Feb. 15, 2013
Auburn, Ala. - The Auburn softball team improved to 9-0 with a pair of wins Friday at the Tiger Invitational. Auburn defeated Tennessee State 3-2 in eight innings and defeated Bryant 10-0 in five innings.
Tennessee State dropped to 0-5 while Bryant fell to 1-1.
"I was happy to see us come back and play with some intensity in the second game today," Auburn head coach Tina Deese said. "We played aggressively and we hit one through nine in the lineup. In the first game, we didn't generate much offense until the very end. I was glad to see us respond in the crunch like that."
In game two, Caitlin Schultze and Emily Carosone each drove in a pair of runs as Auburn defeated Bryant 10-0 in five innings.
Hilary Mavromat (4-0) earned the win in a complete-game effort. Mavromat scattered three hits, walked two and fanned six.
The Tigers struck first, taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Morgan Estell reached on a leadoff bunt single and took second on a sac bunt. Brooke Lathan brought Estell home with an RBI single for her ninth run driven in of the season. Lathan was thrown out attempting to advance on the play, but the Tigers were not done scoring. A walk to McKenzie Kilpatrick, a single by Caitlin Jordan and a walk to Emily Carosone loaded the bases. Caitlin Schultze made it a 2-0 game with a single to right, but the rally was ended when Jordan was thrown out at home on the play.
A series of Bryant errors gave Auburn a larger lead in the top of the second inning. Kelsey Bogaards led off with a double and came in to score when second baseman Liana Ogata could not catch (error) the throw at first on a sac bunt by Tiffany Howard. The ball rolled into right field allowing Bogaards to score for a 3-0 Auburn lead. Howard took second on the play.
Estell followed with a single to left that moved Howard to third. On the throw to third, Estell raced for second base. Third baseman Taylor Bell threw wildly to second. The ball rolled to the wall in center allowing both runners to score for a 5-0 Auburn lead.
In the top of the fifth, Kilpatrick reached on a one-out single and took second on a single to left by Jordan. Carosone plated both runners with a double to center that made it 7-0. Carosone took third on the throw home and scored on a single to center by Schultze to make it 8-0. The Tigers made it a 10-0 game later in the inning. With two outs and the bases loaded, Bogaards (fielder's choice) came in to score on a wild pitch and Howard raced to third. The throw from the catcher to pitcher Jennifer Jacob covering home was mishandled by Jacob, allowing Howard to score for the 10th run of the game.
In game one, the Tigers scored twice in the top of the eighth and held off a last at-bat rally to defeat Tennessee State 3-2. Auburn improved to 8-0 while TSU dropped to 0-5.
Hilary Mavromat earned the win in relief to improve to 3-0. Mavromat pitched the final two and two-thirds innings allowing one run, unearned, on one hit with one walk. Lexi Davis started and went five and one-third innings allowing one run, earned, on four hits with one walk and three strikeouts.
Olivia Gamache took the loss to fall to 0-2. Gamache allowed three runs, one earned, on five hits with three walks and three strikeouts.
The Tigers jumped to a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning. Emily Carosone reached on a fielder's choice and then stole second base. A single by Austyn West moved Carosone to third with two outs. Kelsey Bogaards followed with a ground ball that shortstop Ashley Haynes backhanded, but was unable to glove for an error which allowed Carosone to score.
Tennessee State tied the game in the bottom of the fifth. Kacie Daughtery reached on a fielder's choice, which forced the second out of the inning. After a wild pitch moved Daughtery to second, Tayler Shimizu brought her home with a single to right to even the game at 1-1.
After a one-out single in the bottom of the sixth Davis was pulled for Mavromat. With the go-ahead run at first, Mavromat induced an inning-ending double play to send the game to the top of the seventh.
In the top of the eighth, Bogaards was put at second for the international tiebreaker rule and took third on a wild pitch. Tiffany Howard delivered a single up the middle to plate Bogaards and give Auburn a 2-1 lead. Morgan Estell followed with a double to center to put runners at third and second.
Melero made it 3-1 with a RBI ground out to second which scored Howard and moved Estell to third with one out. Gamache would leave Estell stuck at third, however, as she forced a pair of ground outs to end the inning.
In the bottom of the eighth, Brianna Roberts was placed at second and took third on a wild pitch. Daughtery then drilled a pitch to center for a single to score Roberts and make it a 3-2 game. A sac bunt by Shimizu pushed Daughtery to second with one out.
A walk to pinch-hitter Kate Morris put runners at second and first. Kiarra Freeman, who was lifted for Morris, was then put back in to run at first. Jennifer Givens chopped into a fielder's choice which forced Daughtery out a third for the second out of the inning, but moved Freeman to second. Mavromat, however, put an end to the rally by forcing Ashley Haynes to pop out to Carosone at third base for the final out of the game.