Tigers defend home dirt in Plainsman Invite

The Plainsman Invite continued Saturday and Sunday as No. 20 Auburn shut out both North Dakota State and Merrimack to win 9-0 and 7-0, respectively, on Saturday and then completed a perfect weekend with a 4-0 victory over North Dakota State again on Sunday.

Friday and Saturday

In the first meeting of the Plainsman Invite between the Tigers and the Bison, Auburn took the victory 9-0 in six innings.

Jane B. Moore Field saw stand-out performances Saturday, including a no-hitter from Maddie Penta. At the plate, Carlee McCondichie totaled five hits and drove in five. Lindsey Garcia matched McCondichie with five RBIs of her own — four coming on a grand slam. Bri Ellis also joined the home run party by smacking her fifth of the season.

Auburn pitcher Penta no-hit North Dakota state, earning her eighth win of the season. She pitched just 80 pitches and tallied seven strikeouts. It marks the second Tiger no-hitter in two days. 

Out of the Summit League, North Dakota State has faced stiff competition in its non-conference schedule to start the season. The Bison have managed competitive games against Maryland, Ole Miss and a ranked Oregon team.

Saturday trended in that direction for nearly half the game. NDSU pitcher Lainey Lyle kept the Tigers off-balance with her off-speed pitching and had nice defensive play behind her.

It was not until the fourth inning that the Tigers broke through. Sophomore Ellis led off the inning with a single, and Abbey Smith entered the game to pinch run. In the next at-bat, Lindsey Garcia smacked a double, scoring Smith. 

Icess Tresvik scored Garcia on a sacrifice bunt that she managed to leg out. Tresvik’s speed showed again as she stole second and third. Makayla Packer singled and scored Tresvik. 

The Bison made a pitching change and brought in Savy Williams to end the Tiger momentum. The fourth run came on a McCondichie scorcher to short as Packer touched home. Williams manages to record the third out as Jessie Blaine lined out to end the fourth with a score of 4-0.

The game quieted down for the fifth inning but came back in force for the sixth. Packer knocked a single off Williams and stole second. She advanced to third on a fielder’s choice which allowed a McCondichie single to drive her in to make it 5-0. 

The Bison defense cracked as they allowed Blaine to reach on an error letting McCondichie advance to second base. Williams walked Ellis, and pinch runner Kenadie Cooper entered the game to run for Blaine on second base. With the bases loaded, Garcia walloped a walk-off grand slam to end the game.

After thrashing Merrimack in game one of a doubleheader on Friday, the Tigers won round two Saturday, 7-0. 

Shelby Lowe opened the game in the circle for the Tigers. Lowe allowed two hits in two innings of work, with Annabelle Widra replacing her in the third. Widra pitched the middle innings for Auburn, striking out five. To close the final two innings, Emmah Rolfe entered, and effectively shut down Merrimack’s chances for good.

The Tigers started early in this game, as leadoff hitter Nelia Peralta reached on a walk — Rose Roach entered the game to run. A steal and a wild throw landed Roach on third, and a McCondichie double marked the first run of the game.

McCondichie drove in two more runs in the second inning, after a two-out Sydney Cox double and a Roach single. 

The fourth inning saw another Tiger run, as Denver Bryant hit a single and advanced to third on an error. Cox picked her up with a single to make the score 4-0.

Despite the base traffic, Merrimack pitcher Madie Fornwalt turned in a dogged performance, limiting crooked number innings for Auburn and cutting opportunities short. 

“We had opportunities with runners in scoring position,” said head coach Mickey Dean. “We had a base-running error. We ran ourselves out of an inning. It just wasn’t a clean game.”

The fifth inning started with an Ellis home run. Later in the frame, Smith hit a single and pinch hitter Maia Engelkes followed with a walk. Millie Roberts entered the game to hit for Bryant and knocked a bouncer to third. What followed was a bizarre run-down situation that left Roberts safe at first and the bases loaded.

Cox earned an RBI the easy way with a walk to bring in Smith. Merrimack decided on a pitching change and turned to Sofia Palyan to face Roach. Roach hit a ball down the left-field line that scored Engelkes for Auburn’s final run of the game.

Sunday

Auburn softball completed a shutout on Sunday — not just for the game versus North Dakota State, but for the entire weekend.

Improving to 15-1, Auburn defeated NDSU 4-0 on Sunday, completing 30 innings of scoreless pitching over five games. This prolonged Auburn’s winning streak to 13 games. 

After no-hitters in each of the past two days, Lowe and Penta brought the heat once again to end the weekend. They each struck out four, and Lowe allowed a hit in four innings while Penta surrendered two hits in her three-inning save.  

Penta kept her ERA unblemished and now sits at 69 strikeouts through 39 innings to start her junior year. This is a continuation of her dominant work from a season ago, when she led the SEC with a 1.76 ERA and 195 innings pitched.

Lowe (0.68) improved to 2-0 with the win, and Penta recorded her first save of the season.

Outside of lights-out performances on the mound, Auburn had its quietest offensive performance of the weekend versus NDSU. 

Ellis continued her torrid start to the season with another RBI double to finish the weekend at nine RBIs. Her average sits at .475. 

Lead off hitters Peralta and McCondichie also continued their dominant starts at the plate with a hit each, pushing their averages to .489 and .510, respectively. 

Outscoring opponents 41-0 during the weekend, the No. 20 team got nearly anything it wanted on its home field. The Tigers take their winning streak to Troy on Wednesday at 6 p.m. CST, looking to win 14 in a row.