Auburn swept the Jane B. Moore Memorial with a pair of walk offs Sunday afternoon – first with an 8-0 run-rule victory over North Texas, then an 8-4 walk-off grand slam to elevate the Tigers over USC Upstate.
Game 1: North Texas
The Tigers and Mean Green started the game slowly, as both teams combined for four total base runners and three hits through the first three innings.
Auburn opened up the scoring in the bottom of the fourth inning with a Makalya Packer leadoff triple that resulted in a sacrifice lineout by Anna Wohlers that gave Auburn the 1-0 lead.
The Tigers’ offense overpowered the Mean Green in the bottom of the fifth and matched its hit total from the first four innings in the single frame and scored four more runs from a KK McCrary two-run home run and a Wohlers two-run home run. Wohlers' homer brought her RBI total to three on the day.
Wohlers finished the first game with one hit, one run and three RBIs.
Maddie Penta held the North Texas offense in check all day and finished the day with 11 strikeouts, the fifth consecutive game with double-digit punchouts for Penta. She finished the day with six innings pitched, 78 total pitches and only allowed two hits.
Maddie Penta wasn’t the only Penta to make her impact felt on the game. After a series of singles from Nelia Peralta and Icess Tresvik in the bottom of the sixth inning, Aubrie Lisenby was pinch-hit for by Mariah Penta, representing the winning run at the plate. On a 2-2 count, Mariah Penta sent the ball over the left-field wall for the Tigers’ third home run of the day and the walk-off run rule to end the first game.
“That’s fun. You know they get to go home for dinner, their family is in town, they get to go talk about it, and it doesn’t get any better than that,” said head coach Mickey Dean.
Game 2: USC Upstate
Out the gate, Wohlers picked up right where she left off in the first game by singling up the middle and scoring runners on second and third base, which gave her two more RBIs on the day and gave Auburn a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning.
This lead did not last as starting pitcher Annabelle Widra gave up two home runs in the top of the second inning and allowed three runs to come across in the frame. Widra was pulled for Malayna Tamborra after just 1.2 innings and finished the day with three hits and three earned runs on 35 total pitches.
Auburn failed to respond in the bottom of the frame and the Trojans added onto their lead in the top of the third inning with a fielder's choice and gave them a 4-2 lead early.
The combination of Tamborra and eventually Shelby Lowe held USC Upstate to four hits over the next four innings and did not allow a single run to come across which kept Auburn within reach for the duration of the game.
“Annabelle gave us a warrior's effort in the beginning and Malayna came in and really had her back,” Dean said. “Got a lot of groundballs. We made great defensive plays and then Shelby came in and shut the door and gave our offense a chance to really take control of the game. I felt good the entire game to be quite honest.”
The Tigers wouldn’t find any runs until a Skylar Elkins leadoff solo home run in the bottom of the fifth inning brought them within one run, but Auburn failed to capitalize and was down to its final six outs – down one run.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Wohlers' impressive day at the plate continued as she led off the inning with a single for her third hit of the second game, and a bunt from Amelia Lech put the tying-run in scoring position.
With two outs in the frame, Tresvik knocked a single to right field and drove Wohlers home to tie things up at four apiece.
“Get home, that was my only mindset,” Wohlers said. “Two outs, you are scoring on second base no matter what whether that ball is caught or gets down you just got to get home.”
Across both games, Wohlers finished the day with five hits in six plate appearances, two runs and five RBIs and put Auburn in a position to walk it off in the bottom of the seventh inning.
After Lowe stranded a runner on first base in the top of the inning, the Tigers had a chance to bring in the winning run, and they started out just as well as they could have asked with a single and a throwing error on a bunt that put runners on second and third base with no outs.
McCrary was intentionally walked which brought Makayla Packer to the dish with no outs and bases loaded.
Faced with a 1-2 count, Packer hit a walk-off grand slam into the scoreboard for her second hit of the day.
“Just hit the ball hard,” Packer said. “Coach (Eugene) Lenti said bases loaded she is going to go inside pitch down the middle, so I scooped back off the plate and just made it down the middle.”
Packer finished the day across both games with four hits, four runs and four RBIs.
Auburn improved to 12-2-1 as conference play approaches with its final game before traveling to Missouri is at home against Troy on Tuesday, March 5 at 5:30 p.m. CST. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network+.
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Craig Noyes is a junior from Kensington, Maryland, majoring in journalism. He joined The Plainsman in January 2023.
Twitter: @craignoyes58
