BATON ROUGE, La. – In the final day of the regular season, Auburn softball dropped both games of Saturday’s doubleheader to No. 19 LSU at Tiger Park.
“For some reason, it has been tough for us to show up and play with an aggressive mindset lately,” said co-head coach Chris Malveaux. “If you look at the last month, we’ve tried, but it’s on us as coaches. We’ve got some bits and pieces, but at this level it can’t be just bits and pieces. It has got to be totality across the board and throughout the game. We’ve got a young team that has a difficult time committing to that over and over, but we’ve got the conference tournament ahead of us.”
An eight-run first inning proved too much for Auburn’s offense to overcome as LSU (37-16, 13-11 SEC) continued to put up big innings and opened Saturday’s doubleheader with a 25-0 victory in five innings.
Game two saw LSU take another first-inning lead, but junior Ma’Nia Womack homered to close the gap to a single run. LSU plated insurance in the fourth and fifth innings and clinched the sweep with a 7-2 win.
GAME ONE | AUBURN 0, LSU 25
Auburn (25-27, 4-20 SEC) committed a pair of errors in the opening frame, giving the Fighting Tigers extra bases on top of nine hits to manufacture an early 8-0 LSU lead. After a scoreless second inning, LSU loaded the bases with three straight one-out singles before Alix Franklin extended the lead to 12-0 with a grand slam.
LSU added a fifth run of the inning after a single and an Auburn error put two in scoring position. Auburn recorded the second out with a pop-up in foul territory, but with home plate uncovered, LSU tagged up on the play to score. A second LSU home run of the frame extended the lead to 15-0. Behind 10 hits and two free passes, LSU scored 10 runs in the fourth inning to extend the lead to 25-0.
The Orange and Blue’s best scoring chance also came in that opening frame as the first three Tigers all reached safely, but LSU’s defense held strong to retire the next three in order and keep the game scoreless.
Junior Alyssa Hastings, senior Destiny Rodriguez and sophomore AnnaLea Adams recorded Auburn’s three base hits in Saturday’s opener. The Tigers also earned five free passes in the contest, leaving all eight runners stranded.
Five different pitchers saw action in game one of the doubleheader. Redshirt freshman Abby Herndon suffered the loss to fall to 5-5 on the season. Freshman Charley Butler and junior SJ Geurin both recorded strikeouts in their relief appearances.
GAME ONE NOTES
- With her leadoff walk to open the game, Kylie Shaw has now reached safely in 47 of 51 games this season. With 49 walks this season, Shaw is now tied with Kasey Cooper (2015, 2017) for the second-most walks drawn in a single season at Auburn.
- With her single in the fourth inning, Destiny Rodriguez extended her hit streak to three consecutive games.
GAME TWO | AUBURN 2, LSU 7
In similar fashion, LSU scored in the first inning with a pair of extra-base hits. Franklin built the 2-0 lead with a two-out home run to left field. Womack put Auburn on the board with a solo home run to right field in the second frame, cutting the lead to one.
The 2-1 score held until the fourth inning. LSU loaded the bases with a single up the middle and back-to-back walks. Sophomore Ella Harrison (11-14) answered with a pair of strikeouts, but a two-out single up the middle scored one before an Auburn error in the outfield allowed a second run to score. LSU added to its lead in the fifth, scoring three runs on five hits.
Womack continued her hot hitting in the contest, leading off the seventh inning with her second solo home run of the game. She finished 3-for-3 with two home runs, a double and two RBI.
Harrison went 4.1 innings in the start and recorded a pair of strikeouts. It was another strong relief appearance for Butler, who allowed just two hits in her 1.2 innings with one strikeout.
GAME TWO NOTES
- With her leadoff single to open the game, Kylie Shaw has now reached safely in 48 of 52 games this season.
- Shaw added a walk in the fifth for her 50th of the season. She now stands second outright in Auburn single-season history.
- Ma’Nia Womack homered twice in the contest for her first multi-homer game of her career, upping her season total to a team-leading 13. Womack now has 15 career home runs.
- Womack doubled in the fourth inning for her fourth double of the season and the fifth of her career. It marked the ninth multi-hit game of the season for Womack, upping her career total to 10.
- With two RBI, Womack increased her multi-RBI games to 11 this season, which leads the team. She has 13 in her career.
UP NEXT
Auburn softball travels to Lexington, Kentucky, for the 2026 SEC Softball Tournament at John Cropp Stadium. The 14th-seeded Tigers will face 11th-seeded Missouri on Tuesday at 12 p.m. CT on SEC Network. Brit Bowen and JJ Jackson will provide radio coverage on WEGL 91.1 FM. Fans can also stream the broadcast on the Auburn Tigers website and mobile app.