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‘They bought in’: Trachsel credits culture in Ole Miss’ historic WCWS run

Ben Garrettby: Ben Garrett05/26/25SpiritBen
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Ole Miss softball coach Jamie Trachsel (Photo credit: Ole Miss Softball/X)

Ole Miss softball is headed to the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for the first time in program 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 victory in a Super Regional.

Ole Miss is the last unseeded team remaining in the NCAA Tournament. The Rebels will next face Texas Tech on Thursday at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN2.

Head coach Jamie Trachsel discussed the win with local media in Fayetteville afterward. Ole Miss is in its fifth straight NCAA Tournament (and ninth overall), all under Trachsel. She came to Ole Miss from Minnesota, where she led the Gophers to their first Women’s College World Series in the NCAA era in 2019.

The Rebels were picked to finish 14th out of 15 teams in the SEC during the preseason.

OPENING STATEMENT

TRACHSEL: I just want to congratulate Arkansas on an incredible season. They had a tremendous year. We knew this was a tough place to play. The fans are incredible — the way they’ve embraced their program. To come in here, in a hostile environment, we knew it was going to be a dogfight. It didn’t surprise us that it came down to a three-game series on Championship Sunday.

I just could not be prouder or happier for our entire village at Ole Miss. We have a great one. It’s a special one. They’ve been in the trenches with us, but what a performance by our team. I’m proud of their mental fortitude and how we were able to flip the script yesterday. Coming into today, what an opening inning from our offense after being shut out — that’s a prideful offense.

Aliyah Binford — dangerous bat. She was probably almost the MVP of our regional last week with her bat. What a pitching performance today; her best of the year. Couldn’t have come at a better time. For her to be able to balance not producing as much offensively and then go out and control and shut down a potent offense — she totally led the way.

Just proud of our team. Gritty performance. Why not the Rebels? We’re going to Oklahoma City.

ON OLE MISS PLAYING ITS BEST BALL AT THE PERFECT TIME

TRACHSEL: Just resilient. We had so many new pieces; I’ve talked about that several times. I just felt throughout the year we’d be a team that keeps getting better. New coaching staff, eight freshmen, eight transfers. There were so many new pieces. I thought we could be a team on the rise and play our best when it matters most.

I’ve been really proud of how our freshmen have played, how our seniors have led. We’ve had different people step up in different moments. It’s a total team win today — a team weekend. The journey takes everybody, and I’m proud of the resiliency and the fight. They bought in. They believed in us, in our vision, and in how we do things. We get to celebrate an entire year of commitment, dedication, and investment into who we are and what the mission was.

ON THE FIRST WCWS APPEARANCE IN OLE MISS HISTORY

TRACHSEL: I’m proud. I came from Minnesota, and we had just gone to the World Series there when COVID happened. Keith Carter called me, and I take a lot of pride in the people I work for, because I want to prove people right — and prove others wrong. I wanted to prove Keith and Shannon Singletary right for hiring me and believing in me to put together the right staff and build the right team. They did.

It’s a team win, but I’m really proud of what I was able to do in terms of representing so many people who came before me here at Ole Miss — a prideful program, an alumni base, and an incredible administration.

ON THE FIRST INNING

TRACHSEL: Oddly enough, I think we scored four runs (in the deciding game) in Arizona too. It kind of felt familiar. I want to give credit to Ehren Earleywine and Bobby Buchanan. This is a prideful offense. They’re prideful coaches. They’re incredible. We went back, watched film, and had a great game plan. The players believe in them. I think that’s a byproduct of the relationship that’s been built throughout the year and the confidence the players have in the execution.

Ehren making those two calls — a first and third and the delayed steal — I mean, what a gutsy call. He’s an elite coach, and our players and our team couldn’t be in better hands with those two leading our offense.

To put up four, especially against a potent offense … we didn’t try to give it back right away. We had too many free passes. But I was really proud. The defining moment, outside of that, was probably in the third inning. It could have gone either way. The crowd was engaged, they had come back and tied the score.

Our kids were saying all the right things. It wasn’t just lip service. Their body language, their presence, how they carried themselves, what they were saying — we withstood that storm in the middle. Aliyah came in and just went. We had three 1-2-3 innings, which we hadn’t had almost the entire weekend. I thought that was the difference. It let our offense find a way to win another inning — and then another inning in the seventh.

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