April 7, 2017
AUBURN, Ala. - The No. 5 Auburn softball team defeated No. 21 Ole Miss, 3-1, to kick off the conference series Friday night. The Tigers (32-5, 7-3 SEC) notched their fifth straight league victory and their fourth consecutive win against the Rebels (25-12, 2-8).
"It wasn't pretty, but as I told [the team], great teams figure out ways to win," said head coach Clint Myers. "That's the bottom line."
Kaylee Carlson improved her record to 19-1 after tossing her 11th complete game of the season. The junior struck out seven - the most she has totaled against an SEC foe this season - and scattered six hits.
At the plate, Kasey Cooper and Alyssa Rivera paced the offense with 2-for-3 performances. Cooper launched the lone extra-base hit of the game for either team with a double, while Rivera tallied two RBI.
Haley Fagan rounded out the attack with a bunt single.
Ole Miss totaled five hits in the opening three stanzas without a ball leaving the infield, but was only able to scratch across one run on a sacrifice fly in the top of the third to take a 1-0 lead.
Auburn responded in the home half of the fourth by plating three runs on three hits and was aided by a Rebel error.
Cooper and Fagan opened the stanza with a double and single, respectively, to put runners on the corners with zero outs. Kendall Veach then hit a dribbler to third that Cooper scored on when a throw hit her while she was in the basepath. That run knotted the game up at 1-1.
Rivera did the rest of the damage with one swing as she bounced a two-run single to center that brought home Fagan and Veach. The Tigers capped the frame with a 3-1 lead.
That was all Carlson needed for run support as she retired the final nine batters of the game, highlighted by a pair of strikeouts, to send Auburn to its seventh win of the season in the SEC.
The two conference foes square off once again Saturday at 3 p.m. The game is set to broadcast on ESPNU and is available on 99.9 FM and the official Auburn app.