Auburn Drops SEC Tournament Opener To Host Alabama
Box Score l Audio
May 13, 2004
Kristen Keyes |
TUSCALOOSA - The 12th-ranked Auburn softball team opened the Southeastern Conference Tournament with a 7-1 loss to No. 15 Alabama on the Crimson Tide's home field late Thursday night.
The game was delayed nearly four hours due to rain during the day and began at 11:08 p.m. before ending at 1:22 a.m. Friday morning.
The loss was marked the fifth straight season the Tigers (39-15) have dropped their SEC Tournament opener. It was also the ninth consecutive loss to Alabama (42-16) in Tuscaloosa.
Ashley Courtney got Alabama on the board first with a solo home run to right-center field with one out in the third. She sent the first pitch she saw from Kristen Keyes over the wall for her seventh home run of the year.
Jackie McClain extended the lead for Alabama with a three-run homer to left center with one out in the fifth that plated Jackie Wilkins and Courtney. Wilkins had singled to lead off and advanced when first baseman Martha Phillips made an errant throw to second on Courtney's fielder's choice.
Keyes yielded to Beth DiPietro after the shot. She went 4 1/3 and allowed four runs * three earned * on six hits. She took the loss, her first in five decisions, to fall to 24-10 on the season and 0-3 all-time in the SEC Tournament. Keyes tied Auburn's tournament record with six strikeouts while walking three.
DiPietro walked the first batter she faced, Stephanie VanBrakle, before Staci Ramsey reached on third baseman Kristina McCain's fielding error. Capper Reed then plated VanBrakle with a single up the middle.
Wilkins beat out a slow dribbler to shortstop to score Ramsey and Reed, who raced home on the throw to first, for a 7-0 Crimson Tide lead. Alabama had four unearned runs in the six-run inning.
DiPietro went the final 2 2/3 innings and allowed three unearned runs on four hits. She struck out two and walked three.
The Tigers got on the board in the fifth when Ashley Griffin launched the 1-1 offering from VanBrakle well over the wall in left field. It was Griffin's team-leading sixth home run of the year.
VanBrakle worked six innings and gave up one run on one hit while striking out six and walking two. She improved to 15-9 on the year. Jennifer Wright worked a perfect seventh to wrap up the victory.
Auburn had the game's first scoring chance in the first inning. McCain led off with a walk and was sacrificed to second by Shannon Anderson before moving to third on a Sara Dean groundout. However, she was stranded there as Phillips grounded to second to leave McCain on base.
The sacrifice hit was the 29th of Anderson's career, which broke the Auburn career record previously held by Amy Dalsing.
Alabama looked to get on the board in the second with a one-out single and a two-out walk. However, Keyes got Angela Johnson to foul out to left to end the threat.
Johnson stranded two more runners in the fourth when she left Staci Ramsey and Capper Reed on first and second after the pair reached on a single and walk with two outs.
The Crimson Tide stranded 10 runners in the game and had two potential base stealers thrown out by Dean.
Auburn meets eighth-seeded South Carolina at 1:30 p.m. on Friday in an elimination game. The Gamecocks fell to top-seeded LSU, 2-0 on Thursday. The Tigers swept the season series between the two teams in Columbia, S.C., at the end of March.