COLUMBIA, Mo. – On a cold Friday night at the Mizzou Softball Complex, No. 25 Auburn softball (12-3-1, 0-1 SEC) rallied to lock the game up at 2-all, but No. 12 Missouri (19-2, 1-0 SEC) struck late to take game one of the series 5-2.
"We played hard, but they outpitched and outhit us," said head coach Mickey Dean. "We made two mistakes in the pitching circle, and they capitalized."
A costly error helped extend the first inning for Missouri. The home Tigers took advantage as a Kara Daly home run brought in a pair of unearned runs and force Auburn to come from behind.
All of Auburn's offense came in the fourth inning as the Tiger rally was sparked by a Makayla Packer walk to lead off the frame. Packer moved herself to third with help of a stolen base and a Mizzou error on the throw to the bag.
Amelia Lech cut the Mizzou lead to 2-1 with a double to left center. With Riley McNemar pinch running at second base, Nelia Peralta drove a single up the middle to bring home the game-tying run.
Missouri answered in the bottom of the fifth with a three-run home run from Julia Crenshaw to take its decisive 5-2 lead.
Maddie Penta suffered the loss as she fell to 6-3 on the season. In her five frames of work, Penta scattered six hits and allowed just three earned runs. She struck out four Mizzou Tigers.
Freshman Malayna Tamborra made her SEC debut with a scoreless inning of relief in the sixth. Tamborra allowed just two hits and recorded the first strikeout of her career.
Auburn looks to even the series on Saturday. First pitch in Columbia is scheduled for 2 p.m. CT. Tomorrow's game is available on the SEC Network+.