Collin Brister, Special to SuperTalk
Summer Ellyson came into Saturday’s winners bracket contest against Ole Miss with an ERA of just over one, making it next to impossible to lower her ERA.
Until she did.
Ellyson tossed seven scoreless innings against the Rebels in a 2-0 victory to send Louisiana Lafayette into the Oxford Regional Championship and the Rebels into the losers bracket at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday.
“(Ellyson) works both sides of the plate, up and down,” Ole Miss senior leadoff hitter Kylan Becker said. “I think we just struggled a little bit getting over the drop balls. It’s an easy adjustment to make.”
The Cajuns took a 2-0 lead in the top of the third inning on an error, and Ole Miss was never able to threaten to erase the two-run deficit.
Molly Jacobsen was brilliant for the Rebels in the circle, giving up only three hits and strking out 10 in seven innings while only giving up one earned run.
“Molly had their number,” Smith said of Jaocben’s performance. “She really did. The one double slapped. We didn’t play it. She’s fast, and I thought we may have had a shot at her. Molly struck out 10 today, and I thought she had a great game plan for them. Tip your cap. They executed and got people on base, and we didn’t do our part playing defense. Molly pitched a heck of a ball game, and it’s a shame that she had to get a loss for that.”
The Rebels were only able to muster three hits against Ellyson, and two of those came from Becker.
Ole Miss was only able to take four at-bats with runners in scoring position, failing to get a hit. The Rebels were 0-8 with runners on base, as well.
The Rebels never got a runner to third base in the contest, and were never able to have runners on at the same time throughout the contest.
“We’re going to play tonight,” Smith said. “We’ve been battle-tested in the SEC. We’re going to be fired up and ready to o, and try to get another chance against Louisiana tomorrow.”
