Ole Miss softball falls to Utah in regional final, wrapping up 2023 season
The Ole Miss softball team was a pair of wins away from reaching its third Super Regional in program history but in order to do so it was going to have to solve Utah’s Mariah Lopez.
Lopez proved to be unsolvable and she kept Ole Miss in check for a second straight day in Utah’s 4-1 win over the Rebels in the Salt Lake City Regional final on Sunday. The loss ends the Rebels season with a record of 32-28.
Ole Miss was going to have to defeat the No. 15 National Seed Utes twice in a day to advance to next weekend’s Super Regional round after losing to the regional host on Saturday in the winners’ bracket.
“I’m proud of the fight we had today. We were ready to go,” said Ole Miss head coach Jamie Trachsel. “It’s a game of execution and we just kind of got out-punched a little bit. …Something to be proud of. We finished as one the last 32 teams playing on ‘Championship Sunday.’ (Utah) was just a little bit better than us in the two games we played them.”
Lopez pitched a complete game on Sunday going seven innings of one-run softball. In the circle Lopez held Ole Miss to six hits. Between Saturday and Sunday’s games Lopez worked all 14 innings, giving up a pair of runs off 12 total hits.
Along with Lopez being dominant the Rebels also struggled with their situational hitting, never getting timely knock at the plate.
Ole Miss stranded eight runners and went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position in Sunday’s game. Between both games against Utah the Rebels stranded 15 runners and went a combined 1-for-10 (.100) with runners in scoring position.
Center fielder Jalia Lassiter was responsible for the Rebels lone run with a RBI-double in the fifth inning.
Trachsel wraps up her third season at the helm of the Ole Miss program and has guided the Rebels to three consecutive NCAA Tournament berths.
