Auburn's Tiffany Howard makes dream catch in World Series

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June 8, 2016

By Charles Goldberg
AuburnTigers.com

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - Victoria Draper, a College World Series walking ESPN highlight reel, knows great catches when she sees them.

She definitely saw one in teammate Tiffany Howard's home-run-robbing over-the-wall catch that helped Auburn beat Oklahoma 11-7 in the College World Series on Tuesday night to set up a winner-take-all national championship game at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

"This is my BEST FRIEND & Left Fielder @tiffhow_youdoin at No. 1 on ESPN Top Plays! #WarEagle #WCWS," Draper happily tweeted late into Tuesday night with a video of Howard's catch.

Draper's credentials to talk about such things?

Her spectacular diving catch in Auburn's College World Series win over Florida State on Sunday night earned her the top spot on ESPN's Plays of the Night.

Emily Carosone's walk-off grand slam provided the dramatics Tuesday, but it was Howard that set it up when she stole a two-run homer in the sixth with the game tied 7-7. That turned the Internet upside down. Her bloop hit in the eighth, her fourth hit of the game, would help set the stage for Carosone's grand slam.

Just about the only thing Tiffany Howard forgot to do was turn off her cell phone.

You could hear all the congratulatory phone calls and/or text messages coming in during Auburn's post-game press conference.

"I apologize," Howard laughed.


Teammate Rachael Walters was most appreciative of the catch. She was the Auburn pitcher when the ball left the bat.

"I owe Tiffany like a million steak dinners," Walters said. "She has pet rats. I've said they
can stay in my room."

Howard and Carosone were all over the ESPN. The catch will go down in the World Series books.

"I've literally dreamed that my entire life. I'm not even kidding I dreamed that exact picture and everything," Howard said. "We've worked on it so much. I'm talking about we would have bruises on our arms working on the wall in practice, so we've done it a gazillion times, so I knew if I could find the wall and get up and put a glove on it, I knew I could catch it."


Third baseman Kasey Cooper saw Howard go up and knew what was next.

"We get to see that every day in practice," Cooper said. "She went up for it, all of Oklahoma's fans started cheering because they thought it was over. I see her put a glove on it, and so I'm jumping up and down going 'she just robbed this. This is our game and this was meant to be.'"

"We were so proud of Tiffany because she's a senior, just like nine other people on the team, and tomorrow is it. What a moment to leave with because that's a moment she'll never forget, and we could not be more proud."



Charles Goldberg is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @AUGoldMine