March 15, 2014
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AUBURN, Ala. - Sophomore Marcy Harper pitched her second-straight no-hitter Saturday in a 22-0 win over Savannah State in five innings. The win was Auburn's third of the War Eagle Classic and third straight no-hitter as a team. Harper pitched a five-inning complete game, walking one and striking out six.
Harper had a no-hitter on Friday in a 9-0 win over Radford in five innings, the first of her career. Her teammate, Lexi Davis, followed it up with a no-hitter of her own against IPFW, the first back-to-back no-hitters for Auburn since 2004.
Davis couldn't make it four-straight no-hitters in Saturday's game against Ball State, but still picked up her 11th win in a complete five-inning, four-strikeout performance. The Auburn offense continued to provide plenty of run support with Davis in the circle, winning 15-3 to move to 24-4-1 on the year.
Over both games on Saturday, freshman Kasey Cooper went 5-for-6 with eight RBI combined, seven coming against Ball State. The seven RBI for Cooper was a career-high, besting her previous high of four against Purdue last month. The four hits against the Cardinals was also a new career-high for Cooper, as she paced the Tiger offense to its fifth-straight run-rule victory and 17th win in six innings or less.
Cooper's seven RBI was the most for an Auburn player in one game since Holly Currie had seven against Miami (Ohio) in 2009. The seven RBI are second-most to the Auburn all-time record for RBI in a game, held by Currie, who plated 10 against Alabama State in 2005.
Redshirt junior Morgan Estell also joined Cooper with a perfect 4-for-4 game against Ball State. The four hits for her is a new season-high and tied her career-high set against Troy last season.
Auburn left just 12 runners on base, six in each game. The Tigers also hit their fifth and sixth grand slams of the season. In game one against Savannah State, sophomore Maria Mitchell uncorked her second home run of the year with the bases juiced, part of the eight run fifth inning that finished off the 22 run, 19 hit barrage against Savannah State.
The 22 runs scored by the Tigers was the most scored in a single game this season and third-most scored in Auburn history. The Auburn record still stands at 26 runs scored against Florida A&M in 1999. 18 Auburn players also recorded at least one at-bat in the Savannah State contest, the most the team has had in any game this season.
In that same game, Auburn scored 11 runs in the second inning after scattering 12 hits. The output is the second time this year that AU has scored 11 runs in one frame (4th inning vs. Maryland) and the third-most scored in one inning, all-time.
In game two against Ball State, scored right off the bat, again, scoring one off a bases loaded walk to junior Branndi Melero. The run marked Auburn's 23rd game this season that it has scored first, with 21 of those games going in the win column.
The Tigers tacked on 14 more runs over the next three innings, including a four-run second inning that got a big boost off the bat from Cooper. With the bases-loaded, Cooper went opposite way for the second-straight game and hit her eighth home run of the year, second grand slam of the season.
Auburn will be back on the field tomorrow for one more game of the War Eagle Classic. It will take on Alabama A&M at 1 p.m. The day's first game will feature IPFW and Radford at 9 a.m. A full schedule for this weekend's War Eagle Classic can be found here.
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. Live stats for all games this weekend will also be available online.
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.