March 28, 2015
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Box Score | Softball Schedule| COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The No. 8 Auburn softball team suffered its first loss in conference play this season when it fell to No. 20 Missouri, 5-4, in eight innings Saturday night in Columbia, Mo. Auburn fought off two Missouri comebacks after leading through four innings, but starting pitcher Rachael Walters could not finish out the eighth, giving up the walk-off two-run home run to Kelsea Roth.
Walters tossed one of her more complete games of the season Saturday night, going 7.1 innings and striking out a season-high nine, but gave up five earned runs on nine hits to be saddled with her first loss of the season. Walters now is 12-1 on the season.
Auburn fought off two Missouri comebacks in the game and looked to be on its way to its second extra-inning win of the year after redshirt sophomore Haley Fagan delivered her 10th home run of the season in the top of the eighth to break a 3-3 tie.
With the score 4-3 in favor of Auburn, Walters was sent back to the circle to try and finish her season-long outing in the bottom of the eighth. Missouri put a runner on with a lead-off single and then got the walk-off from Roth two batters later.
The defeat drops Auburn's overall record to 34-4 on the year and 7-1 in the Southeastern Conference. Missouri ups its record to 22-6 and 5-3 in the conference. Missouri starting pitcher Tori Finucane picked up her 11th win to move to 11-5, finishing with eight strikeouts.
The loss also breaks a streak of seven-straight conference wins Auburn had coming into Saturday. That total matched the program-high of seven-straight set in 2008.
Auburn only had five hits in the game, three from the home run ball. Redshirt sophomore Haley Fagan had her second-straight multi-hit game and hit her 10th home run of the season. She's 6-for-7 in the series with two home runs.
Auburn led 2-0 through the first four innings after the two-run home run by sophomore Kasey Cooper in the third. Cooper rocketed her 12th home run of the season well over the right field wall to push her team ahead.
The long ball was her 12th of the season, which is third-most on the squad, but Missouri cut that lead in half in the bottom of the fourth with a home run of its own, a solo shot from Sami Fagan to make it 2-1.
Missouri tied it up in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI double by Emily Crane, her only hit of the night to complete the first comeback of the game, but Auburn was determined to not let the lead get away that easily.
After a scoreless sixth from both teams, Auburn got a lift from its nine-hole hitter in the top of the seventh, freshman Carlee Wallace. Wallace, who was 0-2 at the time, made good connection on a Finucane pitch and barely cleared the left field wall for her seventh home run of the year. The long ball gave Auburn the 3-2 lead, only needing three outs in the bottom half to win the game.
Before Wallace's home run, Auburn's six through nine hitters were 0-for-10 with a hit by pitch in the game. The Wallace long-ball was her first since March 15 against Ole Miss and was her only hit Saturday night.
Unfortunately, Missouri wasn't finished either. Bringing in pinch hitter Jordan Zolman to lead off the bottom of the seventh, the move paid off as Zolman doubled off the centerfield wall to put a runner on second with nobody out.
Walters, who had gotten out of multiple jams already on Saturday, got the first out on a sacrifice bunt by Natalie Fleming, which moved the runner to third. Taylor Gadbois then single a soft ground toward second base. Emily Carosone thought about going home with it, but decided against it and couldn't get the throw to first in time. The run scored for Missouri to tie the game at 3-3.
Walters did respond with a fly out and a strikeout to end the frame, but the damage had been done as Missouri forced Auburn's second extra-inning game of the season.
Auburn and Missouri will take the field for the rubber game on Sunday at 12 p.m. in Columbia, Mo. The game will be televised 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.