James Madison's ace, Megan Good, proved to be too much for the Tigers to handle as the Dukes won 1-0 on Sunday afternoon. This was the first time Auburn has been shutout since April 7, 2015 when Auburn lost to Alabama 6-0. The loss dropped Auburn to 14-2 on the season, and improved James Madison to 12-2 overall.
In the top of the third inning, Kierstin Roadcap smacked a double down the left field line for the Dukes. Cambry Arnold would then hit a groundball to centerfield to score the run. This would be the deciding factor as it was the only run scored in the game.
The Tigers threatened in the bottom of the seventh inning, but it was not enough to mount a comeback. Courtney Shea was walked, and Bree Fornis would pinch run for her. Fornis would get to third base, but the Tigers would leave her stranded.
The Tigers struggled all afternoon against the Dukes ace pitcher Megan Good. Auburn only recorded one hit the whole game against Good.
“She was just dominating and sticking to her game plan. She attacked the zone. 72 MPH is pretty hard,” said Auburn starting pitcher Makayla Martin.
“We left the zone too many times today, said Auburn coach Clint Myers." After they scored, we decided to try a little harder instead of smarter. We just need to stay focused and committed to staying in the zone. In order to be a national champ, we have to beat good pitching. When LSU comes to town we are going to see the same kind of pitching.”
The bright spot for Auburn was Martin. Martin threw 106 pitches and was in control for most of the game, only giving up 4 hits and 1 run. This is the fourth time in her career that she has thrown over 100 pitches, and all of those performances have come this season.
“Pitching has been solid for us and so has defense for us. We have got to score some runs. We were not Auburn offensively today. We talked about it, and we are going to work on it Tuesday and Wednesday of this week,” said Myers.
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