March 4, 2017 AUBURN, Ala. - The No. 2 Auburn softball team put together a complete day on the diamond by defeating College of Charleston, 14-0, and Texas State, 8-1. The Tigers (18-2) racked up 25 hits, including four doubles and three home runs, in the Wilson/DeMarini Classic Saturday sweep at Jane B. Moore Field.
"This team has the capability to score lots of runs," said head coach Clint Myers. "We just can't wait until the sixth and seventh innings to do it. In that sixth inning [against Texas State], there were some balls tattooed.
"It's starting to gel. We've just got to figure out ways to get better."
Alyssa Rivera led the attack with a 5-for-6 showing that included one home run and a double. She also scored a team-high three runs on the day.
Kendall Veach and Carlee Wallace followed that up with three hits each and combined for six RBI.
On the other side, the pitching trio of Jenna Abbott, Kaylee Carlson and Makayla Martin were masterful in the circle and allowed only four hits in 12 innings of work, while totaling 13 strikeouts.
Abbott also provided the heroics at the plate as she amassed four RBI on two hits, including what proved to be the game-winner against the Bobcats.
In total, 13 different players tallied a hit and the same number crossed the plate at least once between the two contests.
In the first game against the Cougars (8-7), Auburn asserted its dominance from the opening at bat. The Tigers scored seven runs as the designated road squad and never looked back.
With the bases loaded in the first, Veach took a 3-1 pitch and drilled a two-run double to the right-center that gave Auburn the lead. Madi Gipson recorded an RBI groundout and Courtney Shea flared a run-scoring single to right to make it 4-0.
Rivera then stepped to the dish and delivered a two-run double. Later on, Wallace - in her second at bat of the inning - smacked a single to left for another RBI and gave the Tigers a 7-0 lead.
That was all Carlson needed in the circle as she cruised to her 10th win of 2017 after tossing three scoreless frames to go along with three strikeouts.
Haley Fagan roped an RBI single in the third, while a Rivera roundtripper and an Abbott run-scoring hit in the fourth extended the Auburn lead to 10-0.
In the fifth, Justus Perry and Morgan Podany reached by way of a single and a walk, respectively. Shea notched her second RBI of the game with a single through the right side. The next batter, Brittany Maresette, tallied her first career hit on a run-scoring single that mirrored Shea's base knock.
Bree Fornis capped the scoring with an infield single that scored one and made it 14-0. Ashlee Swindle tossed the final two frames in relief to close out the victory.
In the nightcap, the bats were quiet early but busted out in a big way against Texas State (13-4).
Martin got the nod and worked the first three frames at a near perfection level, striking out six in the process.
The Bobcats hit a home run in the top of the fourth - the first dinger Auburn had surrendered in 2017 - to take a 1-0 lead.
The score changed in the home half of the fifth when Fagan laced a two-out, RBI triple to right field to knot the game up at 1-1.
Things began to unravel in the sixth. KK Crocker and Podany reached base from walks, while Rivera beat out an infield single to load the bases with no outs.
Abbott was then summoned as a pinch-hitter and she delivered. She took the first pitch she saw and flared a two-run double to right-center and start a big inning at the plate.
Victoria Draper picked up an RBI on a grounder to second base and Wallace added a sacrifice fly to make it 5-1 in favor of the Tigers.
Kasey Cooper then destroyed a ball over the centerfield wall for a solo homer. Two batters later, Veach drilled a two-run shot to left and end one of the biggest innings of the season at the plate.
Carlson came on and worked a clean seventh, guiding Auburn to its fourth victory of the weekend.
The Tigers close out the Wilson/DeMarini Classic at Jane B. Moore Field Sunday afternoon against the College of Charleston at 1 p.m.
