BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Missouri State softball (7-5) battled hard against No. 25 Ole Miss (10-4), but fell 2-0 to the Rebels on Saturday.
 
Ole Miss got on the board in the bottom of the first inning, using a couple of singles and a hit by pitch to plate a single run. With one out and runners on the corner, Emily Koranda and Co. induced a ground ball for a double play to end the inning.
 
From there, the MoState defense held the No. 25 team in the country off the scoreboard for the next four innings and stranded six Rebels on base in that span. Behind Koranda, the Bears threw out a runner at home from center field to end the second and left the bases loaded full of Rebels in the fifth with a ground out to the pitcher to keep the game within striking distance for MoState.
 
The Bears had a couple of opportunities and just couldn't quite come up with the timely hits. MoState got a leadoff double in the second, but the Ole Miss defense squashed the threat, and in the fourth the Bears had two runners on with one out but a baserunner was throw out trying to advance to third base on a single to right field to flip the momentum as Ole Miss worked out of the jam.
 
Ole Miss struck again in the sixth inning, pushing a run across after MoState's only error on the afternoon with two outs allowed the runner on third to score. With one final opportunity, the Bears came up empty in the top of the seventh with three ground outs to fall 2-0 in Birmingham.
 
Riley Baber collected two of MoState's three hits on the afternoon. In the circle, Koranda pitched the complete game, allowing just two runs (one earned) and six hits in 6.0 innings of work against the Rebels.
 
After weather on Saturday altered the rest of the weekend schedule, the Bears will play two games tomorrow (Feb. 22) to close out the Green and Gold Classic. MoState will face UAB at 9:00 a.m., followed by a rematch against Ole Miss at 11:30 a.m.