No. 25 Auburn Softball (22-13, 0-11 SEC) struggled to get the bats rolling early in the second game of the series against No. 4 Florida (32-5, 5-3 SEC) as the Tigers lost in a mercy rule, 10-0 Saturday afternoon continuing their winless record in the SEC.
“The beauty of it is that they do keep fighting,” said co-head coach Chris Malveaux. “Like we had a game last night that was really tough. And I think the thing is, as long as it’s not about necessarily results. It’s about the development of it and I think, honestly, there’s a lot of moments that we can learn from but there’s a lot of good moments that we can take away from that and build on.”
Florida’s ace pitcher sophomore Keagan Rothrock made her first start in the circle in a month. She had a comeback performance today giving Auburn problems with seven strikeouts in the 4.2 innings she pitched.
“I mean she’s a good pitcher,” Chris Malveaux said. “And obviously it's her first game back, but she presents a really cool dynamic of speed and spin, which is a little bit of a challenge. I think we put her in some tough spots, but I think you still have to tip your hat to her."
Within the first three innings, the Tigers had one lone hit from their starting pitcher senior Icess Tresvik who recorded a single. The Gators got out to a big 6-0 lead through the fourth. Auburn only recorded four hits to Florida’s nine for the afternoon.
Florida had a two-run homer in the top of the second by senior shortstop Rylee Holtorf, then had two RBI’s and two walks given up by Auburn to score four runs in the top of the fourth.
The Tigers were in good scoring position with runners on second and third with one out in the bottom of the fourth, but the Tigers struck out on the next two batters to end the inning scoreless.
The Gators would soon close out the game in the bottom of the sixth to avoid going into the final inning.
Auburn’s fielding was not on par with Florida’s as the team made two errors to the Gators zero. Multiple fielders seemed confused where to make the right play at the right time costing Auburn to give up a few runs.
The Tigers made four pitching changes in this game as they could not limit how many times the Gators got on base. They gave up a total of 10 walks, three of which scored for the Gators and added to their lead.
Auburn will face Florida tomorrow in the series finale to avoid the sweep and attempt to get its first conference win of the season. First pitch at Jane B. Moore field is set for 11 a.m. CT. and will be available on the SEC Network.
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William Halliday is a junior journalism major from Memphis, Tennessee. He started with the Plainsman in fall 2022.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @wphalliday3
