Ole Miss pieced together a run in the third and fourth innings, givingthem all the run support they would need, as they eliminated the SacState Hornets from the 2001 Capital Classic Softball TournamentSaturday, with a 2-0 victory.

“That was the end of the road for us. But, we were really competitivewith them,” said Hornet skipper Kathy Strahan. “They were talented butwe were right there with them.”Trailing 2-0 heading into the top half of the seventh inning, Sac Statecut into the Rebels’ lead on a RBI single by all-tournament selectionCathy Coupar. As she had all tourney long, Coupar led the Hornets in thebox scores, batting three for four with a run-scoring single.

Coupar led the Hornets in hits for the tournament, with eight in 19 atbats.

“Coupar was on base all the time and she showed a lot of leadership,”Strahan said. “She made some key plays and kept us in a lot of ballgames.”

Yet, Rebels reliever Jennifer Hughes induced freshman Amber Dragomirinto the game-ending pop-up, with the tying run on third base.

“In the seventh, we had the opportunity to get the runners in scoringposition and score, but we couldn’t get it done,” said Strahan. “Wecan’t keep relying and going to the same people.”

Although the Hornets suffered their fifth and final loss of thetournament, Strahan was impressed with the poise and bounce-back abilityof her freshman hurler, Nicole Deatherage.

Deatherage, who gave up the game-tying home run in their loss toLouisville, went the distance for the Hornets, allowing just five hits.

“She did much better. We decided she had a good stretch againstLouisville,” Strahan said. “She threw well and didn’t give up manyhits.”