Second-ranked Auburn’s doubleheader on Saturday, played against Evansville then Creighton, yielded similar results as their Friday contests. On Friday, the Tigers run-ruled Creighton, 8-0 in five innings in the day game and handled SIUE, 8-1 in the night cap.
Succeeding Creighton’s extra-inning victory over Evansville at Jane B. Moore was the Tigers own match-up with the Purple Aces. Auburn was able to fend off the Indiana visitors late en route to a 5-3 victory. Creighton showed no such resilience against the Tigers, as Auburn run-ruled the Blue Jays again, this time in a 9-0 win in five innings. The dual victories on Saturday at Jane B. Moore pushed the Tigers to 8-1 on the season and kept the team undefeated in the Plainsman Invitational.
Against Evansville, Auburn found little offensive success, similar to their Thursday game against SIUE. The Tigers recorded only two hits on 17 attempts.
Pitching paced the win, as Makayla Martin picked up the win and the save, relieving Ashlee Swindle for the final out of the contest in the seventh inning. Martin pitched 3.1 innings, allowing three hits and tossing three strikeouts. The Purple Aces scored twice in the fifth, narrowing the Tiger lead to three. Five runs proved to be enough for Auburn, despite allowing a third run for the Aces in the bottom of the seventh off a single to left field.
“It was very frustrating,” said Auburn head coach Clint Meyers. “But good teams figure out ways to win.”
The Auburn coaching staff made an adjustment to the lineup prior to the first pitch of the day, moving junior catcher Carlee Wallace to the top, ahead of senior infielder Kasey Cooper. Haley Fagan and Kendall Veach also swapped spots.
“Before I got here I was leadoff, so it really wasn’t anything new,” said Wallace. “I was actually excited because it felt more comfortable. I didn’t really change my approach much. It was kind of fun to go back and have a new role. It’s an important role to set the table.
“I think it’s a good setup, I can give a competitive at-bat. It may not always result in a hit, but I can see a lot of pitches.”
The script completely flipped in the Tigers second victory over Creighton. The bats were hot, as Auburn notched six hits and nine runs in a 9-0 rout of the Blue Jays.
Auburn scored five runs in the second inning alone, all of which came facing two outs. The pure speed of Victoria Draper allowed for the first score, when the redshirt junior turned on the jets and was ruled safe at first base, bringing home Carmyn Greenwood from third. Draper also kept the bases loaded in the process.
Carlee Wallace’s single brought freshman Alyssa Rivera home to extend the lead to 2-0. Then came Kasey Cooper with the bases loaded. The senior muscled her way out of her early-season dry spell in style by launching a monstrous double into center field, scoring three runners and pushing the lead to five.
A single from Emily Spain and back-to-back sacrifice fly-balls from Madi Gipson and Carlee Wallace all brought a runner home.
Meyers began to work a younger lineup into the rotation as the Tigers progressed with the large lead. The final run was tallied on by freshman Brittany Maresette, from Alyssa Rivera’s double in the fourth inning.
However, the prime headline that arose from game two was Makayla Martin’s brilliant lock-down of the Creighton offense. Martin posted a career-high ten strikeouts, besting her previous high of nine, attained against Indiana last season.
“She was loose tonight,” said Wallace. “When she’s at her best, it looks effortless. It’s normal for me, because she does this on a daily basis and she’s so consistent. It’s just another day for us.”
Martin was pitching a perfect game until moments before her tenth strikeout, when Creighton converted their solitary hit of the night. The sophomore went three up, three down in the first four innings of batters faced.
“She’s a year older now, she’s a year smarter,” Meyers said of Martin’s maturity. “That’s something you can’t coach or teach. Pitching in a championship game was huge for her last year. She comes in here and she knows what she has to do.”
Meyers claimed that Martin pitched both games of the doubleheader to rest junior Kaylee Carlson. Martin (3-1) found herself two outs away from the second perfect game in program history, albeit in five innings.
“I was thinking really hard about that, I was thinking ‘just don’t give up a hit’,” said Martin. “I was just so locked in. Offense was doing amazing and defense was making plays, so I felt I was going to get it done for them. They did a good job when the balls were put into play.”
Evansville (0-3) and Creighton (2-7) both depart the Plains as the Tigers latest opponents in the Auburn-hosted Plainsman Invitational. Auburn closes the weekend with their contest against the Mercer Bears on Sunday afternoon at Jane B. Moore Field before taking a three-day rest. First pitch against the Bears is set for 2 p.m. CST on the SEC Network Plus.
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