Feb. 11, 2012
Auburn, Ala. - Senior pitcher Jenee Loree tossed her third-career no-hitter to lead the Auburn softball team to a 2-0- victory over Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne (IPFW) Saturday at the Tiger Invitational. Auburn (4-0) will close out the tournament Sunday with a 2 p.m. game against Appalachian State.
"No-hitters don't come around often and it was really great to see Jenee be able to get the job done," Auburn head coach Tina Deese said. "She did a great job keeping their hitters off balance and we played well enough defensively behind her. This was a tough game. Their pitcher did a great job and kept us from really stringing anything together offensively."
For Loree, it was her first no-hitter since her freshman season of 2009. Loree threw a pair of no-hitters that season, the first against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in her first career start and again later that season against Austin Peay. Against IPFW, Loree fanned six and walked three in seven innings of work.
Courtney Cronin took the loss for IPFW (2-1). Cronin (1-1) allowed two runs, one earned, on five hits with one walk and seven strikeouts in six innings of work.
Auburn took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, taking advantage of an IPFW error. Branndi Melero singled with one out and moved to second when Caitlin Jordan was hit by a pitch. With Melero taking her lead after the pitch, catcher Dani Pugh threw to second and Melero took third. The throw to second sailed into center without anyone covering the bag and Melero scored easily.
A walk to Elizabeth Eisterhold and a fielding error by the shortstop on a ground ball by Brooke Lathan loaded the bases for the Tigers, with Jordan at third, with just one out. A fielder's choice ground ball by Lauren Guzman forced Jordan out at home but kept the bases loaded with two outs. But IPFW got out of the jam by forcing Caitlin Schultze into an inning-ending ground out to third.
The Tigers took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning when Morgan Estell laced a two-out single to right to score Guzman. Guzman singled to open the bottom of the fourth and stole second. After a pair of called third strikes, Amber Harrison reached on an infield single to short, moving Guzman to third. Estell followed with a first-pitch single to right to plate Guzman.
Still without a hit in the sixth inning, IPFW put together its best scoring threat of the game. Loree walked leadoff hitter Kayti Hanson and sac bunt by Alex Bousquet moved her to second. Larissa Franklin followed with a fielder's choice back to Loree, who fired to third wildly allowing Hanson to reach safely and Franklin to move to second. Loree regrouped and forced Ashleigh Bousquet to foul out to first and Courtney Cronin to ground out to third to end the inning with the Tigers maintaining a 2-0 lead.
In the top of the seventh, Loree fanned Dani Pugh on a called third strike for the first out. On an 0-1 pitch, Loree hit Mackenzie Ritsema to bring the tying run to the plate. Loree worked the count to 1-2 on Stephanie Beuther and notched the second out of the inning on a swinging third strike, her sixth strikeout of the game.
With the tying run at first and go-ahead run at the plate, Loree sealed the win and the no-hitter when she forced Cassie Wolfe to foul out softly to Jordan at first.