Autumn Gillespie Becomes First Rebel to Pick Up Spring Eligibility Waiver

Autumn Gillespie is coming back to Oxford for one more year. The senior catcher will return to the softball team, picking up her eligibility relief after having her senior season cut short by the COVID-19 outbreak.

Autumn Gillespie will be behind the plate for one more year. 

The senior catcher will return to the softball team, picking up her eligibility relief after having her senior season cut short by the COVID-19 outbreak. She becomes the first Ole Miss spring sport athlete to publicly make that decision. 

The journey continues... https://t.co/T4y0ArwXm9

— Autumn Gillespie (@auddygillespie) May 6, 2020

"I am so happy to announce that I will have another amazing opportunity to wear Ole Miss across my chest as I am taking full advantage of my extra season of eligibility," Gillespie said in her statement. "Quite honestly, this was one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever made. I could not imagine passing up the opportunity to compete with the Rebs one last time.

"I’ve grown so much during my time in this program and have watched as my teammates have as well. I couldn’t pick a better group of girls to continue this journey with."

Gillespie now becomes a critical piece for new head coach Jamie Trachsel vision to take the program one step further than it went under the successes of Mike Smith from 2015-19. 

She was one of a few shining spots on a Rebel team that had struggled to open the 2020 season, starting the year 12-13 as team. But Gillespie was hitting .349 over those opening 25 games, having already tied her career season high with five home runs. 

Honestly, her 2020 numbers through 25 games were preposterous, well on place for All-SEC nominations. In addition to hitting .349, she was sporting an on base percentage of .512 and a slugging percentage of .651. All of these numbers blew her prior two seasons in Oxford out of the water. Oh, and she also causally hadn't committed a single error all year. She was simply playing out of her mind. 

Gillespie is going to be pursuing a masters degree in sports and recreation administration while competing in her final season. 

She's had a really, really long college career. Turning 23 years old in July, Gillespie played two seasons at UCF before transferring to Ole Miss, where she's been the team's starting catcher since 2018. Now, she'll get a chance to run things back with her Rebel teammates one last time in 2021. 

"My time in Oxford has been so special, and even though it hasn’t always been easy, I wouldn’t trade it for the world," Gillespie said. Rebel Nation has always treated me with so much love and respect and I appreciate every single person who has supported me on my journey."

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