No. 24 Auburn came up short on the road against No. 18 Missouri in a 2-1 extra innings loss on Friday.
Missouri fought through extra innings after being tied 1-1 heading into the bottom of the eighth. Auburn was held off during its extra shot at a run, but Missouri did not see the same fate. An Auburn error allowed Missouri to cross the bag unearned and take game one by a score of 2-1.
“We had opportunities,” said head coach Mickey Dean. “When we did get walk and when we did get hits, we’d have two batters strike out back to back. We never got a bunt down to move a runner. The difference in that ballgame. Each team had a home run. Each team had great pitching. Each team had great defense. The difference is that they moved one runner, she scored. We didn’t move any.”
Shelby Lowe got the start in the circle for Auburn. She stayed in the game for the longest stretch of her career, pitching 7.1 innings. This is the longest amount of innings a pitcher has thrown for Auburn in a single game this season.
Over those innings, Lowe gave up seven hits, with one being a home run for Missouri.
Missouri’s starter Jordan Weber also put up a good fight against Auburn’s offense. Much like Lowe, Webber only gave up one home run hit by Justus Perry. This was Perry’s second home run of the season and 13th in her career.
Auburn could not get the bats moving over the course of the game. By the third inning, Auburn had three singles, and Weber had struck out eight. Lowe followed in suit by allowing two hits over her first three innings in the circle.
Perry gave Auburn its lead in the fourth inning with a home run to left field. However, that lead was short-lived as Missouri stepped up to the plate with the same notion.
Missouri tied things up with a home run of its own to head into the fifth inning at 1-all.
In the top of the seventh, Auburn was able to get on base with a single and a steal from Kelsey Schmidt. Missouri’s defense held Auburn scoreless with back-to-back strikeouts.
KK Dismukes came in as relief for Lowe with one out in the eighth inning. Dismukes' first two batters reached on a single and walk, but after those first two batters, she forced a strikeout and pop-out to end the inning.
Lexie Handley took over for Auburn in the bottom of the ninth after Dismukes gave up a one-out double. Handley gave up a walk before forcing a fly-out for Missouri’s second out.
Standing between Handley and the final out of the inning was Missouri's runner on third. Handley gave up a ground ball in the circle, but the throw forced Perry off first for a Missouri walk-off.
Auburn will continue the three-game series with Missouri on Saturday at 11 a.m. CST. The game will air on SEC Network.
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Mattison Allen is a senior from Springville, Ala. She's majoring in public relations communications with the goal of becoming a sports information director one day.
