May 19, 2006
TUCSON, Ariz. - Kristina McCain and Tatiana Fernandez hit home runs and Beth DiPietro threw her third shutout of the season as the 25th-ranked Auburn softball team advanced to the Tucson Regional championship with a 4-0 defeat of Ohio State Friday at Hillenbrand Stadium.
Auburn (36-21 overall) will play No. 1 Arizona Saturday at 3 p.m. Arizona time (5 p.m. CT.) in a game that will be featured nationally on ESPN2.
"It was exciting to see us bust out offensively," Auburn head coach Tina Deese said of the team's two games Friday. "We've had those capabilities all season. Tonight, we hit that button and just clicked. It will be a big game against Arizona Saturday and we are looking forward to it."
Auburn advanced to the 4-0 win with a 14-0 defeat of Marist in a five-inning game that ended an hour previous to the team's second game of the day.
Against Ohio State (39-23), DiPietro struck out five and scattered five hits in seven innings of work to improve to 16-7 this season. It was her 12th complete game of the season and 35th of her career.
With Auburn already up 1-0 after McCain's fourth-inning home run, Fernandez broke open the game with a three-run shot that found the batter's eye in center field. Her team-high tying eighth home run of the season came off Ohio State reliever Courtney Pruner and scored Lauren Walton and Ashley Griffin. Walton's and Griffin's runs were charged to Ohio State starter Jamee Juarez, who was chased after Griffin reached on an error as the second batter of the inning.
McCain began the team's scoring with her sixth home run of the season, a solo shot that found the left center stands off Ohio State starter Juarez. She batted in the No. 3 slot of the order for the second time Friday and finished 2 for 6 with one RBI and three runs scored.
Lauren Walton and Holly Currie paced Auburn with two hits apiece.
Juarez took the loss for Ohio State, dropping to 17-11 this season. She worked five innings, allowing four hits and three runs -- two earned -- while striking out one.
Auburn advances to the regional championship for the first time in team history when it plays host and top-seeded Arizona at 3 p.m. Arizona time (5 p.m. CT.). The game can be seen in front of a national audience on ESPN2.
For the Tigers to advance to a super regional, Auburn will need to defeat the Wildcats twice Saturday. Arizona defeated Marist, 9-0, Thursday and Ohio State on Friday, 6-3, to enter Saturday's game unbeaten. If there is a second game Saturday, it will also be televised on ESPN2 shortly after the first's conclusion.
Nathan Ealy will also be behind the mic for www.auburntigers.com and 910-AM (WZMG).
TIGER NOTES: Auburn wore its blue uniforms for the game as it did in the team's first contest of the day and is now (19-10) in them this season ... Kristina McCain's fourth-inning home run was her first since hitting a solo shot in the second inning at Florida State on March 30 ... The team has now hit 40 home runs this season, 18 of which have been hit by juniors.