It was a comeback effort from start to finish for the Tigers in their first meeting with Georgia since 2016. Georgia came out hitting and leaped to the early 4-0 lead before Auburn answered with three runs of its own.
Auburn did not hold a lead at any point during its 7-6 loss to the Georgia Bulldogs on Friday. Both teams opened with seven total runs scored in just the first inning.
“We had to fight back the entire night,” said head coach Mickey Dean. “Every time we’d get close, they would score a run or score two runs.”
With the loss, the Tigers are now 29-6 (5-2 SEC) on the season.
The initial comeback was sparked by Kendall Veach’s three-run home run in the bottom of the first to cut Georgia's lead to one, but Auburn went scoreless for the next three innings.
Georgia extended its lead to 7-3 before Auburn scored again in the bottom of the fifth.
The effort continued in the sixth with Auburn holding Georgia scoreless, and Justus Perry’s solo home run cut the lead to two. McCrackin hit a double to plate Taylon Snow to put the Tigers within one.
The defense came out in the top of the seventh and held Georgia scoreless in consecutive innings for the first time all night, but the offense was unable to complete the comeback in the bottom of the inning.
“We kept battling back,” Dean said. “We hit well enough, we scored enough runs, we played pretty good defense. We just have to be better in the circle from start to finish. It’s that simple.”
Chardonnay Harris had one strikeout and five hits on the night before Ashlee Swindle entered the game. Swindle finished with four strikeouts to only four hits allowed, but the team was unable to capitalize.
On offense, McCrackin led the team in hits with two, with Veach highlighting the night with her three-run shot. Veach was walked, however, at every at-bat following her big hit. Perry also added a home run as five Tigers finished with at least one hit.
“It’s just one game. All we can do is play them one at a time,” Dean said. “We lost today. Tomorrow’s a new day and we can’t do anything about this one. You live and learn and then you move forward, that’s all you can do. That’s our job.”
Auburn and Georgia will meet again in the second matchup of the three-game series on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. CST.
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