March 25, 2012
Auburn, Ala. - Auburn's Branndi Melero was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force home the winning run as the No. 21 Tigers softball rallied in the seventh inning for a 2-1 win over Kentucky in the Sunday series finale.
Auburn improved to 24-9 overall and 3-5 in the Southeastern Conference. Kentucky dropped to 15-16 overall and 2-4 in the SEC.
"I'm really proud of the way we battled," Auburn head coach Tina Deese said. "We missed several scoring chances and it would have been easy to get deflated from that, but our team kept fighting and found a way to get the win."
Angel Bunner earned the win in relief to improve to 10-2. Bunner scattered three hits in four scoreless innings of work, walking two and striking out one. Lauren Schmalz started and pitched the first three innings, allowing one run (unearned) on two hits with one walk and no strikeouts.
Chanda Bell took the loss to fall to 8-5. Bell started and went the distance, allowing two runs (both earned) on four hits with five walks and eight strikeouts.
Kentucky took advantage of an Auburn error to plate the first run of the game. Kara Dill led off the game with a soft liner that Maris Medina mishandled at third. Dill took second on the error after the ball rolled into foul territory. Brittany Cervantes followed with a walk to put runners at second and first. Dill took third on a fly out to center and came in to score on a sac fly by Griffin Joiner for a 1-0 lead for the Wildcats.
Bell was in control from the beginning for Kentucky. Bell issued a pair of two-out walks, one in the bottom of the first and one in the bottom of the third, with neither runner advancing to second base. Auburn's first hit of the game came on a two-out double by Brooke Lathan in the bottom of the fourth. Lathan would be stranded at second, however, as Bell fanned Caitlin Jordan to end the inning.
The Tigers mounted a scoring chance in the bottom of the sixth when Lauren Guzman led off with a triple off the wall in center. With the tying run at third and no outs, Bell picked up the first out with a swinging third strike of Melero.
Caitlin Schultze drew a walk to put runners at third and first. Lathan then hit a sharp line drive back to the pitcher who fired to third to double-off Guzman for the final out of the inning.
Auburn put the tying run on board to begin the game-winning rally in the bottom of the seventh when Amber Harrison drew a one-out walk. On a 2-2 pitch, Hilary Mavromat doubled off the wall in center to score Harrison and even the game at 1-1. After a strikeout for the second out of the inning, Bell hit Baylee Stephens to put runners at second and first.
Bell then intentionally walked Guzman to load the bases and bring Melero to the plate. Melero fell behind 0-1 after swinging at the first pitch, but then took three straight pitches off the plate to go ahead in the count 3-1. Needing to throw a strike, Bell came inside and hit Melero to force home the winning run.