Senior Brooke Marnitz broke the UK single-season mark for home runs with her 13th longball today, Mar. 25, as the Wildcats took the rubber game and the series over Ole Miss with a 4-3 come from behind win. The Wildcats had not won a Southeastern Conference series since taking two out of three at South Carolina last season, Mar. 18-19, in Columbia.
The Wildcats improve to 17-11 on the year and 4-7 in the SEC with the win in front of a crowd of 311 fans, while the Rebels fall to 14-20 overall and 5-6 in league play.
The Rebels scored a pair of unearned runs in the top of the second to take an early 2-0 lead. Lisa Conchos drew a walk to lead off the inning and went to second when Ashley Dowdy reached on a UK throwing error. Both would score on Lauren Rowe?s single up the middle to give Ole Miss the early edge.
UM made it a 3-0 lead after Lauren Grill?s solo homer in the top of the third, but the Cats got on the board in the home half of the inning. Alli Eckman singled up the middle and went to second on a groundout by Natalie Smith. She moved to third on a passed ball and came around to score on a single back to the pitcher by Marnitz to make it a 3-1 Ole Miss lead.
The Wildcats battled back and took the lead in the fifth. Smith singled to lead off the inning and went to second when Audrey Meyer reached on an error by the UM shortstop. Marnitz would clear the bases and make it a 4-3 Wildcat lead with her league-leading 13th homer of the season.
Megan Jolly tossed five innings and got the win after allowing one earned run on six hits. She is now 6-4 on the year with the victory. Jennifer Young threw two innings of shutout relief to earn her first save of the season. She allowed just three hits on the day.
Marnitz finished 2-for-3 with a run scored and four RBI. The runs batted in by Marnitz give her 42 for the season, eclipsing her career total entering her senior season and giving her 83 career RBI. Smith finished 2-for-4 with a run scored, while Eckman and Fertic each had a single in the win.
The Wildcats return to action next weekend when they head to Arkansas for a three-game set, Mar. 31-Apr. 1, in Fayetteville.
