Oct. 2, 2016
Photo Gallery | Intrasquad Box Score
AUBURN, Ala. - Over 40 former players from the Auburn softball program and their families made their way back to The Plains for Alumni Weekend, Sept. 30-Oct. 2.
After attending festivities on Friday and watching the home football win on Saturday, alumni of the program put an end to the weekend in style with a slowpitch softball game on Sunday.
Alums were split into two teams and showed they each had plenty left in the tank. The Alumni Orange squad took the decision, 13-9. The two teams combined for four home runs, including two by 2016 graduate Jade Rhodes.
"It feels great and I feel kind of old," said Rhodes. "At the same time, it's great to be back on The Plains and to see everyone. Even the older people who were here years ago are back and it's just great to be here."
Former Tigers made a bevy of outstanding defensive plays in the field, including a catch by Marcy Harper ('16) at the wall in left field, a diving snare in center field by Katie (Colton) Jackson (`11) and a catch in foul territory into the side netting by Maris Medina (`14).
"We love [the alumni game] and coming back to Auburn," stated Medina. "It's always a great reason for all of us to get back together because we're all living all over the place now. It's just a fun time and we all have a good time with it. We really enjoying being back and we're thankful Coach Myers has put this all together for us."
Nearly 30 minutes after the conclusion of the alumni game, the 2016-17 Tigers put their talents on display in an intrasquad scrimmage with the roster split into Team Blue and Team Orange.
Both squads worked their way through nine-plus innings on the diamond with defense and pitching stealing the show, despite hard hit balls by the offense.
One of the country's top incoming classes got their first dose of Auburn softball as Kaitlyn Crocker, Carmyn Greenwood, Breanna Gutierrez, Laney Joyner, Brittany Maresette, Samantha Moore, Alexa Nemeth, Justus Perry, Alyssa Rivera, Ashlee Swindle and Kennedy Ward each made their debut on Jane B. Moore Field in front of a public audience.
Greenwood, Maresette and Rivera tallied the opening three hits of the game through the first five innings.
The first run of the game came for Team Orange in the sixth inning when Greenwood laced a triple to left and scored Casey McCrackin.
Team Blue responded in the top of the 10th when Morgan Podany smacked a home run and Kasey Cooper put an RBI double into the gap to send Team Blue to a 2-1 victory.
Jenna Abbott, Kaylee Carlson and Makayla Martin combined for 7.0 scoreless innings with four hits and two strikeouts to lead the pitching staff.
"I thought today was a good day," said head coach Clint Myers. "I thought the defense was outstanding. We missed two balls, but the pitchers threw strikes, we walked four people in 20 innings and that's a pretty good ratio.
"If you look at the number of ground balls that we fielded, the double plays that we turned and the number of fly balls that we didn't hit, offensively we were in pretty good shape. For the first intrasquad game, I thought we did a good job."
Auburn will return to the practice field and will host a pair of open practices on Tuesday and Wednesday at 3 p.m. before welcoming an opponent in a different jersey for the first time during the fall slate on Oct. 15. The Tigers are set to face Mississippi Gulf Coast CC and Wallace State CC-Dothan, at 2:30 p.m. and 5 p.m., respectively.