March 18, 2012
Athens, Ga. - The eighth-ranked Georgia Bulldogs got a four-run rally in the bottom of the sixth to beat No. 20 Auburn softball 4-2 Sunday in the series finale.
Auburn drops to 23-6 overall and 2-3 in the Southeastern Conference. Georgia improved to 23-5 overall and 4-2 in the SEC.
"This was a disappointing loss," Auburn head coach Tina Deese said. "We got beat on the little things today. We can't make the type of mistakes we made today and expect to win. This is a tough loss, but we are going to have to learn from it and move forward."
Jenee Loree took the loss in relief to fall to 8-2. Loree allowed four runs, one earned, on three hits with two walks and four strikeouts in three and one-third innings.
Erin Arevalo earned the complete-game win to improve to 9-2. Arevalo allowed two runs, both earned, on three hits with three walks and six strikeouts.
Runs were tough to come by for both teams Sunday. Auburn went down in order in the first and second inning, before putting two on with one out in the third inning. A two-out walk loaded the bases for Auburn, but Arevalo forced a fly out to left to end the inning without a run scoring.
Despite putting the leadoff batter on in the third, fourth and fifth innings, Georgia was unable to push across a run as Loree worked out of trouble in each inning.
After going down in order in the fourth and fifth innings, Auburn put a put a runner on when Branndi Melero delivered a one-out single in the top of the sixth. A sac bunt by Elizabeth Eisterhold moved Melero to second and a passed ball advanced to Melero to third base with two outs.
On a 1-2 pitch, Caitlin Jordan crushed a line-drive home run over the fence in center to give Auburn a 2-0 lead. It was Jordan's sixth home run of the season.
Georgia opened the bottom of the sixth with a leadoff double from Ashley Pauly. A ground out to second from Tess Sito moved Pauly to third. Kristen Sandberg followed with a line-drive single down the third base line to score Pauly and cut the Auburn lead to 2-1. Baylee Stephens over ran Sandberg's single, allowing it to roll to the wall and moving Sandberg to second.
Tiesha Reed ran for Sandberg as the tying run at second with one out. A passed ball put Reed at third and a four-pitch walk to Ashley Razey put runners on the corners. Macie Couey was put in to run at first for Razey. On a 3-2 pitch, Brittney Hubbard hit a ground ball to second that Brooke Lathan misplayed for an error. Reed scored easily to tie the game while Couey moved to second and Hubbard took first.
Angel Bunner was brought in to pitch for Loree following the game-tying run. Bunner quickly picked up the second out with a strikeout of Goulder. Paige Wilson followed with a fly ball to center that Melero appeared to catch, but dropped as she ran full stride into the wall. Both runners scored on the play to give Georgia a 4-2 lead.
In the top of the seventh, Arevalo retired the first two Auburn hitters before issuing a walk to McKenzie Kilpatrick. Representing the tying run, Stephens grounded to shortstop who tagged second base for the force out to end the game.