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A spirit that is not afraid

Lowe's performance not enough to vault Auburn over Arkansas

Auburn Tigers Shelby Lowe (55) delivers a pitch during the second game against Southeast Missouri State at Jane B. Moore Field on Feb 13, 2021; Auburn, AL, USA. Photo via: Shanna Lockwood/AU Athletics
Auburn Tigers Shelby Lowe (55) delivers a pitch during the second game against Southeast Missouri State at Jane B. Moore Field on Feb 13, 2021; Auburn, AL, USA. Photo via: Shanna Lockwood/AU Athletics

Auburn softball lost 3-0 in game two of its series against Arkansas, but pitcher Shelby Lowe had an individual win. 

The freshman pitched her 100th strikeout of the season. She is the fifth freshman in Auburn history to hit this milestone. Overall, Lowe has 111 strikeouts on the season. She currently sits at the fourth-most strikeouts by a freshman. This puts Lowe 13 away from taking third place, which is currently held by Marcy Harper who played for the Tigers in 2013. 

In this game in particular, Lowe progressed to her sixth double-digit strikeout with 12 total. This ties her career-high. In back-to-back Southeastern Conference play, Lowe has struck out 10 or more batters. 

Despite Lowe’s work in the circle, Auburn fell to No. 13 Arkansas. The Tigers are 0-2 in the series and 19-10 overall. Auburn was held to four hits under Arkansas’s redshirt senior pitcher Autumn Storms. 

"We knew we were going to be facing a drop ball pitcher today," said head coach Mickey Dean. "When we work against a drop ball, we work on trying to get it elevated. The times that we did, we ended up getting hits. We just didn't do it enough. Late in the game there, when we started putting runners on base, we just couldn't get the timely hit."

Arkansas’s runs all came from Tiger errors and Razorback graduate student Braxton Burnside. Burnside hit a pop fly to left field and was able to pull in two RBI after an Auburn error in the outfield at the top of the third. She came back to the plate and hit a home run in the fifth inning. 

Auburn senior Makenna Dowell was the solo extra-base hit for the Tigers as she knocked a two-out double in the sixth inning. This set Auburn up to score after senior Tyler King was on base after an Arkansas error. The Tigers stood on second and third with a hope to bring it home, but Burnside did not let that happen as she pitched a grounder to finish the inning. 

Despite Lowe’s record-breaking performance, the loss fell on her shoulders with three runs on seven hits. She also produced a pair of walks to drop her record to 8-3. 

Auburn will finish the series against Arkansas Saturday, April 3 at 1 p.m. CST and will be aired on the SEC Network. 


Mattison Allen | Sports Writer
Mattison Allen

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. 

@mattcurtlynn

mca0049@auburn.edu


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