AUBURN, Ala. – Junior McKaela Walker delivered a two-run home run in the seventh inning to force extras, but Auburn softball couldn’t complete the comeback, falling to Ole Miss, 6-2, Friday night at Jane B. Moore Field.
“We had some good swings in the sixth and seventh innings,” said co-head coach Chris Malveaux. “We hit some balls hard. It was almost a ‘too little, too late’ situation, you could say, but we’ve been yearning to see that spark over the last few weeks. The good thing is that it did show up. Hopefully we can stay in that mindset heading into tomorrow.”
It was a pitching duel throughout the evening between sophomore Ella Harrison and Ole Miss’ Emilee Boyer as neither team scored until the fifth inning. Auburn (24-23, 3-16 SEC) was held hitless until the sixth when redshirt sophomore Kyla Stroud delivered a pinch-hit single to spark the offense. The Tigers finished with five hits, three of which went for extra bases.
Harrison (11-12) closed the game with seven strikeouts over seven innings of work. Redshirt sophomore Abby Herndon tossed the final inning in relief, recording one strikeout.
“Ella gave us a chance to win,” Malveaux added. “She held them to two runs through seven innings. We truly had opportunities to score the runs to get the win. She threw well. At this point in the season, there are no secrets to Ella. Everyone knows what she’s going to throw. It doesn’t phase her. She just ran out of gas at the end.”
Ole Miss (29-21, 3-16 SEC) struck in the top of the fifth with a leadoff solo home run from Laylonna Applin. The Rebels added an insurance run in the sixth going station to station with the help of singles and groundouts.
Following Stroud’s pinch-hit single in the sixth, sophomore Kylie Shaw doubled to left field to put two Tigers in scoring position with one out, but the Rebel defense held to keep Auburn off the board.
Freshman Haven Roebuck kept the spark alive in the seventh, leading off with a single down the third-base line before Walker delivered the game-tying blast to right field. Sophomore AnnaLea Adams followed with a double to move the winning run into scoring position, but Kyra Aycock shut down the threat in relief for the Rebels.
Ole Miss regained the lead in the top of the eighth with a leadoff home run from Mackenzie Pickens. A pair of singles followed by back-to-back walks extended the lead to 4-2. The Rebels scored their final two runs on an Auburn error.
“The big thing tomorrow is going to be our mindset,” Malveaux added. “We don’t want the outcome of tonight’s game to weigh on us. With a young team, we sometimes have a hard time controlling emotions like that. We need to bottle up that energy from the seventh inning and bring it back tomorrow.”
GAME NOTES
- Kylie Shaw doubled in the sixth inning. It was her team-leading 10th double of the season. She has now reached safely in 43 of Auburn’s 47 games this season.
- McKaela Walker’s seventh-inning home run was her 11th of the season, tying Ma’Nia Womack for the team lead. It was her 13th career home run. Walker increased her multi-RBI game total to eight this season and 13 for her career.
- AnnaLea Adams’ seventh-inning double was her eighth of the season, upping her career total to 17.
UP NEXT
Game two of the series is set for Saturday at 2 p.m. CT on SEC Network+. Fans can listen locally on WEGL 91.1 FM or stream the audio on the Auburn Tigers mobile app and website. The Tigers will honor their graduating student-athletes with a pregame ceremony.