AUBURN, Ala. – Coming up clutch with a pair of insurance runs in the sixth inning, Auburn softball snapped the nation's longest active win streak at 20 games as the Tigers took down No. 4 Tennessee 4-1 at Jane B. Moore Field on Sunday.
"Their hitters are like piranhas," said head coach Mickey Dean. "If they get off to a good start, it's going to be a long game. I thought Maddie (Penta) and our defense did a nice job in those first three innings and then you threw the two runs on top. It kind of kept them in a lull. It took us seven innings, but in that last inning, we got that insurance. We had that big defensive play in right field. We work on this stuff all the time. That was key to winning the ball game."
The win was Auburn's first over a top-five team since taking down No. 5 Tennessee in Knoxville 3-0 on April 7, 2019. The win also snapped Tennessee's eight-game win streak in the series. For head coach Mickey Dean, it was his 700th career Division I victory.
"It was one of 700, but this is a special group right here," Dean said. "They fight, and a lot of people want them to quit and give up, but they aren't going to. We're going to keep fighting. We're going to keep winning."
It was a gutsy performance in the circle from Maddie Penta that kept the potent Tennessee offense in check. Penta scattered five hits and three walks and allowed just one run to score as she gave up a two-out RBI single to left in the fourth inning to make it a 2-1 game. Striking out seven in the outing, Penta improved to 9-6 on the season.
Auburn totaled four hits in the contest, but no bigger than three extra-base hits in the sixth inning. Makayla Packer led off the frame with a double before coming around to score on a Nelia Peralta triple. It was Packer's 100th career run scored. Auburn added another insurance run with an Amelia Lech double.
The Tigers got on the board in the first frame as a Tennessee error at shortstop allowed a pair of runs to score.
Auburn returns to Jane B. Moore Field on Wednesday for midweek tilt versus Samford. First pitch on the SEC Network is set for 6 p.m. CT.
