Bruning Tosses Two-Hit Shutout
BATON ROUGE, La. – Shortstop Allison Brown broke the Ole Miss freshman RBI mark and senior Kendall Bruning tossed a complete-game, two-hit shutout as the Rebels finally won a pitchers’ duel 1-0 over No. 23 LSU Sunday at Tiger Park.
With the game scoreless heading to the top of the sixth, Rebel left fielder Brittany Broome tripled to right center to start the Ole Miss half of the inning. Brown then hit a sharp grounder to second that allowed Broome to score the game’s only run from third. It was Brown’s 32nd RBI of the season, which broke the Ole Miss freshman mark previously held by former All-American Lauren Grill.
“This was a total team win,” said Ole Miss head coach Windy Thees. “The girls have really been fighting hard all year long and we found a way to pull this one out today. Kendall was outstanding in the circle and really pitched her heart out. Brittany was able to come up with the big extra-base hit and Allison had a good two-strike swing to drive her home.”
LSU attempted a comeback in the bottom of the sixth after pinch hitter Simone Heyward reached on an infield single to start the frame and moved to second on a sac bunt. With one out, pinch hitter Kailey McCasland drew a full-count walk to put runners on first and second, but Bruning got LSU’s third and fourth-hole hitters – Ashley Langoni and Juliana Santos – to fly out and ground out to end the inning.
Bruning retied 13-of-the-first-15 batters she faced and held LSU hitless for the first 4.1 innings until Tiger third baseman Tammy Wray singled to left center with one out in the fifth. Wray was then pinch ran for by Ashley Boulet, who stole second and moved to third on a ground out. With two down in the fifth, Boulet was tagged out trying to steal home for the final out of the inning.
Bruning got Russell to ground into a fielder’s choice in the bottom of the seventh to close out the win and allowed just two hits in seven innings of work for her fourth shutout of the season. She threw just 103 pitches, 61 for strikes, and struck out three with two walks.
Ole Miss will return home on Tuesday when the Rebels host Mississippi Valley State at the Ole Miss Softball Complex. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.