May 11, 2006
ATHENS, Ga. - Ashley Griffin gave the Auburn softball team an early lead, but the 24th-ranked Tigers couldn't hold on and fell to No. 11 LSU, 4-1, Thursday in the opening-round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
Auburn entered the postseason tournament as the sixth seed, but were knocked out as the SEC went to a single-game elimination format for the first time this year.
The Tigers (34-20 overall) rapped out four hits in the loss, highlighted by Kristina McCain's two doubles as the junior went 2 for 4 for her team-leading 18th multiple-hit game of the season.
"We just didn't take advantage of our opportunities," Auburn head coach Tina Deese said. "We had the bases loaded with nobody out and failed to score. Their home run came with two outs when we were close to getting out of the inning. We put our heart and soul into it and just came up short. It hurts."
Griffin extended her career-best with her eighth home run of the season, which narrowly cleared the right field fence in the first off LSU (50-11) starter Emily Turner and gave Auburn an early 1-0 lead. The Pace, Fla., native also started her 217th straight game, setting the Auburn consecutive starts streak.
"Ashley Griffin did exactly what we wanted her to do," Deese said. "She took that outside pitch and drove it right out of the park. At that point, things looked like they were going very well. Holly (Currie) did a nice job of getting into the strike zone."
The Tigers threatened in the top of the seventh with LSU leading, 4-1. Amy Shaw walked to begin the inning and moved to third on McCain's second double of the game, a shot that found the right center gap. Turner, however, got the next two Tigers on strikeouts to end the game.
Currie struck out six and walked two in her 18th complete game of the season. She scattered eight hits while allowing four runs. She dropped to 18-12 overall this season.
LSU posted its first run of the game in the bottom half of the second. Shannon Stein grounded out to Heather Garrison at first, bringing in Heidi Robin in from third.
The Bengal Tigers extended their lead to 3-1 in the third. Leslie Klein, the second batter of the inning, reached on a fielder's choice and was driven in two batters later when Vanessa Soto homered to right center, her sixth round-tripper of the season.
Turner got the win for LSU, improving to 24-6 this season. She struck out five and walked one in seven innings of work.
Auburn must now wait until Sunday to see when it when and where it will play in an NCAA Regional. The selection show for the field of 64 will take place at 2:30 p.m. CT., and will be televised on ESPNews.
TIGER NOTES: Auburn wore its blue uniforms for the game and is now 18-10 in them this season ... Kristina McCain doubled in the third inning ... The junior has now reached base safely in 49 of the team's 54 games this season ... Each of the three previous games at the tournament ended in shutouts ... Fourth-seed Tennessee defeated No. 5 seed Florida, 6-0, in the first game while No. 1 Alabama matched the Lady Vols with a 6-0 win over eighth-seed Ole Miss in game two ... In the game leading up to Auburn and LSU, second-seeded Georgia, the tournament's host, scored two runs in the sixth for a 2-0 win over No. 7 seed Arkansas.