AUBURN, Ala. – No. 25 Auburn softball (22-12, 0-10 SEC) used an Icess Tresvik grand slam in the fifth inning to pull within one, but No. 4 Florida (31-5, 4-3 SEC) scored three unanswered runs to take game one of the series 11-7 Friday night at Jane B. Moore Field.
“It was good to see the fight from our team,” said co-head coach Chris Malveaux. “In previous weekends when the games started to get out of hand, we didn’t have that. For the first time in conference play, we continued to fight and find a way to get back in it. We did give a lot of pitches away in all three phases of the game that absolutely killed us. You can’t do that in this conference.”
Auburn found ways to get on board and loaded the bases three times throughout the game, but wasn’t always able to capitalize, leaving nine on base.
Icess Tresvik drove in four of Auburn’s seven runs with her grand slam. She has now hit a home run in back-to-back games for the Tigers. Anna Wohlers went 2-for-4 at the plate with a double. Nelia Peralta went 2-for-3 with a walk. AnnaLea Adams extended her hit streak to seven straight games with a single.
Auburn used three pitched throughout the contest. The Tiger staff struggled with command and issued 11 free passes. Haley Rainey suffered the loss to fall to 3-3.
After a scoreless opening frame, Florida got on the board in the second, leading off with a solo home run Kenleigh Cahalan. A pair of one-out walks and an Auburn error put the Tigers in trouble as Gators would add two unearned runs to build a 3-0 lead.
The Tigers responded in the home half as an error, hit by pitch and Rose Roach single loaded the bases. Abbey Smith drove in the first Auburn run with a sacrifice fly to left center. Auburn reloaded the bases with a walk, but the Gators limited the damage to the lone run.
Auburn loaded up the bases again in the top of the third with a single from Adams, a double from Wohlers and a walk issued to Amelia Lech. Kylie Brockman singled to right field to drive in a run. The ball ricocheted off a charging Gator outfielder, which allowed the tying run to score.
Florida used a two-out rally in the top of the fourth to plate the go-ahead run with help of a hit by pitch and a pair of singles. The Gators took advantage of free passes and used a pair of doubles and a single to score four runs in the fifth to extend their lead to 7-3.
Auburn loaded the bases for the third time in the top of the fifth with the help of three consecutive walks. This time Auburn got the big hit as Tresvik slugged a grand slam to right field to pull the Tigers back within one run.
The momentum was short lived as Florida’s Mia Williams knocked a solo home run in the top of the sixth. Florida loaded the bases with two outs with back-to-back singles and a walk before adding a second run off a wild pitch to lead 10-7. The final Gator run scored in the seventh with help of another Auburn error.
UP NEXT
Auburn looks to even the series on Saturday. First pitch on the SEC Network+ is set for 2 p.m. CT.