Auburn Softball Team's Season Ends On Walk-off Home Run
May 20, 2004
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Sara Ghezzi |
PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Christina Clark roped a two-run home run off the foul pole in left field to lift Fresno State to a 3-1 victory over Auburn in 10 innings late Thursday night in the NCAA Region VII Tournament at Stanford University.
The loss eliminates the second-seeded Tigers (42-18) from the NCAA field and brings to an end the most successful season in school history. Auburn won a school-record 42 games and reached a ranking of 12th heading into the regional. However, the Tigers fell to 0-4 all-time in NCAA Tournament games.
"It's tough. It's really tough to end the season this way," said head coach Tina Deese. "We felt like we had a great shot to come out here and win this thing. But we just didn't get the hits when we needed them and Hofstra and Fresno State did. We still had a great season and we'll have to try and build on that for next year."
The third-seeded Bulldogs (48-19), who have advanced to 23 straight NCAA Tournaments, advance to play the loser of the Stanford-Pacific match up on Friday.
Clark, the national leader in total home runs with 23, took the 2-0 pitch from Auburn's Kristen Keyes over the wall for a walk-off victory. It was the second time in as many games the Tigers lost on the final play of the game. Earlier in the day, Hofstra upset Auburn after throwing out the potential tying run at the plate for the game's final out.
It was the second consecutive hard-luck loss for Keyes, who went the distance and tied a school record by striking out 17 batters. She allowed just five hits in 9 1/3 innings, but fell to 27-12 on the year.
Against Hofstra, Keyes worked nine innings and also struck out 17 in the 1-0 loss. For the day, she threw 302 pitches while working 18 1/3 innings and striking out 34. She gave up just nine hits, but took both losses.
"It kills me to see Kristen have to take two losses like this," said Deese. "She was absolutely phenomenal today and did everything we could have hoped in both games to get the wins."
Keyes, a senior from Clearwater, Fla., pitched her final game in an Auburn uniform. In her three years with the Tigers, she rewrote the Auburn record books and will leave owning every school pitching record.
"It's going to be hard to see Kristen go," Deese said. "She gave everything she had today left it all on the field."
Auburn struck first against Fresno State when Ashley Griffin laced a two-out single to score Shannon Anderson from third. Anderson had reached on bunt single, stole second and moved to third on Sara Ghezzi's ground out.
"We finally got a lead today and the way Kristen was pitching I thought it would hold up," said Deese. "
However, immediately after the play is when things began to take a downward turn for the Tigers. Griffin was ejected by the first base umpire for a retaliatory slap on the leg of Bulldog first sacker Shasta Lewis. Lewis had made a hard tag on Griffin on the base even though the play was already over.
With its starting shortstop out, Auburn moved third baseman Kristina McCain into the hole and inserted senior captain Lindsey Chitwood, who had only seven at bats all season, in at third.
Three innings later, Bulldog pitcher Jamie Southern hit McCain in the head with an inside pitch and she was forced to leave the game. At that point, second baseman Lolani Alvarez went to shortstop and in came Robin Martin, who had just six at bats all season.
The moves put a strain on an Auburn offense that had struggled to score runs in its previous three ball games anyway. The Tigers managed just one hit after Griffin's single, by Anderson, and she was taken out on the next play when Ghezzi grounded into a 1-6-3 double play.
Fresno State made its comeback on one pitch as Southern, who bats second for the Bulldogs, sent a Keyes offering over the wall in left-centerfield with two outs in the sixth inning to tie the game at 1-1. The home run was only the second hit allowed by Keyes, who took a no-hitter into the fifth inning.
Southern, the national leader in earned-run average, went all 10 innings for Fresno State. She surrendered just one run on three hits and struck out nine while walking one to improve to 30-6 this year.
Fresno State will take on the loser of the Stanford/Pacific game tomorrow at 5:30 p.m.