Feb. 10, 2007
HONOLULU - Holly Currie and Sara Ghezzi both hit their first home runs of the season, but DePaul scored a solo run in the eighth inning for a 5-4 victory over the 24th-ranked Auburn softball team Saturday at the Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.
The game drops Auburn to the fifth-place game Sunday morning at 8 a.m. Hawaii Time (12 p.m. CT). The Tigers will face the loser of the Portland State-Nebraska game, which started approximately 30 minutes after Auburn's game against DePaul.
The Blue Demons posted 11 hits in the win, and utilized the international tiebreaker in the eighth. Amber Patton was placed on second to start the inning and scored with two outs on a wild pitch by Auburn pitcher Anna Thompson.
"Anna threw well in a relief role," Auburn head coach Tina Deese said. "Both teams hit well. DePaul did what it had to do in the eighth and we couldn't answer in the bottom half of the inning. We just have to come back tomorrow morning and be focused against either Nebraska or Portland State."
Thompson threw 5 2/3 innings in relief of starter Brittany Day. Thompson struck out 10, but scattered two runs to fall to 0-3 on the season.
Tracie Adix threw four innings for the win, improving to 2-0 this season. She struck out four.
The teams battled back and forth through the first four innings. DePaul got on the board first on a two-run single by Becca Heteniak in the first.
The Tigers answered back in the bottom half of the first. Taryn Gray singled to start the inning and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Lindsey Harrelson. Next up, Currie evened the score at two with her first home run of the season, a line drive over the left field fence.
The Tigers muscled ahead in the second. Krista Klein collected her first career hit, a bloop single into left center field. Ghezzi put Auburn ahead a batter later with one swing of her bat for her first home run of the season.
DePaul posted solo runs in both the third and fourth innings to even the score at four. Heteniak collected her third RBI of the game in the third inning, singling home Linda Secka from second. One inning later, Stephanie Blagaich drove a pitch from Auburn reliever Anna Thompson over the center field fence for the Blue Demons' fourth run of the game.
Day started her first game of the season, working 2 1/3 innings before being replaced by Thompson. Day scattered six hits and three runs in a no-decision.
Auburn will continue play at the Oceanic Time Warner Cable Hawaii Paradise Classic Sunday morning at 8 a.m. Hawaii Time (12 p.m. CT). No live stats will be available for the game, but check www.auburntigers.com for a full game recap following the contest.
Tiger Notes: Auburn wore its orange uniforms for the first time this season ... Holly Currie and Sara Ghezzi both last homered in the same game, May 20, 2006, in a 4-2 loss to Arizona in an NCAA Regional Championship game in Tucson ... Both home runs Saturday came off left-handed DePaul starter Megan Huitink ... The Tigers hit just five home runs off left-handed pitchers last season ... The game marked Auburn's second extra-inning affair in five games this season ... In 58 games in 2006, the Tigers played in just four.