GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Down to the final out, sophomore Icess Tresvik forced extra innings with a game-tying home run in the seventh, but No. 19 Auburn softball (28-11, 6-4) fell 2-1 in extra innings to No. 15 Florida (27-8, 5-9 SEC) Thursday at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.
"We battled," said head coach Mickey Dean. "It's a tough one to talk about. We always talk about how defense has to travel. We fall on a fly ball. We come up short and don't get our glove down on a ground ball. Our hitters battled. Our pitchers battled. We battled on defense late. When you're playing on the road, runs are hard to come by. We can't give runs away. We had an opportunity tonight. We have another opportunity tomorrow."
Outhitting the Gators in the series opener, Auburn scattered five hits across the game, but none was bigger than Tresvik's seventh-inning blast with two outs on the scoreboard to extend the game. It was her sixth homer of the season. Tresvik closed the night 2-for-3 at the plate.
Lindsey Garcia also turned in a two-hit performance with a pair of singles. Aubrie Lisenby extended her hit streak to four consecutive games with a single in the fourth.
Turning in the 18th double-digit strikeout performance of her career and her seventh of the season, Maddie Penta (16-5) fanned 12 Gators in Thursday's series opener. Penta kept the Gators quiet at the plate with only three hits. She issued three walks and was charged with two earned runs. Shelby Lowe entered the game in the eighth and faced two batters in relief.
Two of Penta's three walks came in the eighth inning, forcing the pitching change. Auburn elected to load the bases with an intentional walk before Reagan Walsh's walked off the win with a single to center.
Penta was dominate through the first two innings of action, retiring the first six Gators she faced with help of five strikeouts. With a runner on in the third via a hit by pitch, Florida took advantage of a misplayed ball in outfield that landed untouched for a triple to plate the first run of the game before a Tiger infield error allowed a second run to score.
Auburn took advantage of a Florida defensive miscue in the fifth to make it a one-run game. After Aspyn Godwin led off the inning with a walk, Makayla Packer sacrificed to move pinch runner Abbey Smith into scoring position. Tresvik lined a ball into right center, which caused a collision between a pair of Gator outfielders and allowed Smith to score.
Garcia gave Auburn a two-out base runner in the eighth, but Gator relief pitcher Rylee Trileck recorded the strikeout to keep the Tigers off the board.
Auburn looks to even the series Friday. First pitch is set for 5 p.m. CT. Friday's contest has also been elevated to air on the SEC Network.