Feb. 26, 2015
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AUBURN, Ala. - It wasn't the quickest of starts that fans have gotten used to seeing of the No. 16 Auburn softball team, but the Tigers found a way to win Thursday night, 6-2, over Texas State, to open the Wilson/DeMarini Classic on a high note.
Both teams had matched each other blow for blow through the first four and a half innings. In the bottom of the fifth with the game tied at two, sophomore Kasey Cooper broke that tie with a solo home run to straight-away centerfield, giving Auburn (18-1) the boost it needed to pull ahead for the four-run victory.
In the circle, junior Rachael Walters was coming off her strong weekend in Tampa and turned in another great performance with six strong innings, giving up only two earned runs off a home run, two hits, one walk and another five strikeouts. In six of her 11 appearances this year, Walters has struck out five batters. She currently has 38 strikeouts on the year.
"Great teams figure out ways to win and that is what we did," Auburn head coach Clint Myers said. "If you can keep adding to the lead it makes a statement that our offense is good all the way through. Do I think we swung the bats really well? No, but we did figure out ways to score runs."
The home run was Cooper's only hit of the night, but she also had two walks in the game, part of a seven-walk game for the Tigers.
Auburn only had five hits in the game, with freshman Courtney Shea coming away with the good line of 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored. It's Shea's fourth multi-hit game of the season, fifth-most on the team.
In the fifth, after Cooper's home run gave Auburn the 3-2 lead, She came through with some heads up base running, beating out a swinging bunt that bounced right in front of the pitcher's circle. The base hit scored Kelsey Bogaards from third and gave Auburn a 4-2 lead.
"Courtney Shea's swinging bunt really worked," Myers said. "She gets a hit out of it and we get an RBI because she makes contact. With the way we run the bases, we're aggressive. Good teams find ways to win and we did that tonight."
The five hits Thursday ties for Auburn's lowest in a game this season, matching only the five hits garnered against USF last week. Auburn's first runs of the game also didn't come until the third inning, marking only the third game this year that the Tigers haven't scored in the first frame.
In that third inning, Auburn was able to put runners on second and third with only one out and ended up scoring Tiffany Howard on a wild pitch. Texas State's starting pitcher, Randi Rupp, had been cruising until that run came across and then walked the next two batters to load the bases.
Redshirt sophomore Haley Fagan came up with the big sacrifice fly in the next at-bat to score Carosone and push Auburn ahead 2-0 for the game's first lead. Fagan finished the game 0-for-2 with the lone RBI.
The Bobcats tied the game up in the top of the fifth after a two-run home run by catcher Sara Rupp, the first mistake pitch from Walters all night. But, Cooper didn't let that tie last with her fifth homer of the year in the bottom half, her third homer in the last two games.
"I think you are going to see games like this all weekend long," Myers said. "This team (Texas State) was 10-6 coming in and they go up there and swing it. Their hitters had quality at bats and their pitchers struck out a whole bunch of us because we were not patient and stayed in the zone. We are going to see that kind of pitching and we are going to see that kind of hitting all weekend long so we are going to have to go out and perform better."
Auburn will return to the field tomorrow for the second day of the Wilson/DeMarini Classic, facing Ohio State at 5 p.m. at Jane B. Moore Field. There will be five total games on Friday with UConn and SIUE kicking things off at 10 a.m.
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.