AUBURN, Ala. – With a pair of home runs and two relief innings to combine for a no-hitter with Shelby Lowe, Annabelle Widra lived up to her nickname of "Prime Time" as she led No. 24 Auburn softball (5-1-1) to an 8-0 victory over Southeastern Missouri State (4-6) to open the Plainsman Invitational Friday at Jane B. Moore Field.
Auburn rolled with the punches early as Longwood withdrew from the Plainsman Invitational due to unforeseen circumstances requiring the team to return to Virginia, which forced a complete schedule change on the fly for the Tigers.
Lowe (2-0) dazzled in the start striking out seven of the 11 batters she faced while recording the 400th strikeout of her collegiate career. Lowe now stands sixth in Auburn history with 406 punchouts. Her lone mistake in the outing was a walk issued in the second inning.
Widra tossed the final two frames in relief after starting the game at shortstop. The junior allowed just one walk and struck out two to complete the combined no-hit bid. The no-hitter was the 33rd in Auburn softball history and the first of the 2024 season.
"Shelby (Lowe) had a lot of strikeouts and kept them way off balance," said head coach Mickey Dean. "Annabelle (Widra) pitched perfection and then hit two home runs. There's not a whole lot not to like. It's important that we focus on those opportunities. I thought we did a nice job today. The players that we put into the game took advantage of what was in front of them."
The Tiger offense flexed for eight runs off nine hits, including a pair of home runs from Widra, to end the game in five innings. Widra finished 3-for-3 with three runs scored and two RBI. Icess Tresvik joined Widra with a multi-hit outing, going 2-for-3 with two runs scored. Amelia Lech continued to make the most of her RBI opportunities as she drove in two with her fourth inning double.
Auburn took advantage of SEMO miscues in the first inning to plate a run with the help of two errors to take the early lead. The second frame featured much of the same as the Tigers strung together three hits and used two Redhawks errors to score three runs, pushing the lead to 4-0.
Widra and Lech did the damage in the fourth inning as their extra-base hits made it a 7-0 Auburn advantage. With two outs in the bottom of the fifth, Widra repeated with her second solo home run of the game to walk off the win.
With Longwood withdrawing from the tournament, Auburn will now face UNI at 1 p.m. CT on Saturday before a rematch with SEMO at 4 p.m. CT. The doubleheader will air on the SEC Network+.
