Auburn took on Texas Tech for its first win in the St. Pete Clearwater Elite Invitational on Thursday, Feb. 17 with a final score of 7-1.
The first inning for both teams was uneventful, with Tech going three up, three down. Auburn managed to draw a two-out walk, but that runner was left stranded to end the inning.
Texas Tech struck first in the top of the second inning, scoring a run on a sacrifice fly to take a 1-0 lead heading into the bottom of the inning. This run also counted as Auburn sophomore Shelby Lowe’s first earned run of the season.
The Tigers came storming back, scoring two runs in the bottom of the second to take the lead from the Red Raiders. The first run came off of a Denver Bryant RBI single up the middle. A pair of fielding errors by Texas Tech allowed another run for the Tigers to score, putting them on top after two completed innings.
More offensive action came in the bottom of the fourth inning for Auburn, with freshman Jessie Blaine launching her first collegiate home run with two outs. This gave the Tigers some cushion heading into the second half of the game with a score of 3-1.
The Tigers got on an offensive tear in the bottom of the fifth inning, recording three straight singles by sophomore Makayla Packer, sophomore Sydney Cox and freshman Nelia Peralta to score one run with one out.
With runners on the corner, the consecutive hits made the Tech coaching staff pull starting pitcher Kendall Fritz after four and a third innings pitched.
The pitching change didn’t matter to freshman Bri Ellis, who was the first batter faced by the new pitcher Olivia Rains. Ellis hit her second home run of the year, a three run shot, to put the Tigers up on the Red Raiders by a score of 7-1.
Shelby Lowe’s afternoon came to a close after five complete innings, pitching for one earned run with three strikeouts and one walk.
Lowe shut down the Red Raider offense after allowing the one earned run in the top of the second inning, earning her fourth win of the season to bring her record to 4-0 and her ERA to 0.61.
Sophomore Maddie Penta came on in relief of Lowe in the top of the sixth inning. After giving up a lead-off single to start the inning, Penta sat down the next three Texas Tech hitters to leave a runner stranded on second base.
Penta also pitched the top of the seventh to seal the Auburn win while also collecting three strikeouts to bring her ERA to 0.78.
The Tigers hit for a team batting average of .269, collecting seven hits and six RBIs.
Bryant led the team with two hits, one of them being her second triple of the season. The two home runs by the freshmen Ellis and Blaine added four security runs as well as four RBIs to Auburn’s team total to beat Texas Tech.
Auburn will next face Wisconsin tomorrow, Feb. 18, at 10:30 a.m. and No. 11 Texas at 3 p.m. The game against Wisconsin will be streamed on ESPN+ while the game against Texas will be streamed on the Longhorn Network.
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Emily Porch is a senior from Sylacauga, Alabama. She joined The Plainsman in fall 2021.
Twitter: @emilycporch
