SEC Softball Tournament 2023: No. 11 Ole Miss faces No. 3 Auburn in quarterfinals

An extra inning home run from Paige Smith sent No. 11 Ole Miss past No. 6 LSU in the first round of the SEC Softball Tournament.

The Rebels (30-25, 8-16 SEC) notched a quality win against the Tigers and now have another set of Tigers to tame against No. 3 Auburn (39-16, 15-9 SEC). A win in the quarterfinals would definitely help improve the resume of Ole Miss as it continues to battle for more postseason play.

Ole Miss and Auburn will face-off around 12 p.m. CT or so depending on how long the Kentucky-Florida first round game goes. First round games were delayed due to lightning and rain on Wednesday pushing the final game of the first round into early Thursday.

Auburn earned a bye as a top four seed, so it has yet to play a game in the tournament. I don’t buy into the whole fatigue vs. rested players idea in these tournaments - this is one of the highest levels of the sport, and these players are conditioned to play day after day at this point.

The Rebels did notch a win against Auburn in its three game series earlier in the year. Ole Miss will need some of its best softball on Thursday to pull off the upset and advance to the semifinals for the first time since 2017 when it won the whole damn thing.

SEC Network will broadcast the entire tournament, and Thursday games will begin at approximately 10 a.m. CT.