May 3, 2013
Fayetteville, Ark. - Arkansas pitcher Kimmy Beasley struck out a career high 15 batters as the Razorbacks defeated Auburn softball 6-0 in the Friday night series opener.
Auburn fell to 30-21 overall and 7-15 in the Southeastern Conference. Arkansas improved to 32-17 overall and 10-10 in the SEC. The teams continue the series with a 1 p.m. game Saturday. Auburn goes into Saturday with a chance to earn a spot in the SEC Tournament still intact, but the Tigers will either be in 11th or 12th place depending on the outcome of the Texas A&M vs. Mississippi State game. South Carolina lost earlier in the day to Florida, 5-0.
"We didn't give ourselves much of a chance to score tonight," Auburn head coach Tina Deese said. "Their pitcher did a really good job keeping us off balance. We didn't get very many good swings against her. We've got to put this behind us and focus on tomorrow."
Marcy Harper started and took the loss to fall to 16-10. Harper went three and two-thirds innings, allowing two runs, both earned, on two hits with four walks and no strikeouts. Hilary Mavromat pitched the final two and one-third innings, allowing four runs, three earned, on three walks, three hits and one strikeout.
Beasley improved to 9-7 with the complete-game shutout. Beasley scattered four hits and walked one in seven innings. Beasley struck out seven of the first nine batters she faced and had 11 strikeouts after five innings of play.
Tiffany Howard led off the top of the fourth with a bunt single, the first hit of the game for either side. Emily Carosone followed with a single up the middle and Howard went first-to-third on the play to put runners on the corners with no outs. Carosone moved into scoring position two pitches later with a stolen base.
After consecutive strikeouts, Caitlin Schultze took ball four on a 3-2 pitch to load the bases with two outs. The Razorbacks were able to work out of the jam, however, on a called third strike of Caitlin Jordan on a 0-2 pitch.
The Razorbacks broke the scoreless tie in the bottom of the fourth. Stephanie Canfield picked up the Razorbacks' first hit with a one-out double. With two outs, Amanda Geile crushed a two-run home run over the fence in right to give Arkansas a 2-0 lead. It was Geile's fourth home run of the season. The home run chased Harper and brought Mavromat in to pitch.
Arkansas broke the game open with a four-run fifth inning. The Razorbacks loaded the bases with one out when Mavromat issued a four-pitch walk to Jennifer Rambo. On the second pitch of the at-bat, Sierra Bronkey laced a double off the wall in center to score Clarisa Navarro (walk) and Chloe Oprzedek (single) to make it a 4-0 game. Stephanie Canfield followed with a ground ball that hit off Kelsey Bogaards' glove at second base for an error, which allowed Rambo and pinch-runner Ashley Martindale to score to give the Razorbacks a 6-0 edge.
Howard led off the top of the sixth with a single to left for the Tigers. Beasley would retire the next two Auburn batters before Branndi Melero reached on a bunt single. With runners at second and first, Beasley fanned Schultze for her 14th strikeout of the game, which ended the inning.
In the top of the seventh, Beasley retired leadoff batter Caitlin Jordan on a pop-up to Bronkey at second base. Beasley picked up her 15th strikeout on Bogaards for the second out of the inning and ended the game when Stephens popped up to Bronkey.