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Ole Miss

‘Why not us?’: Beautae, Binford, Brady power Ole Miss to first-ever WCWS appearance

Ben Garrettby: Ben Garrett05/26/25SpiritBen
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Ole Miss softball is headed to the College World Series for the first time in school history. 

The Rebels (42-19) defeated host and No. 4 national seed Arkansas (44-14), 7-4, on Sunday afternoon to advance out of the Fayetteville Super Regional. They also won Game 1, their first-ever win in a Super Regional. 

Ole Miss next heads to Oklahoma City to take on Texas Tech on Thursday at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN2.

“I thought we could be a team on the rise, playing the best when it means the most,” Ole Miss head coach Jamie Trachsel said. “Total team win today. Team weekend. I’m proud of the resiliency, proud of the fight.”

Ole Miss is the last remaining unseeded team remaining in the NCAA Tournament.

The Rebels are making their ninth straight appearance and with Sunday’s win improved to 22-19 all-time. Fayetteville was their third-ever Super. They’ve been to the tournament all five seasons under Trachsel but last made a Super in 2019.

Trachsel came to Ole Miss from Minnesota. She took the Gophers to their first College World Series in the NCAA era in 2019. The Rebels in the preseason were picked to finish 14th out of 15 teams in the SEC.

“The Rebs are still hot,” Trachsel said. “Don’t be afraid to go be great.”

The Rebels knocked out host-seeds Arizona and Arkansas to reach the WCWS.

The Wildcats (48-13) were the No. 13 overall seed and had won 23 consecutive Regionals. Ole Miss was 4-2 against the SEC rival Razorbacks the season.

Ole Miss is one of a record five SEC teams to reach the College World Series in the same season. The others are Oklahoma, Texas, Florida and Tennessee.

“You are not the bigger dog,” Aliyah Binford said of the Rebels’ mindset at Arkansas. Binford set a new Ole Miss single-season RBI record in the Tucson Regional. “We are very equal, so let’s see who’s going to win. With being one game away from it last year, this is just so amazing. Why not the Rebels? We’ve worked so freaking hard. Why not us?”

Ole Miss jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning, highlighted by a two-run home run by senior Lair Beautae. Arkansas rallied to tie the game in the second and chased Ole Miss starter Brianna Lopez.

Binford, a two-way star, took over and pitched 5.2 innings with four strikeouts. She didn’t allow a hit after the second inning and retired 14 hitters in a row at one point.

All-SEC selection and senior Lexie Brady homered in the seventh for the final 7-4 score. Brady rolled into the Super hitting .338 with a career-high 16 home runs, the most in program history. Brady broke an Ole Miss record that had stood since 2003. 

She had 47 RBI, including a six-RBI game against Georgia, a single-game school record.

“Our train is not stopping,” Beautae said. “This feeling is just getting us started for what we will feel in Oklahoma.”

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