March 29, 2015
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COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Junior Emily Carosone hit her fifth grand slam of the season Sunday afternoon to break a 4-4 tie in the seventh inning helping No. 8 Auburn softball take the final game of the series with No. 20 Missouri, 10-8.
Auburn and Missouri were locked in a back-and-forth battle until the seventh inning when Auburn unloaded for six runs to take a 10-4 lead. Four of the runs came off the Carosone slam and then sophomore Kasey Cooper added a solo home run in the next at-bat for good measure, giving the Tigers plenty of insurance runs heading to the bottom of the inning.
Carosone finished the game 3-for-4 with four RBI off the grand slam, while Cooper was 2-for-4 with two RBI. Carosone is now tied with teammate Jade Rhodes with 15 home runs on the year. Cooper is just two behind with 13 and both totals rank in the top-three in the Southeastern Conference.
"Taking the series on the road at a place like Missouri is huge," Auburn head coach Clint Myers said. "You can end up in a pretty good position if you can win all your series. The key on the road, if you can take two of three from anybody, that's a pretty good feeling. I thought we played well all weekend long. The energy was good today. We have to keep moving forward and keep improving. Our best softball still lies ahead of us."
The win on Sunday secures Auburn's third-straight SEC series victory moving its conference record to 7-1 and 35-4 overall on the season. The conference record is still best in the league and best start by any Auburn team.
Junior Lexi Davis picked up the victory, her 13th of the year, even while only throwing to one batter in the sixth inning. With the game tied at 4-4, junior Rachael Walters, who had relieved starter Marcy Harper in the fourth, was pulled with two runners on and two outs. Davis was called to shut the door and she did so, striking out pinch hitter Morgan Walters to hold the tie and strand two Missouri runners.
That strikeout carried heavy momentum into the next half inning when Auburn got the grand slam from Carosone and the home run from Cooper.
With Missouri reliever and Saturday's winning pitcher, Tori Finucane, in the circle, Auburn had been held in check for the previous two innings. However, the team was able to put its first three batters on base, drawing two walks and getting a single from Morgan Estell.
Freshman Carlee Wallace broke the tie by hitting a grounder deep into the shortstop's territory. The throw home from short for the force was high pulling Missouri catcher, Kirsten Mack, off the plate, allowing Jade Rhodes to slide under safely, giving Auburn the go-ahead 5-4 lead.
With the bases still loaded, the Carosone and Cooper long balls gave Auburn all the insurance it needed to build up a 10-4 lead.
Missouri tried to mount a comeback in the bottom half of the seventh, scoring four runs off Walters, who had returned to try and finish the game with the big Auburn lead, but the three-run home run by Jordan Zolman was not enough as Auburn finally secured the roller coaster victory.
Along with Carosone and Cooper, Estell also finished with a multi-hit performance, going 2-for-4 with two runs scored, her ninth multi-hit game of the season.
As a team, Auburn has hit 75 home runs this year, six just coming this weekend. With Sunday's slam, Auburn has hit nine grand slams as a team, five coming off the bat of Carosone.
For the first time this weekend, redshirt sophomore Haley Fagan went hitless, going 0-for-4, but doesn't tarnish the series she had. Against Missouri this weekend, Fagan had six hits, three for extra bases and two home runs.Â
Auburn returns to Jane B. Moore Field next weekend when Tennessee ascends on The Plains for the Tigers' fourth SEC series of the year. Game one is slated for Thursday at 6 p.m. and game two will be on Friday, also at 6 p.m. Both game are slated to be televised on WatchESPN.com. Saturday's series finale will be on the SEC Network, with first pitch slated for 3:30 p.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.