On Saturday, Auburn had its first meeting with SEC competition this season in a 5-4 win over South Carolina. In Auburn's second game of the day, the Tigers defeated Jacksonville 5-1.
Against South Carolina, freshman pitcher Maddie Penta had a career-high nine strikeouts in a complete-game performance. Penta battled through adversity, giving up four earned runs, but helped Auburn come away with the win.
The Tigers were propelled late by their hitting core against the Gamecocks, with a solid performance at the plate from Aspyn Godwin. Godwin was 2-of-3 with two RBIs and a home run.
Auburn was in danger of losing the game after allowing a run late, but Penta left the final run stranded to seal the victory.
The win over South Carolina marked Mickey Dean's 100th win as Auburn's head coach. With the win, Penta became the first Auburn freshman pitcher since Makayla Martin to start her career 3-0.
Against Jacksonville, the Auburn hitting core went to work early in the 5-1 win. After the Tigers scored on a failed pick-off attempt by the Dolphins, freshman Makayla Packer crushed her first collegiate home run to make it a 2-0 game.
A pair of scores in the third inning put the Tigers up 4-0, after which neither team scored until the seventh. In the seventh, Auburn scored on an Abby Tissier RBI to go up 5-0. In the bottom of the seventh, the Dolphins managed their only run of the game with a two-out solo home run.
Shelby Lowe tossed four innings and allowed just three hits along with two strikeouts. KK Dismukes got the save after pitching the last three innings. Dismukes allowed one walk, one run and struck out four in her three innings of work.
“When our pitchers worked ahead, they had great success,” said head coach Mickey Dean. “They were almost unhittable. The only time that we ever got ourselves in trouble in the circle was when we got behind in the count. We recognize that, and we’re going to work on it. Offensively, we scored many different ways today, which is what you like to see out of your team. Defensively, I felt we did pretty good. We made some key plays and didn’t allow the other team to elongate the game by making defensive mistakes.”
Auburn closes out the Osprey/Dolphin Invitational on Sunday with a rematch against No. 19 South Carolina. The first pitch is scheduled for 9 a.m. CST.
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