April 27, 2013
Auburn, Ala. - Seniors Baylee Stephens, Caitlin Schultze and Brooke Lathan combined to drive in six runs on Senior Day to lead the Auburn softball team to a doubleheader sweep of Appalachian State Saturday afternoon. Auburn won the first game 9-0 and won game two 10-0, both in five innings.
Auburn improved to 30-20 with the sweep, while Appalachian State dropped to 27-18. The Tigers will next travel to Fayetteville, Ark., for a three-game series against the Razorbacks next weekend.
"This was a good day for our seniors and good day for our team," Auburn head coach Tina Deese said. "We came out and hit well from the start of both games and that was certainly good to see. The team really wanted to come out and play well for our seniors and they did that. It was great to see our seniors driving in runs today and playing well defensively."
In game two, the Tigers scored in every inning to complete the doubleheader sweep with a 10-0 victory.
Hilary Mavromat earned the win in relief to improve to 6-3. Mavromat did not allow a hit or walk while striking out two. Lexi Davis started and went three innings, allowing just one hit with no walks and one strikeout.
Katherine Johnson started and took the loss to fall to 0-2. Johnson allowed nine runs, six earned, on five hits with five walks and three strikeouts in two innings of work.
The Tigers plated six runs in the bottom of the first inning. An Appalachian State error led to the first run of the game. After Morgan Estell walked and stole second, Emily Carosone lofted a pop up behind the bag at second. Meghan Smith allowed the ball to hit off the heel of her glove and hit the ground for an error. As the ball rolled away from Smith, Estell raced home to give Auburn a 1-0 lead.
A wild pitch moved Carosone to third and a single to center by Brooke Lathan brought her home to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead. A pair of walks to Caitlin Schultze and Caitlin Jordan loaded the bases with one out. Baylee Stephens followed with a single back up the middle to plate Lathan and Schultze to push the Tigers' lead to 4-0.
An infield single by Tiffany Howard loaded the bases again, but with two outs. Estell followed with a ground ball back to Johnson who threw wildly to first for an error. Jordan and Stephens each scored on the error which made it a 6-0 game.
In the bottom of the second, Carosone led off with a double and then took third on a ground out to second by Lathan. Following a strikeout of Schultze for the second out, a wild pitch allowed Carosone to cross the plate for a 7-0 Auburn advantage.
Auburn increased its lead in the bottom of the third. Howard led off with a single and took second on an Estell walk. After a strikeout, Jade Rhodes singled through the left side to score Howard and push the lead to 8-0. Estell took third on the play and came in to score one batter later when Lathan hit a sacrifice fly to left, making it 9-0.
Caitlin Jordan made it 10-0 with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the fourth inning. It was Jordan's first home run of the season and would close-out the scoring for the game.
In game one, Emily Carosone tied her season high with four RBI as the Tigers cruised to a 9-0 win in five innings.
Marcy Harper improved to 16-9, setting the Auburn record for wins by a freshman pitcher in the process. Harper allowed just a pair of hits, walked two and struck out six in four innings of work. Hilary Mavromat worked the fifth inning, allowing one hit.
Alissa Schoelkopf started and took the loss to fall to 17-10. Schoelkopf allowed nine runs, eight earned on seven hits with seven walks and three strikeouts in four innings of work.
Auburn pushed five runs across in the bottom of the first. Emily Carosone put the Tigers on the board with a three-run homer that hit off the scoreboard in left-center. It was Carosone's fourth home run of the season and it came on a 3-2 pitch with Morgan Estell (walk) and Branndi Melero (walk) aboard.
Still in the first, Brooke Lathan (walk) and Caitlin Schultze (walk) attempted a double steal. As Lathan slid into third, the throw from catcher Alex Sohl sailed wide and into foul territory, allowing Lathan to score and Schultze to take third. Baylee Stephens followed with a single through the right side to score Schultze and push the Auburn lead to 5-0.
The Tigers increased their lead in the bottom of the second. After a leadoff walk to Estell, Melero crushed her ninth home run of the season to give Auburn a 7-0 lead.
Despite getting a leadoff single from Allie Cashion in the top of the fourth, the Mountaineers would be unable to move a runner into scoring position. Harper forced a fly out, force out and a foul out in consecutive order to end the inning.
Carosone pushed the Auburn lead to 8-0 in the bottom of the fourth with an RBI single that scored Estell from second. Estell singled to open the inning and took second on a walk to Melero. After Carosone stole second to put runners at third and second with one out, Schultze lofted a sacrifice fly to left that scored Melero to give Auburn a 9-0 edge, which would cap the scoring.