April 19, 2014
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ATHENS, Ga. - The No. 23/23 Auburn softball team dropped both games of its double-header with No. 13/17 Georgia Saturday afternoon, 11-2 in five innings in game one and 8-4 in game two. The losses are the team's eighth and ninth in its last 10 games and is its ninth-straight conference loss.
Auburn falls to 32-14-1 on the year overall and 6-11 in Southeastern Conference play. Much of the Tigers' offense on Saturday came by the way of the long ball as four home runs combined were hit in both games. It wasn't enough as Georgia played its own version of long ball, hitting six home runs through both games and winning by a combined 13 runs. Both losses for Auburn were its biggest this season as its previous 12 losses before Saturday were by three runs or less.
Highlighting the Orange and Blue offensively were juniors Branndi Melero and McKenzie Kilpatrick in game two as both had multi-hit games, Melero finishing game two, three-for-three with two RBI, one coming off a solo home run in the third inning, her 11th of the year.
Kilpatrick tallied her sixth multi-hit game of the season as she went 2-for-4 with one RBI and one run scored. Both the RBI and the run came off her own solo home run in the top of the sixth, her seventh long ball of the year. At that point in the game, the home run pulled Auburn within two runs.
AU later made it a one run game after Melero delivered with a two-out single, scoring sophomore Tiffany Howard to make it 5-4. Auburn couldn't tie it in the half inning, which allowed Georgia to respond with three insurance runs in the bottom half of the sixth to take the 8-4 lead into the final inning for the victory.
Sophomore Marcy Harper started the second game in the circle for the Tigers, but suffered a rough start in the early going, giving up three runs in the first inning and two in the second. However, Harper settled in nicely after the second, throwing three-straight scoreless innings to keep Auburn within striking distance. Unfortunately, Harper gave up three runs in the sixth inning and was pulled for Lexi Davis after the damage had been done.
Harper finished the game with 5.1 innings pitched, giving up eight earned runs on 11 hits and seven walks with three strikeouts.
In game one, Georgia took the lead early and continued to score, putting 10 runs on the board through the first three innings. Davis started game one and was relieved after only 2.1 innings, giving up six earned runs on six hits with five walks. The outing by Davis was her shortest outing of a start this season with her previous low of three innings coming against Missouri last weekend.
Auburn didn't get a run in game one until the fifth inning when sophomore Jade Rhodes hit her seventh home run of the year in her first game back after not playing in the previous four games. Rhodes' homer was one of only three Auburn hits in the first game as Georgia pitcher Chelsea Wilkinson stymied the Auburn bats giving up only one hit over five innings and no runs. Wilkinson was relieved by Bekah Farris in the top of the fifth, but after giving up two runs and not recording an out, Wilkinson was brought back in to finish the job.
The Tigers and Bulldogs will be back on the field to finish the series on Sunday at Jack Turner Stadium with first pitch slated for 1 p.m. CST. The game can be heard locally on WEGL 91.1 and online on AuburnTigers.com with Brit Bowen on the call. Live stats will also be available 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.