The Auburn Tigers began the softball season in Clearwater Florida with two decisive victories. The pair of games marks the first back-to-back, season-opening shutouts for the Tigers since 2018.
Game 1: St. John's
Auburn defeated St. Johns 6-0 in the first game of the season. This was the first time these two teams had played since last season in the same tournament. The Tigers won off the back of a massive first inning. In the first at bat of the season, Nelia Peralta sent a ball over the fence for a home run.
Getting the start in the circle was a new face on The Plains. Annabelle Widra, a transfer from the University of Michigan, was dominant in her first start, allowing just two hits and striking out ten Red Storm batters.
“Honestly, I didn’t have any expectations,” Widra said. “I was just really excited to start the new year with this team. I know what we are capable of. It was just a fun day.”
Auburn put on some late insurance runs to help close this one out.
“I was very pleased to see our offense jump out to early scoring,” said head coach Mickey Dean. “We had the opportunity to get several players out on the field. Our pitching staff was aggressive and worked ahead in counts. The strikeout numbers show how good that group can be when they get ahead of batters.”
The victory over St. John's helped push Auburn to 4-0 in the all-time series versus the Red Storm. St. John's has yet to score a run on the Tigers in any of the four games. St. John's falls to 0-2, while Auburn picked up its first win of the season and had another game just minutes after the conclusion of its first.
Game 2: Fordham
In its second game, Auburn once again came out with an early inning blitz.
Late in the sixth inning with a seventh looming, it seemed that Fordham would get at least one more shot at making a comeback down 5-0 to the Tigers but fifth-year Aspyn Godwin had other plans. With the bases loaded and two outs, Godwin sent one into orbit and that grand slam enough for a run rule victory for the Tigers.
“I went up there with confidence,” Godwin said. “Coach Dean told me to stay in my legs, and I just hit it really far. Coach (Eugene) Lenti told me to say that he called it.”
Auburn then turned their attention to the Fordham Rams. Fordham competes out of the Patriot League Conference. This was the first time these two programs had faced in nearly seven years.
Down by two runs at the end of the first, Fordham had trouble getting hits. After getting two singles in the first two at bats, they had just one more hit for the remainder of the game.
Maddie Penta shut down the Rams from that point on. With a lead continuing to build, she made sure to drop the hammer. Penta ended the game with eleven strikeouts with three hits allowed. Fordham fell to 0-2 while Auburn picked up their second victory of the day and season.
Between Penta and Widra, the pitching staff let up just five hits while striking out 24 in a double-digit strikeout performance for both Tigers.
Auburn once again plays two games tomorrow against the Pitt Panthers and then the Indiana Hoosiers. Auburn plays Pitt at 10 a.m. CST, then Indiana at 12:30 p.m. CST.
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TP is a senior from Montgomery, Alabama, majoring in journalism. He started with The Plainsman in fall 2022.
Twitter: @tp_hammock
