April 11, 2010
Auburn, Ala. - The 16th-ranked Tennessee Lady Vols used a three-run rally in the fifth inning to come away with a 5-3 win over the Auburn softball team Sunday afternoon at Jane B. Moore Field.
Auburn's record falls to 22-17 overall and 6-11 in the Southeastern Conference. Tennessee improved to 33-8 overall and 12-4 in the SEC. The Lady Vols claim the series victory, winning two of three games.
"These were three very close, tough games we played this weekend," Auburn head coach Tina Deese said. "All three of these games could have gone the other way very easily. I'm proud of our team for staying tough and battling every pitch."
Lauren Schmalz took the loss in relief to fall to 2-1. Schmalz went 2.0 innings, allowing two runs, both unearned, on three hits with a pair of strikeouts and no walks. Anna Thompson tossed 1.1 innings of relief, allowing three runs, two earned, on two hits with one walk and two strikeouts. Jenee Loree started for Auburn and went 2.2 innings, allowing just one hit with a walk.
Ivy Renfroe (18-2) started and earned the win after going 6.1 innings and allowing three runs, all earned, on four hits with two walks and six strikeouts. Cat Hosfield threw 0.2 innings of relief before being pulled for starter Renfroe in the bottom of the sixth.
Krista Clyde gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead with a one-out double to right-center that scored Kelsey Cartwright in the bottom of the second inning. Cartwright singled to open the inning and moved to second on a single to shallow center by Katie Colton. Clyde then drilled a double to the gap with Colton moving to third on the play.
Kelley Smiley followed with a sacrifice fly to center that scored Colton and pushed the Auburn lead to 2-0.
The Lady Vols tied the game in the fourth inning when Nicole Kajitani hit a towering two-run home run to center off Thompson to even the score at 2-2. It was Kajitani's second home run of the season and it came with two outs in the inning.
After issuing a leadoff walk to Ashley Andrews to open the fifth, Thompson was pulled for Schmalz. Raven Chavanne hit a ground ball to third that Kyndall White fielded and threw to first, but Smiley did not cover the bag and the ball rolled into foul territory, allowing the runners to advance to third and second with no outs.
After a pop out to short, Kat Dotson hit a big-hop single over third into left to score both runners and give the Lady Vols a 4-2 lead. Dotson moved to second on the throw home. Consecutive errors by Auburn shortstop Lauren Guzman led to the third Tennessee run scoring to give the Lady Vols a 5-2 lead.
The Tigers chased Renfroe after drawing consecutive walks to open the bottom of the fifth. Caitlin Stangl and Kyndall White each walked to put runners on second and first with no outs. Amber White greeted Hosfield with a single to left on a 3-2 pitch to load the bases.
Elizabeth Eisterhold brought a run home with a ground out to first that scored Stangl and cut the deficit to 5-3. An intentional walk to Cartwright loaded the bases with two outs, but the Lady Vols got out of the jam when Guzman lined out to short to end the inning.
After returning to the game in the sixth, Renfroe retired the next five hitters in order to end the game and give the Lady Vols the win.