April 13, 2013
Knoxville, Tenn. - Tennessee scored four of its six runs with two outs while pitcher Ivy Renfroe limited the Auburn softball team to one run on four hits in a 6-1 victory over the Tigers Saturday afternoon.
Auburn's record dropped to 25-17 overall and 6-11 in the Southeastern Conference. Tennessee improved to 37-6 overall and 11-3 in the SEC. The teams conclude the series Sunday at 12:30 p.m. CT.
"We couldn't get out of a couple innings and Tennessee was able to take advantage," Auburn head coach Tina Deese said. "We had some chances to put a few more runs up but they were able to make the pitches and get the outs when they had to."
Marcy Harper started and took the loss to fall to 15-7. Harper allowed six runs, all earned, on eight hits with four walks and four strikeouts in four and one-third innings of work.
Ivy Renfroe improved to 15-3 with the complete-game win. Renfroe allowed one run, earned, on four hits with one walk with four strikeouts.
The Lady Vols got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third. Tory Lewis walked with one out and moved to second on a wild pitch. With a runner in scoring position, Harper picked up the second out when Raven Chavanne flied out to left field. On a 2-2 pitch, Kat Dotson hit a fly ball that hit on top of the fence in left field and bounced back into play for a double. Lewis scored on the play the give the Lady Vols a 1-0 lead. Lauren Gibson followed with a hard-hit single through the right side that scored Dotson, giving Tennessee a 2-0 lead.
Auburn scored its only run in the fourth. Emily Carosone picked up the Tigers' first hit of the day with a leadoff double to right-center. With one out, Branndi Melero hit a slow roller to second base that Gibson allowed to roll under her glove for an error. Carosone rounded third and scored as the ball rolled into right field, making a 2-1 game. After a ground out moved Melero to second, Caitlin Schultze laced a single into centerfield. Melero hit third and attempted to score on the play, but was gunned down at the plate by Lewis to end the inning.
Tennessee responded in the bottom half of the fourth. Shipman led off with a double to center and stole third base. After a pair of pop ups, Davin laced a 2-1 pitch into left field to score Shipman and push the UT lead to 3-1. Hannah Akamine followed with a double off the wall in left to score Davin to make it 4-1.
Auburn loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the fifth. Consecutive singles by Tiffany Howard and Estell was followed by a walk to Carosone. Lathan fell behind 0-2 before working the count full, but Renfroe was able to force a fly out to left to end the inning.
The Lady Vols added to their lead in the fifth. Chavanne led off with a single, stole second and took third on a fly out. Gibson drew a walk and then stole second without a throw. Shipman followed with a single to left that Baylee Stephens lost in the sun. Chavanne scored easily to make it a 5-1 game, while Gibson took third and Shipman took second on the play. A sacrifice fly to center by Cheyanne Tarango plated Gibson to push the UT lead to the final 6-1 margin.