April 27, 2010
Auburn, Ala. - Kelsey Cartwright's RBI single in the fifth inning broke a tie game and sparked a four-run rally as the Auburn softball team defeated Jacksonville State 8-5 Tuesday night.
Auburn improved to 26-23 overall, while Jacksonville State dropped to 23-17. The Tigers will next play Middle Tennessee Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the Metro Kiwanis Sportsplex in Huntsville, Ala.
Auburn reliever Anna Thompson earned the win to improve to 14-8. Thompson went 1.2 innings, allowed one run, earned, on one hit with no walks and four strikeouts. Jenee Loree earned her first save of the season after halting a potential seventh-inning rally. Loree went 1.0 inning, allowed one hit and struck out one.
Angel Bunner started for Auburn and went 4.1 innings, allowing three runs, all earned, on six hits with a walk and a strikeout. Lauren Schmalz relieved Thompson in the seventh and did not record an out, allowing one run, earned, on one hit and one walk.
Hillary Phillips took the loss in relief to fall to 7-10. Phillips allowed four runs, one earned, on five hits with a walk and a strikeout in 3.0 innings.
The Tigers wasted no time getting on the scoreboard as Amber Harrison blasted a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first inning for a 1-0 AU lead. It was Harrison's fourth home run of the season and marked the fourth consecutive game the Tigers had gone yard, tying the fifth-longest streak in team history.
Auburn added to its lead in the second inning. Lauren Guzman walked to open the second inning and reached second on a ground ball fielder's choice by Cartwright. A sacrifice bunt by Kelley Smiley moved Guzman to third and Cartwright to second. Krista Clyde then brought Guzman home with a sacrifice fly to left to make it a 2-0 lead for the Tigers.
Guzman made it a 4-0 Auburn lead with a two-out double in the third inning that plated Harrison and Katie Colton. Harrison opened the bottom of the inning with a single and moved to second when Colton was hit by a pitch. The runners moved to third and second on a sacrifice bunt by Kyndall White and scored on Guzman's double to the gap in right-center.
Jacksonville State cut the deficit in half when Chrissy O'Neal singled home two runs in the top of the fifth inning to make it a 4-2 game. Kaycee Crow and Mary Beth Ledbetter reached on consecutive singles to open the fifth and advanced to third and second, respectively, on a sacrifice bunt by Tess Echols. O'Neal then followed with a single to center to drive in both runners.
Following the two-run single, Bunner was lifted for Thompson. Kelci Johnston greeted Thompson with a game-tying home run to left-center on a 2-2 pitch. It was Johnston's fourth home run of the season.
The Tigers took a 5-4 lead in the bottom of the fifth when Cartwright singled through the left side to bring White home from second. White singled with one out and moved to second on a single by Guzman. Following Cartwright's RBI single, Smiley reached on an error by the third baseman to load the bases with two outs.
Clyde then laced a double off the wall in right to clear the bases and score all three runs and give the Tigers an 8-4 lead.
Schmalz relieved Thompson to start the seventh inning and was greeted by Ledbetter who launched a leadoff home run to center that cut the Auburn lead to 8-5. It was Ledbetter's third home run of the season. Echols followed with a fly to right that was dropped by Megan Mitchell. After a walk to O'Neal put runners on first and second with no outs, Schmalz was pulled for Loree.
Johnston greeted Loree with a hard single through the right side to load the bases. Loree forced Nikkie Prier to fly out to shallow center for the first out, the runners were unable to advance on the play. Sallie Beth Burch then fouled out to first for the second out and Loree got Hilary Downs swinging for strike three to end the game.