After dropping game one of a Sunday double header, Auburn and LSU entered the seventh inning of the rubber match knotted at four. In a bizarre ending, the home Tigers came out on top, and took the series from No.12 LSU.
In the bottom of the seventh, with two outs and runners on first and second, sophomore first baseman Kendall Veach hit a grounder to third. Shemiah Sanchez's throw to first slightly off the mark, and Auburn star Kasey Cooper came in from third to score the winning run.
“When I saw it was overthrown, I got hyped,” Veach said. “Whatever works.”
The victory in game three came after a disastrous game two where Aub urn was shut out 8-0.
“We tell them you put the pressure on the other team to make plays,” Auburn coach Clint Myers said. “They have to field it, they have to throw it, they have to catch it.”
Despite some struggles in the circle throughout the contest, Kaylee Carlson remained focused and got the job done for Auburn. She went the distance, giving up four runs, three of them earned, on nine hits and a career high 146 pitches.
“Kaylee is a battler,” pitching coach Clint Myers said. “She is going to go to war. She could have folded several times today because we let her down, but she didn’t. She got her teammates up and said we’re going to get the next one.”
Despite her struggling and losing the lead at one point in the fifth inning, Carlson knew she could finish the game.
“It’s always frustrating as a pitcher,” Carlson said. “They are there when I need them. I was just trying to get them back in the dugout so they could get the win, which they did.”
The Tiger scoring started in the first with a Carlee Wallace single, followed by a walk from Kasey Cooper and a single off the fence by Haley Fagan loaded the bases. Veach then drove a single into left to give Auburn a 2-0 lead.
After LSU took a 3-2 lead in the top of the fifth, Fagan’s two-run double in the bottom of the inning to push it back to 4-3.
LSU would plate one more run, but it would not be enough.
Auburn will now travel to Tennessee to take on the Volunteers on Tuesday. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. CST.
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