April 15, 2017
AUBURN, Ala. - The No. 7 Auburn softball team plated four runs in the fourth inning to guide a 5-4 victory against Missouri Saturday night. The orange and blue Tigers (35-7, 9-5 SEC) evened the series behind a strong outing from Makayla Martin and three RBI from Carlee Wallace.
"It was a good team win," said head coach Clint Myers. "We had some key people really step up tonight.
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"We outhit [Missouri]. We hit a few balls right on the button and had some nice hits from some different people."
Auburn boasted nine base knocks from six sources, including two-hit games from Kasey Cooper, Carmyn Greenwood and Alyssa Rivera. Wallace paced the team with three RBI on one swing - a triple in the fourth.
Haley Fagan and Courtney Shea completed the attack with one hit apiece.
In the circle, Makayla Martin tallied her 15th win of the 2017 campaign behind a complete game, allowing just two earned runs and notching four strikeouts in the seven-inning contest.
Missouri (24-17, 5-8) took the lead in the second inning when it scored two runs on an error with two outs.
The road team then extended its lead to 3-0 with an RBI triple in the fourth.
Auburn completely flipped the ballgame in the home half of the fourth frame by scoring four runs on three hits. All four players that reached base in the stanza crossed the plate.
Greenwood and Shea opened the inning with consecutive singles to put runners on the corners. Jenna Abbott, following suit from her pinch-hit appearance in Friday night's tilt, drew a four-pitch walk to load the bases.
Wallace then ripped a 3-1 pitch to the right-center gap to clear the bases and tie the game with a triple. Two pitches later, the Alpine, Calif. native scored on a wild pitch to give Auburn a 4-3 lead.
In the sixth, the home squad upped its margin to two when Fagan drilled a single through the left side of the infield to score Draper. Auburn led 5-3 heading to the seventh.
Missouri drew consecutive walks to begin its final chance at the dish. Following consecutive groundouts, the bases became loaded with an intentional walk.
Missouri beat out an infield single to score one run, but the awareness from Kendall Veach proved to be the difference as the sophomore caught a runner rounding third and she was eventually tagged out by Cooper to end the game, 5-4.
The rubber game of the series is set for Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. The conference clash can be seen on ESPN and heard on 95.9 FM and the official Auburn app.