April 22, 2016
AUBURN, Ala. - Auburn's Kasey Cooper hit a walkoff, three-run homer to give the No. 3/2 Tigers a 4-3 win over No 13/12 Georgia on Friday evening at Jane B. Moore Field. With the three RBI swing, the junior from Dothan, Ala. also set the school career RBI total with 210.
"With the game on the line who else would you like to have," head coach Clint Myers said after the game. "Coop is right there. She is going to go up there and battle and give you the best at bat she can. There is no holding back and she did a great job tonight."
The long ball gave the Tigers their first and only lead of the game as they improved to 43-5 on the season and 13-3 in league play while the Bulldogs drop to 37-11 and 9-7. The two teams continue the series tomorrow at 1 p.m. with an ESPNU televised game.
"See ball, hit ball. I wanted to just pass the baton," Cooper said. "The job was to be a snowflake. Be a snowflake means be the snowflake before the avalanche comes. We kept it going. None of us wanted to be the last out and we found a way. It was pretty dramatic. I didn't know if she was camped under it or if it was going to go. I knew when I saw her jump that it was going to be a SportsCenter Top 10 or that we were going to win."
Auburn was batting 1-for-10 with runners on base until the fateful seventh inning rolled around. With two outs, Tiffany Howard beat out an infield single and Emily Carosone contributed a single through the middle to give Cooper a chance. The home run by Cooper was her 16th of the year and ties Jade Rhodes for the team lead.
Georgia scored the first three runs of the game with a two-run homer off Alyssa DiCarlo's bat during the second inning.
The Tigers got a run back in the third care of Howard leading off the inning with a double and advancing to third when the left fielder throw behind her at second base, allowing the speedy senior to take an extra base on the play. The gamble paid off as the next batter Emily Carosone put the ball in play and allowed Howard to score making it 3-1.
Kaylee Carlson (13-0) kept her perfect record intact holding the Georgia offense in check until the Auburn bats found their rhythm. The sophomore found her groove during the third inning retiring the next 13 batters before a Tigers' error and infield single during the seventh broke up her dominant run. Carlson pitched a complete-game throwing two strikeouts and allowing just two earned runs.
Cooper, just a junior, now owns the school career record books in batting average (.414), slugging (.805), on base (.538), home runs (52) and RBI (210).
UP NEXT
Auburn and Georgia play tomorrow on ESPNU at 1 p.m. and close the series Sunday at 4 p.m.