Feb. 23, 2014
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Box Score | AUBURN, Ala. - The Auburn softball team, once again, took an early lead and didn't let up as it defeated Purdue, 8-0, in five innings to move to 13-1-1 on the year. The win is Auburn's 10th-straight since defeating Tennessee Tech on Feb. 9 and is its sixth run-rule victory this season.
Sophomore Lexi Davis earned her seventh win of the year, throwing a complete five innings, striking out three and giving up only one walk. The Auburn pitching staff has been stellar to start the 2014 campaign, striking out 61 batters during the 10-win streak and walking only 18.
"We're getting better," Auburn head coach Clint Myers said. "We're getting to the part of the schedule where it's going to be a little tougher and we have to get ourselves ready to play with conference starting in two weeks."
The top of Auburn's lineup produced all of Auburn's eight runs on Sunday. The top four of sophomore Emily Carosone, redshirt junior Morgan Estell, freshman Kasey Cooper and junior Branndi Melero went a combined 8-for-9 (.889) against the Boilermakers with Cooper bringing home the big RBI total (4), tying a season-high. Two of those RBIs came off one swing of Cooper's, her fourth home run of the year, giving Auburn the 8-0 lead in the fourth it needed to get the run-rule win.
The Tigers started the game reaching their first four batter on base by way of a hit by pitch, base on balls and then singles by Cooper and Melero. The single by Melero brought in the second and third runs of the game and gave Auburn a much needed boost to start the game.
As Davis continued to throw well in the circle, her teammates continued to swing the bats well. Three more runs came in for the Orange and Blue in the bottom of the second. Sophomore Kelsey Bogaards started off the frame with her ninth hit of the season. She was brought in to score two batters later after a double by Carosone to push the lead to 4-0 over Purdue.
Carosone later scored on a Purdue error before Cooper brought home Estell on a sacrifice fly to make it 5-0 in favor of Auburn after two innings.
The Tigers capped the game with Cooper's long ball in the fourth. The home run now ties her for the team-lead as Melero and McKenzie Kilpatrick are the only other Auburn players with four home runs this year.
"It doesn't matter who you play, it's how you play," Myers said. "We have to go out and play good defense, get good pitching and have timely hitting. We have to work on the consistency of all three of those. If we go out and take care of business, it doesn't matter who we play, it's how we play and that's what we're going to be working on these next couple of weeks."
Auburn returns to the field Wednesday when it faces 10th-ranked Florida State at Jane B. Moore Field. The contest will be Auburn's first against a ranked opponent this season and second against an opponent that has been ranked at some point this season (Notre Dame). First pitch against the Seminoles is slated for 5 p.m.
All Auburn games can be heard locally on WEGL 91.1 or online at AuburnTigers.com. Live video and live stats will also be available on AuburnTigers.com.
All home games at Jane B. Moore Field this year will require a purchased ticket unless otherwise specified. All ticket information can be found here on AuburnTigers.com.
For more information on Auburn softball, visit AuburnTigers.com, follow the team on Twitter @AuburnTigersSB or follow them on Facebook at Facebook.com/AuburnSB.