April 11, 2015
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COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Looking for its fifth-straight conference series victory on Saturday, the No. 6 Auburn softball team had some early trouble in its double-header with No. 23 Texas A&M, losing the first game, 12-4 in five innings. The team bounced back in a good way in game two, winning 12-4, with the help of home runs from Jade Rhodes and Branndi Melero.
Saturday's win moves the Auburn record to 40-6 on the year and 12-3 in conference play. It's the second-straight season that Auburn has won 40 or more games and fifth time in program history. The 12 conference wins is one more than all of last season and the most since the 2012 season (12).
Melero hit two long balls in the second game, including one big grand slam in the seventh to put Auburn up eight. Melero finished the game 3-for-5 with seven RBI and two home runs, one being a grand slam. The seven RBI ties the season-high for RBI in a game by an Auburn player and Melero becomes the fourth player with a multi-home run game this season.
Auburn was able to rebound from its first run-rule loss of the season to score eight runs in game two and also enduring three rain delays. Â Saturday's second game of the double-header was scheduled for Sunday, but the weather was expected to not be good, forcing the game to be moved to Saturday.
A&M had the 3-1 lead in the second game after three innings as Auburn's only run came in the top of the first. Having to play from behind for the second time today, the Tigers' bats woke up as they rattled off three runs in the fourth inning, two in the fifth, two in the sixth and four in the seventh.
Junior Rachael Walters picked up her 15th win of the season, second of the series to lead the Tigers. She threw her second-straight complete game, giving up only the four runs on six hits.
The Tigers, who were held homerless on Friday, got the long ball when they needed it on Saturday, but those weren't the runs that pushed Auburn ahead and the eventual win in the finale. Jenna Abbott brought around a run on a no out double before the game was tied at 3-3 on a sacrifice fly.
Auburn took the lead for the final time, scoring on a wild pitch with two outs in the fourth, paving the way for the next eight runs that the Tigers brought across.
In proper Auburn softball fashion, Rhodes hit her 17th home run of the season in the top of the fifth with Melero on base to push Auburn's lead to 6-3. Rhodes is now back tied with Carosone for the team-lead in home runs, now just one off from tying the Auburn single-season record for home runs in a single-season.
Rhodes went 2-for-4 in the game, both of her RBI off the home run. Five of Auburn's batters in game two completing multi-hit performances. Along with Rhodes, Emily Carosone, Morgan Estell and Carlee Wallace each tallied two hits, facing four different Texas A&M pitchers.
Auburn added two more runs in the top of the sixth with Melero's first home run of the game. She one-upped herself in the seventh, hitting her ninth homer of the year, a grand slam at that. As a team, Auburn has hit 10 grand slams, which easily leads the conference.
There wasn't much to write home about for Auburn in the first game of the double-header. The Tigers actually had the 2-1 lead after two innings, but then gave up 10 runs in the third inning, only getting two back in the fourth on a Carosone home run.
Junior Marcy Harper was saddled with the loss, falling to 8-3 on the season. Harper only made it through two innings, giving up three runs on two hits and striking out two. She was relieved by Lexi Davis in the middle of the third, but Davis could not stop the bleeding, promptly giving up six runs.Â
Auburn returns home next weekend for arguably its biggest series of the year as rival Alabama comes to Jane B. Moore Field for a three-game series starting on Friday at 7:30 p.m. Game two of the series will be on Saturday at 5 p.m., while Sunday's finale will be at 1 p.m. The first two games will be televised on ESPNU. Game three will be on WatchESPN.com.
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.