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Let’s look at what’s to come today, shall we?
There are four games on the ledger this evening. Two begin at 6 p.m. ET and then two will start an hour later at 7. Three ranked teams — Arkansas, Ole Miss and Tennessee — will take the field, as will unranked Mississippi State.
State, 25-17 on the year, will face off with UAB in Birmingham. This will be the Bulldogs’ last nonconference game of the season. This should be easy pickens for State, as UAB comes into this one with a record of 15-26. State has been struggling mightily though, as they’ve lost five of their last six games including five conference losses in a row to LSU and aforementioned Tennessee. They’ll once again lean on the bat of Mia Davidson, who sits 4th in the conference in BA, 2nd in SLG and 8th in OBP.
Meanwhile, the Volunteers will face ETSU out in Johnson City. This will be their final road midweek game of the year. Tennessee is aiming to keep a lengthy winning streak going, as they’ve defeated in-state adversaries 96 times in a row. Kaitlin Parsons is looking to keep her bat as hot as it was last week. The freshman ripped through the competition a week ago, hitting .571 against Mississippi State, a mark that helped her win SEC Freshman of the Week honors.
Arkansas, 31-14, steps into action against Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Tuesday night. Perhaps astoundingly, this is the first time EVER that these two programs will face off in softball, despite being in the same proximity. The Hogs racked up five wins this past week over the Furman Paladins and Wichita State Shockers, so needless to say, they’ll be coming into this one riding high. They should be able to dispatch UAPB with relative ease, as they stand just 4-25 on the year.
Finally, Ole Miss will step into action against UT Martin. The Rebels come into this one at 30-11 on the season. They had won five in a row before eventually falling to Mizzou in the series finale on Sunday, but they certainly have been playing great ball lately. That mostly is due to Kylan Becker, who is one behind the leader in hits — Aliyah Andrews of LSU — with 58 at the moment.