11 hits, 12 runs. That’s not a fluke. That’s a group that’s heating up at the right time.

And at the center of it again was Madi George, who is now firmly in the category of hitters opponents would prefer not to deal with.

Southern Miss tried both approaches. They pitched to her, and she doubled. They hit her, and she homered. They intentionally walked her, and she homered anyway the next time up. She finished 3-for-3 with two home runs, a double, and that intentional walk that felt more like a surrender flag than a strategy.

The night didn’t start smoothly. Southern Miss punched first with two runs in the opening inning, but Ole Miss answered with the kind of inning that makes a pitching staff rethink its life choices.

Five straight hits, six straight reaching, and suddenly the Rebels were up 5-2. Persy Llamas tied it with an RBI single, George doubled home another, and Cassie Reasner blew the inning open with a three-run shot.

George kept the pressure on in the second with a two-run homer, and Laylonna Applin joined the fun in the third with a solo shot of her own.

Even when Southern Miss clawed back three runs in the fourth, the Rebels didn’t blink. George stepped up again in the bottom half and launched her second homer of the night to push it to 9-5.

From there, the offense kept rolling. Reasner added an RBI double after the intentional walk to George, Rachel Connors lifted a sacrifice fly, and an error tacked on one more. It wasn’t quite a run rule, but it was close enough that the final innings felt like a formality.

On the other side, Lilly Whitten gave Ole Miss exactly what it needed. She settled the game with 3.1 innings of one-hit relief and three strikeouts, letting the offense keep stretching the lead without worrying about what was happening behind them.

This wasn’t a night about tension or drama. It was about a lineup that’s starting to look dangerous again, with George leading the charge and everyone else following right behind her.

Ole Miss heads back into SEC play this weekend at Auburn, and if the bats travel, the Rebels will give themselves a chance in every game. The swings are loud right now, and that’s a good place to be in late April.

Softball

Ole Miss Softball Lands Two Players on All-SEC Second Team

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Ole Miss freshman Madi George had plenty to smile about after setting a new single-season freshman home run record against North Alabama. | Ole Miss Athletics

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
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Softball

Ole Miss Softball Bows Out of SEC Tournament With Loss to Texas

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Ole Miss pitcher Emilee Boyer winds up for a pitch against No. 6 Texas at the 2026 SEC Softball Tournament. | Ole Miss Athletics

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.

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Softball

Rebels Shock Lady Vols, Advance to Face Texas in SEC Tournament

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Ole Miss softball players celebrate an upset win against Tennessee in the 2026 SEC Softball Tournament. | Ole Miss Athletics

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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