COLUMBIA, Mo. — Despite leading for half the game, the No. 21 Ole Miss softball team gave up two runs late and lost to Missouri 3-2 in nine innings Sunday.
Ole Miss (36-18, 10-14 Southeastern Conference) took a 2-0 lead in the fourth, but the Tigers (29-25, 7-16) cut the lead in half in the fourth, before tying the game in the seventh thanks to a solo home run. An error ultimately allowed the winning run to score from third with the bases loaded.
Junior Elantra Cox went 2-for-4 to become the school’s single-season hits leader (77). She also stole a base, putting her two steals from the career record. She was the only Rebel to finish with a multi-hit game, as five others had one.
Junior right-hander Kaitlin Lee went all 8 2/3 innings, but she allowed only six hits. She struck out a career-high eight and walked only one.
n Alabama 3, Auburn 2: At Tuscaloosa, Alabama, A three-run third inning proved enough for the Crimson Tide to win Sunday’s series finale against the Tigers in front of a third-consecutive sellout crowd at Rhoads Stadium.
More than 4,000 fans packed the stands to watch Alabama (40-15, 12-11 SEC) use a three-run third inning to overcome an early run by Auburn (45-9, 17-7) in the top half of the same inning.
Gabby Callaway posted her second-straight multi-hit game by going 2-for-3. She scored Alabama’s first run on an RBI single in the third before Marisa Runyon followed that with a two-run double.
Both of Auburn’s runs came on solo home runs by Haley Fagan, but Alexis Osorio (20-7) shut down the rest of the lineup. Osorio allowed one hit to the other eight hitters and struck out 14. Sydney Littlejohn entered with two out in the seventh to secure her second save.
Auburn threatened in the top of the first, leading off the inning with two walks and a single to load the bases. Osorio bounced back with three-straight strikeouts to strand the bases loaded and keep the Tigers out of the run column.
Auburn loaded the bases again in the next inning with two out and Osorio again left them stranded with a strikeout to keep it scoreless.
With two out in the top of the third, Fagan gave Auburn the first lead of the game with a solo home run. Back-to-back singles put two on base for Alabama in the bottom-half of the inning with one out and Callaway battled through a seven pitch at-bat before poking a single into left field, scoring Claire Jenkins from second to tie it up at 1-1. Runyon dropped a double into the left-field gap in the next at-bat, driving in two more to give Alabama a 3-1 lead.
Fagan drew the Tigers within one on her second home run in the fifth. Alabama left a runner on base in the fifth and sixth innings before Auburn came to bat in the top of the seventh. Osorio struck out the first two batters in the top of the seventh. Littlejohn retired Fagan on a groundout to Sydney Booker at shortstop.
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