OXFORD — The No. 20 Ole Miss softball team rallied for two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning with two outs to beat No. 13 Alabama 5-4.
The win helped Ole Miss (34-17, 8-13 Southeastern Conference) earn a walk-off victory for the fifth time in the last two weeks, and the ninth time this season. It also enabled Ole Miss to secure its first series victory against Alabama (39-13, 11-9).
With two outs in the seventh, Courtney Syrett walked. Elantra Cox then chopped a grounder to third base, but the errant throw allowed pinch runner Kaylee Horton to score and Cox to advance to third. Kylan Becker ended the game with a an infield single to third.
The final four runs — two by Alabama in the fifth and Ole Miss’ two in the seventh — were unearned.
Alabama also had a run taken off the scoreboard in the third when Bailey Hemphill hit a home run, but never touched home plate, which helped preserve Ole Miss’ 3-2 lead.
The Rebels had only three hits, but they took advantage of six walks by starting pitcher Alexis Osorio. She settled in midway through the game to retire 14 Ole Miss hitters in a row, 10 via strikeout, but Ole Miss put that all aside in the seventh.
Osorio (19-7) walked three and allowed two hits in the second. Sarah Van Schaik led off with a walk before Dakota Matiko pinch ran and stole second. Dylinn Stancil then walked with one out, before Grayce Majam, on her birthday, fought off a nine pitch at-bat to also walk and load the bases. Paige McKinney then stepped in and delivered with a hard RBI single up the middle scoring Matiko to put Ole Miss in front 1-0. The runners held up on the single, allowing Syrett to bat with the bases juiced. She came up a few inches shy of a grand slam as she smoked one off the left-field wall to make it 3-0.
Alabama answered with a one-out bloop single to right. Marisa Runyon then hit a two-run home run to right field to make it 3-2. Hemphill stepped in and blasted one over the fence in left, but an appeal at home negated the run as the umpire declared she never touched home plate, which resulted in a triple in the scorebook and an out to end the inning.
The Crimson Tide threatened again in the fourth with two singles, but Kaitlin Lee (15-9) worked a strikeout, one of her five, to end it and keep the game 3-2.
Alabama took its 4-3 lead in the fifth when they put two on after a hit batter and single. Majam dropped a popup in shallow right that loaded the bases. Lee got a line drive to Stancil at third for the second out, but Reagan Dykes singled to left and scored two to put the Crimson Tide in front for the first time all night.
After a quiet sixth on both sides, the Tide again were within striking distance in the seventh when Elissa Brown singled and made it all the way to third, but Lee again worked out of the jam to keep the Rebels within one.
The Rebels have walked off in four-straight wins at home dating back to the sweep over No. 11 LSU two weeks ago. Five of the last eight home games have resulted in walk-off wins, and four of the eight SEC wins this season have been via walk-off.
Ole Miss will play host to Southern Mississippi at 6 p.m. Wednesday, while Alabama will conclude its regular season this weekend with a three-game series against Auburn in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Game 1 will be at 7 p.m. Friday.
n Southern Mississippi will take on Southeastern Louisiana: At Hammond, Louisiana, the Southern Mississippi softball team will take on Southeastern Louisiana at 5 pm. today in a makeup of a game that was originally scheduled for March 7.
Southern Miss (26-26) took two of three games from Charlotte last weekend in a Conference USA series.
Southeastern Louisiana (26-25) enters the game on a four-game winning streak after sweeping Sam Houston State last weekend.
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