Things looked salvageable for Ole Miss when they got out of the second inning unscathed on Friday morning, but the big Kentucky third inning put things away for good.

Ole Miss lost 8-0 to Kentucky in a run-shortened, five inning game Friday in the second round of the SEC Softball Tournament, effectively ending their regularly scheduled programming. They’ll now have a long wait until Sunday’s NCAA selection show.

With two runners on and just one out in the second inning, already trailing 2-0 to the Wildcats, Ole Miss’ Brittany Finney was able to get the Kentucky batter to ground into a double play, ending the inning. At the time, it seemed like Ole Miss had gotten away with one. Just trailing 2-0, anything was possible.

Then the third inning happened. In the 33 minutes that was the bottom half of the third inning, Kentucky sent twelve batters to the plate, facing three different Ole Miss pitchers. They would score six runs on seven hits in the inning, going up 8-0 and icing the game.

Ole Miss was unable to get anything going in the fallout, losing the game by that 8-0 in just the fifth inning. With the loss, Ole Miss has lost five of their last six, the only win coming Wednesday in the SEC Tournament against Mississippi State.

It’s not like the Rebels were unable to generate any offense or baserunners in the game – they had six hits and drew a walk. They were simply unable to string enough together at the opportune time.

The nation’s No. 17 ranked team coming into the tournament in College Station, Texas, Ole Miss is now seemingly on the outside looking in at the opportunity to host a regional. However, a lot is still up in the air with conference tournaments currently underway all around the nation. It’s going to be a long few days for the Rebels before they find out their NCAA Tournament fate on Sunday.