OXFORD, Miss. - The Samford softball team returned to action for two more games today at the Ole Miss Tournament as they opened with Iowa State in the morning before facing the host Rebels in the afternoon. The Bulldogs fell 5-4 in a tight game to start the day before being shut out by No. 21 Ole Miss 10-0. Samford's record moves to 18-12 on the season after dropping both games today.

GAME ONE: Samford - 4 | Iowa State - 5

The Bulldogs opened with a game against the Cyclones for the second time in program history. The Dogs started by giving the ball to Jordyn Partain who earned a win against North Dakota State the day prior. The Samford senior was in control early as she held the Cyclones scoreless through three innings despite having some traffic on the bases. 

Samford got on the board first with a two-out rally in the bottom of the third inning as Sarah Squillace and Olivia Shaw singled before Squillace was brought home on a Katie Campbell RBI base knock. The Cyclones answered back with the long ball against Partain in the top of the fourth as they led off with a solo shot and then followed it up with a three-run homer to give ISU a 4-1 lead and end Partain's day. 

The Dogs wouldn't go away in the game as their hot bats carried over from yesterday. Linsey Hargis led off the bottom of the fourth with a double and Ella Nelson followed that up with a single. The Bulldog pair was brought home on a Joi Hubbard double to cut the deficit to one. Karley Fuller came in out of the bullpen for Samford and she was good in her relief outing, going four innings, allowing just a solo homer in the fifth, and striking out two Cyclone batters. Olivia Shaw continued to swing the hottest bat in the lineup as she hit a solo homer of her own in the bottom of the fifth to make the score 5-4 ISU.

The Bulldogs were never able to threaten in the final two innings as they fell by one run. They finished the game with 10 hits, led by Hubbard and Shaw who each had two. Partain was hit with the loss in the circle which moves her record to 7-7 on the season. 

GAME TWO: Samford - 0 | Ole Miss - 10

After dropping a tight game one, the Bulldogs were shut out against hosts Ole Miss in game two. After having double-digit hits in all three of the opening games of the tournament and averaging 9.7 runs per game in that stretch, the Bulldogs were no-hit by Rebels pitcher Miali Guachino. Sarah Squillace was the line Dog to reach base in the fourth inning on a chopper back up the middle which was ruled an error but could have gone either way.

After a strong outing against NDSU last season, Olivia Trout drew the start in the circle for the Bulldogs. She allowed three runs in the first and four overall in her two-plus innings of work. The Rebels added two runs in the third and five in the fourth going against Sara Bond who was tagged for six runs in her 1.1 innings against the ranked Rebels. 

Olivia Treece came into the game and induced a double play to close out the game as the Bulldogs fall to 0-4 against the SEC this season, all of who were ranked at the time.

Up next, the Bulldogs move into Southern Conference play as they host a three-game set against Mercer with two games on Saturday and one on Sunday. The Bears are 14-13 on the season but have three games scheduled before they face Samford next weekend.

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