With victories over the College of Charleston and Texas State, the Auburn Tigers tallied their 17th and 18th victories of the 2017 campaign on Saturday.
Auburn’s matchup with Charleston was the first of the doubleheader at Jane B. Moore Field. The Tigers crushed the Cougars in five innings, 14-0, serving as Auburn’s second-largest margin of victory this year. Clint Meyers’ squad also tallied 17 hits in the win, the team’s highest since hanging 20 on the Razorbacks in Arkansas last season.
“It’s starting to gel,” Auburn head coach Clint Meyers said. “We’ve just to figure out ways to get better. We used our bench pretty well and has quality at-bats. We’re moving in the right direction. We’re getting ourselves ready to play LSU and play in the SEC.”
11 different Tigers recorded hits in the win over Charleston, seven of which came in the first inning. Sophomore Kendall Veach kicked off the scoring frenzy for Auburn in the top of the first with a two RBI double. Veach swung with the bases loaded, scoring Carlee Wallace and Kasey Cooper. Auburn continued to load bases and count hits, ending the opening stanza having spotted the Cougars a 7-0 deficit. Veach nearly furthered the damage, as Charleston pitcher Sydney Shipley escaped the inning with the bases loaded.
Junior Kaylee Carlson walked away with her tenth win of 2017 and was relieved by Jenna Abbott. Carlson, who allowed a single hit and posted nine strikeouts in three innings pitched, still has not suffered a loss this year.
After about a half hour intermission, sophomore Makayla Martin tossed out pitch number one of the night cap against the Texas State Bobcats in front of 2,372 fans, the third-largest mark in Auburn softball history. Martin and Bobcats pitcher Randi Rupp were destined to find themselves in a pitcher’s duel, as Rupp entered the game with an 8-1 record and an impressive 78 K’s in 55.2 innings.
By the top of the fourth inning, Martin had delivered six strikeouts and the Tigers and Bobcats were in a scoreless deadlock. Texas State shortstop Ariel Ortiz broke the tie in the first at-bat of the inning. Ortiz took a drop-pitch from Martin and splashed it over the center field wall for a solo home run, giving the Bobcats a 1-0 lead.
In the top of the fifth, Auburn shortstop Haley Fagan loaded up and laced a triple down the right foul line, bringing Bree Fornis home from second base to tie the game at 1.
Play was then temporarily delayed at Jane B. Moore, as the umpire shuffled from home plate to a golf cart to be medically examined. The ump was struck in the hand by a wild pitch from Rupp and had to be replaced. The ordeal took approximately 20 minutes. Those 20 minutes served as the exact momentum shift that Auburn needed to turn loose at the plate.
Amidst a Texas State pitching switch, Auburn preceded to belt seven runs in the inning to bring the game to its final score of 8-1. The scoring run began with Jenna Abbott’s two RBI double, which gave the Tigers their first lead of the night.
“I was just ready to go,” Abbott said. “I was really just looking to get a ball on the ground. Bases were loaded and we needed to score a run.”
The combination of the umpire switch and Texas State’s pitching change changed the whole atmosphere at Jane B. Moore. Abbott was a swiss-army knife for the Tigers, closing out game one in the circle and delivering the most crucial hit of the night in game two. The senior joked about her utility in the wins.
“I’m a busy woman,” Abbott said. “But that’s the fun stuff.”
Centerfielder Victoria Draper followed up Abbott’s efforts with a sacrifice ground-out to make the score 4-1. Carlee Wallace’s sac-fly tacked on another run, exhausting the bases in the process.
Kasey Cooper then trotted to the plate, working with two outs and no runners on base. Cooper furiously swung at the first pitched thrown, destroying a solo home run. Veach followed up with a two-run homer two batters later.
Freshman Alyssa Rivera made a compelling argument in her two starts on Saturday that she might be the long-term answer in right field for the Tigers. The Eagle Lake, Florida product finished 5 for 6 batting in the doubleheader, recording her second home run of the season in the game one clubbing of the College of Charleston.
“It’s cool to see the underclassmen finally go through that,” Abbott said. “They’ve never experienced this and once you see them start to figure things out, it’s really awesome.”
Martin tossed eight strikeouts in her win over the Bobcats and was relieved by Carlson. The Tigers open conference play next weekend, with game one at home against LSU set for Friday, March 10th. Auburn (18-2) has a rematch with the College of Charleston Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. CST at Jane B. Moore Field. The final game of the Wilson/DeMarini Classic can be seen on the SEC Network Plus.
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