April 8, 2006
BATON ROUGE, La. - The 20th-ranked Auburn softball team fell in two games Saturday to No. 11 LSU in a doubleheader at Tiger Park. LSU took game one, 4-0, then won a seesaw battle, 6-5, in game two after scoring two runs in the bottom of the seventh.
Emily Turner won both games, starting the first and finishing the second in relief, to improve to 16-2 on the year. Auburn junior Holly Currie, meanwhile, took both losses in the same fashion as Turner's wins, and fell to 14-7.
The losses dropped Auburn to 25-12 overall and 6-8 in Southeastern Conference play this season.
In game two, the Tigers took a 3-0 lead through six innings, but saw the Bayou Bengals score four in the bottom half of the sixth.
The Tigers fought back, scoring two in the seventh. Freshman Tatiana Fernandez blooped a single to left center, scoring Kristina McCain from third and tying the game. A batter later, Currie singled to deep right, scoring Ashley Griffin from second.
LSU (38-5, 12-2), however, battled back with the game-winning runs on the same play. Quinlan Duhon hit a sacrifice fly to right, scoring pinch runner Dee Dee Henderson from third. Leslie Klein, who had reached on an error, scored the winning run when the throw from right fielder Sara Ghezzi got by Fernandez.
Currie was 2 for 3 with two RBI and McCain was 2 for 2 with three runs scored in the loss.
Currie came on in relief of Beth DiPietro in the sixth and allowed two runs -- both unearned -- while walking one. DiPietro started the game and threw 5 2/3 innings, allowing four runs and nine hits while striking out two.
In game one struck out five in six innings, but the Tigers fell to LSU, 4-0.
Turner limited the Tigers to three hits and two walks in seven innings to improve to 15-2 on the year. Auburn did not manage a hit until Ashley Griffin singled in the fourth. The Tigers left three on base in the inning as Turner induced the final two Tigers to strike out.
Turner struck out 10 in the win.
McCain and Currie each had singles for the Tigers, who fell to 5-7 this season when scoring two runs or less.
LSU scored solo runs in the first, third, fourth and sixth innings to take the first-game win. Camille Harris hit her fourth home run of the season in the first, a towering shot to right center field that served as the game-winner. Harris and Delahoussaye each had two hits to pace LSU.
Currie fell to 14-6 on the year after allowing four runs and seven hits in her 13th complete-game effort of the year.
Auburn and LSU finish the three-game series Sunday at 1 p.m. CT. The game, held at Tiger Park in Baton Rouge, can be caught live on the Internet at www.auburntigers.com and on the radio by tuning into WZMG-AM (910).
TIGER NOTES: The Tigers wore their white uniforms for both games and are now 11-5 in them this season ... The second game of the doubleheader was Auburn head coach Tina Deese's 600th at Auburn ... She is 323-276-1 in 10 seasons with the Tigers ... Senior Ashley Griffin started both games of the doubleheader, marking the 199th and 200th straight games she has started, respectively ... It is the second-longest streak in Auburn history, trailing only Sara Dean, who started 216 consecutive from 2002-05 ... Griffin has now played 220 career games, fourth-best in team history.