KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Bringing the tying run to the plate in the seventh, No. 15 Auburn softball (39-14, 11-13 SEC) rallied late, but No. 14 Tennessee (38-15, 15-8) held on to win Sunday's series finale, 3-1, at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium.
"Tennessee was able to keep us off-balanced by attacking both inside and outside the zone," said head coach Mickey Dean. "We did not do a great job of making adjustments, but we continued to battle. We had a chance there at the end of the game. This game can be humbling sometimes. (Maddie) Penta and KK (Dismukes) both did well in the circle. Our defense played exceptionally well. We only struck out a couple times at the plate, but the balls we did put into play just unfortunately went right to Tennessee."
Through the first three innings, both teams combined for only three base runners as starting pitchers sophomore Maddie Penta and Tennessee's Ryleigh White scattered a pair of singles. Penta also issued a walk over her first three innings of work.
Free passes came into play in the bottom of the fourth as a hit by pitch and a walk put two Lady Vols on base with one out. Kelcy Leach knocked a single to center that sophomore Makayla Packer charged hard before throwing on target to the plate. The throw beat the runner, but a dropped ball on the play allowed the run to score.
Tennessee added to its lead in the inning with an RBI single up the middle from Ashley Morgan. Packer delivered a second laser throw to the plate. This time, the Tigers completed the play to throw out Ivy Davis and limit the damage. Amanda Ayala extended the Tennessee lead to 3-0 with a solo home run in the sixth.
Freshman Jessie Blaine picked up a two-out single in the top of the first before White went on a stretch of retiring 17 consecutive Tigers at the plate. Blaine ruined the one-hit bid in the top of the seventh with a solo home run to left field to cut the lead to 3-1.
Keeping the rally going, freshman Bri Ellis doubled to left field to bring the tying run to the plate with one out, but reliever Erin Edmumdson produced back-to-back outs for the save.
UP NEXT
Auburn will enter the 2022 SEC Tournament in Gainesville, Fla., as the 10th seed and will face the seventh seed on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. ET. Time is subject to change. The Tigers will await the remainder of Sunday's games to determine its opponent.