March 11, 2015
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Box Score | Softball Schedule| TROY, Ala. - On a night when Auburn's offense didn't have much going for them, the Auburn pitching staff picked up the slack. The No. 12 Auburn softball team defeated Troy, 2-0, Wednesday night, winning its' second game in a row and upping its' overall record to 26-2.
It was the second time Auburn defeated Troy this season and the third time in its last four meetings. The only non-win coming in last year's season-opening tie.
After the Tigers took an early 2-0 lead in the first inning over Troy, starting pitcher Rachael Walters ran into some trouble in the third and the Auburn coaching staff decided to make a change. Out of the bullpen, junior Marcy Harper not only got out of the third inning jam to keep the shutout alive, but tossed a scoreless five innings the rest of the way, picking up her sixth victory of the season.
During her performance, Harper gave up only two hits and walked one while striking out five. It was only Harper's third outing with five or more strikeouts this season. Harper has now won two of her last three outings.
As for Walters, making her ninth start of the year, the junior didn't have a terrible outing, making it into the third inning, while only giving up two hits. In the bottom of the third, Walters gave up a leadoff double, followed by a walk to bring the heart of Troy's lineup to the plate with nobody out and a chance to take the lead. That prompted the change for Harper.
On the offensive side for the Tigers, both of their runs came in the top of the first inning on a 2 RBI double by redshirt sophomore Haley Fagan. After Emily Carosone reached on a bunt single, followed by a walk to Kasey Cooper, Fagan laced a two-out pitch off the centerfield wall, missing the home run by a couple of feet.
Fagan finished the game 2-for-3 with a double and a single, her eighth multi-hit game of the season. Only three other hits were tallied for Auburn on Wednesday, one each from the top three of its lineup. The five hits ties for its lowest total this season, the previous time coming against USF (2/22) in the USF Wilson/DeMarini Classic.
Auburn stays on the road this weekend as it opens Southeastern Conference play at Ole Miss starting on Saturday. The three-game series will run through Monday with two of the games televised nationally on ESPNU and the SEC Network. Saturday's game one is slated for a 6 p.m. start. Sunday's game will be at 4:30 p.m. on ESPNU and Monday's game will also be at 6 p.m. on the SEC Network.
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.