Feb. 8, 2015
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AUBURN, Ala. - The Auburn softball team continued its tear to open the 2015 season Sunday afternoon, defeating Appalachian State, 9-0 in five innings, and Chattanooga, 12-1, also in five innings to claim the Plainsman Invite title and begin its season with a 6-0 record.
As good as the start has been so far, the offense has been the key component to the team's hot start, scoring 67 runs in its first six games, the most by any Auburn team in program history. The record is two more than what the Tigers scored last season (65) through its first six games. Before Auburn head coach Clint Myers arrived, the highest six-game run total to start a season was 64 back in 1998.
"I have a sense that we said all along that this could be a very good team," Myers said. "These six games are a good start, but it is the next 50 that really count. It is not where we start the season it is where we end the season that is most important. Each one of these games gives us a little bit more preparation for the postseason and that is what we got to have. We got to be ready to play in the conference and then into the postseason. These long weekends kind of help us because the postseason can be a little grueling."
Auburn's pitching steadied the boat all day, allowing only one run off a home run ball against Chattanooga in Sunday's game two. Overall, the rotation scattered only nine hits and tallied 15 strikeouts.
Through this opening weekend, the Tiger pitchers of juniors Rachael Walters, Lexi Davis, Marcy Harper and sophomore Jenna Abbott have a combined ERA of 1.87 with half of their wins coming by way of the shutout.
The solid pitching allowed the Auburn offense to give plenty of run support and Sunday's games were no different. Against Appalachian State, it was junior Emily Carosone and sophomore Kasey Cooper, who finished with the big line of 2-for-3 with two RBI. Cooper hit her first home run of the season, the fifth Tiger to do so this year, while Carosone continued her hot start, hitting safely in 9-of-14 plate appearances (.643).
In game two against Chattanooga, the story, once again, was the bat of redshirt sophomore Haley Fagan. The Florida-native went 3-for-4 against the Mocs, good for six RBI, four of which came off the game-winning grand slam. The RBI total is a new career-high for Fagan, as she now has three home runs on the year, two being grand slams.
Fagan is currently leading the squad in home runs (3) and RBI (12), with Carosone not far behind in the RBI category (11), and has performed as expected if you ask Myers.
"We said all along that Haley is going to be a good offensive force for us and she is a competitor," Myers said. "I do not know of anything Haley likes to do more than to play. She goes up there and she has a good time. You see her in the dugout and she's dancing. It is one of those things that she hates to lose. She is in every ballgame and where she is going to play will be a day-to-day experience. She did awfully good tonight at short and she hit the ball well in both games so her bat is going to be there."
Along with Fagan, both Cooper and senior Branndi Melero had multi-RBI games. Cooper went 3-for-4 with three runs scored, while Melero went 2-for-4 with one run scored and two RBI.
In the circle, Davis was masterful again, tossing four great innings, giving up only four hits with no runs or walks and six strikeouts. Davis is now 3-0 on the year through two starts.
"I would have to say we swung the bats pretty darn good this weekend," Myers said. "Everybody through the lineup got some quality at bats today and this weekend. We did not make an error defensively and we had two on the weekend as far as that goes. Defensively, we did pretty well. Pitching got better, defense got better and the hitting was good so it was a good weekend for us."
The Tigers return to the diamond on Thursday for its next tournament, the Tiger Invitational. Auburn's first game will come against Mercer on Thursday, starting at 4 p.m. It'll be another double-header day as it will face Georgia State later that night at 6:30 p.m. Both games will be seen on SEC Network+, which is available only online on the Watch ESPN app or WatchESPN.com.
Fans can order their tickets for this season online at AUBTix.com, over the phone by calling 1-855-282-2010 or in person by visiting the Auburn Arena Ticket Office, which is open 7:45 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday-Friday. Tickets are still available for the full season, pick-six mini-packs and individual games.
For more information on Auburn softball, visit AuburnTigers.com, follow the team on Twitter @Auburn_Softball or follow them on Facebook at Facebook.com/AuburnSoftball.