Auburn is making history in College Station.
After dropping 11 of their final 13 conference games to close the regular season, the 10th-seeded Tigers upset 2-seed Tennessee on Thursday evening, 2-0, becoming the lowest seeded team ever to advance to the SEC Tournament semifinals.
The semifinal berth is Auburn's first since 2016, when the Tigers won the whole tournament in Starkville, Mississippi.
The Tigers' pair of runs came in the top of the second and fifth innings off two-out RBI singles from Justus Perry and Casey McCrackin, respectively. Auburn tallied six hits on the evening, headlined by Alyssa Rivera (2-for-2) and Perry (2-for-3).
But it was righty Ashlee Swindle (10-8, 2.88 ERA) who guided the Tigers to the historic win, recording the team's second straight shutout in as many days in College Station.
A junior from Jasper, Alabama, Swindle went all seven frames with 88 pitches, five hits scattered, a pair of walks and four strikeouts.
"Our team, we just have confidence in each other," Swindle said, "and we're ready to show everybody what we're made out of."
Swindle was also backed up by some pretty defensive plays from her infield, which resulted in 10 assists for the Tigers and six Tennessee runners stranded on base for the game.
"The confidence that the pitcher has is everything," McCrackin said. "If your defense is not working for you, she loses the confidence."
In the bottom of the fourth, Tigers sophomore infielder Taylon Snow dove for a ball in foul territory and landed hard on her shoulder. She exited and did not return, spending the remainder of the contest in the dugout in street clothes with ice on her shoulder and her arm in a sling. As of Thursday evening, there was no update on the exact nature of the injury or her status moving forward, per a team spokesperson. The Plainsman will update as new info becomes available.
The Tigers face 6-seed Florida tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. CST on ESPN2 for shot at the SEC Tournament championship game.
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Nathan King, senior in journalism with a minor in business, is The Plainsman's sports editor.
