No. 17 Auburn won its mid-week matchup against Alabama State with a score of 6-2 at home on Wednesday.
Sophomore Maddie Penta got the start in the circle for the Tigers. She pitched three perfect innings, allowing no hits or runs while collecting five strikeouts.
Junior KK Dismukes came on in relief of Penta in the fourth inning. The perfect game bid continued until the fifth inning, where Dismukes gave up two hits and two runs as well as a walk. Dismukes finished out the rest of the game, giving up four hits and striking out five, while collecting her second win.
Dismukes last appeared in game one of the Kentucky series last weekend. Then, she gave up six runs to the Wildcat offense.
“[This game] was a bit of a boost of confidence,” Dismukes said. “I didn’t do my best tonight, but it helps to get the win this time around coming back from a loss.”
With the injury to starting second baseman Denver Bryant, the Tigers have had to shift their lineup around to fill the spot Bryant left behind. Sophomore Sydney Cox filled in for Bryant for the remainder of the Kentucky series while junior Carlee McCondichie got the start at second tonight against Alabama State.
“I think, in that situation, we are going to have each other’s back,” McCondichie said. “In this situation, I’m going to do my best to have Denver’s back.”
Auburn struck first in the bottom of the first inning to go up over Alabama State. Sophomore Makayla Packer hit the first pitch she saw for a leadoff home run, her sixth of the year. The Tigers then sat down in order, but were up 1-0 after one inning.
The Tigers added on to their lead in the bottom of the second inning. A solo home run by senior Aspyn Godwin with one out put the Tigers up 2-0.
Freshman Aubrey Lisenby followed up the home run with a single to right field. The pinch runner for Lisenby, freshman Abbey Smith, stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error. Smith scored on an RBI groundout by freshman Rose Roach before the inning came to a close for a score of 3-0.
Alabama State got on the board in the top of the fifth inning.
Two hits and a walk loaded the bases for the Hornets and put them in prime scoring position. Auburn quickly got two outs, but a fielding error allowed two runs to score for Alabama State before Auburn got out of the inning. After the half inning came to a close, the Hornets closed the gap and made the score 3-2.
Auburn responded to Alabama State’s runs with two of their own in the bottom of the fifth inning. McCondichie led off the inning with a bunt single, setting up the top of the lineup where freshman Nelia Peralta hit a two-run home run to put Auburn back up by three when the inning came to a close.
“You know, I come up as leadoff sometimes, and it’s important to me to get on base,” McCondichie said. “I made an error back in the inning before, and when I went up to bat, I was like, ‘I need to get on base right here. I need to do whatever I need to do to get on base,’ so that’s really important.”
The Tigers struck again in the bottom of the sixth inning. Freshman Bri Ellis hit her 12th home run of the year to put the Tigers up 6-2.
A walk to Lisenby and a single by pinch hitter Cox had runners on first and third with one out. However, those runners were left stranded when the inning came to a close.
Alabama State tried to start a rally in the top of the seventh inning with a leadoff single, but that runner was left stranded with three consecutive outs to end the game with a final score of 6-2 in favor of Auburn.
The Tigers kept slugging their way through the season, hitting four home runs tonight and 54 as a team on the season. This especially provides a boost to the morale of the Auburn pitching staff.
“Relief, more like,” Dismukes said. “Being more comfortable out there, knowing that if I mess up, then my team behind me is able to hit the runs in and do their part too.”
With the series loss against Kentucky, Auburn is looking to take the momentum from this win over to the upcoming Florida series this weekend. Dismukes talked a little bit about what the pitching staff is looking to do against the ever-formidable Gator lineup.
“Shutting them down,” Dismukes said. “Doing what we can, relying on our defense and hitting to help us as we help them.”
The Tigers will face No. 7 Florida on Friday, April 1, for their second home series of the year. The Friday game is set to start at 6 p.m. CST, Saturday’s game is slated to start at 2 p.m. CST and Sunday’s game is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. CST.
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Emily Porch is a senior from Sylacauga, Alabama. She joined The Plainsman in fall 2021.
Twitter: @emilycporch
