No. 25 Auburn appeared to be well on its way to earning a win in its series finale with No. 12 Texas A&M on Sunday, but an Aggies offensive explosion quickly derailed the Tigers’ plans.
Auburn (15-9-1, 2-7 SEC) jumped out to a 6-1 lead in Sunday’s game with Texas A&M (18-4, 8-1 SEC) through two innings. However, the Aggies would outscore Auburn 13-0 over the final three innings to earn the 14-6 run-rule victory at the Aggie Softball Complex in College Station, Texas.
In a game where Auburn had a comfortable lead, head coach [autotag]Mickey Dean[/autotag] blamed his team’s defense and the youth in the circle for the loss.
“Our defense has been a strong point for us this season, and it let us down today,” Dean said postgame. “Texas A&M cut open with the bats. Our younger pitchers struggled a bit. The big innings for both teams were sparked by defensive miscues.”
Texas A&M struck first by stealing home to go ahead, 1-0, in the first inning. It would not take the Tigers long to respond, as they blasted through to put six runs on the board in the top of the 2nd inning. [autotag]Annabelle Widra[/autotag] tied the game with an RBI single, and [autotag]Abbey Smith[/autotag] gave Auburn the lead by taking a base on balls with the bases loaded.
[autotag]Mariah Penta[/autotag] blew the game open two batters later by crushing a grand slam over the left field fence to push the Tigers ahead, 6-1.
The lead, unfortunately, was short-lived, as the Aggies used two, two-run home runs and a double to tie the game at 6-6 in the 3rd inning. Texas A&M added seven more runs in the 4th inning, with the headliner of the inning coming off the bat of Rylen Wiggins. Wiggins smashed a two-run shot to right-center field to give Texas A&M the 13-6 lead.
Texas A&M’s final punch was a solo home run in the 5th inning by Koko Wooley to put the run-rule into effect.
[autotag]Nelia Peralta[/autotag] recorded two hits in the loss, while Mariah Penta led the team in RBI with four. Maddie Penta lasted 2 1/3 innings in the circle, allowing five runs on four hits while striking out one batter. Annabelle Widra, Emmah Rolfe, and Malayna Tamborra each saw action in the circle as well.
The Tigers will take a break from midweek action this week to focus on No. 7 Tennessee, who comes to town for a three-game set beginning Friday at Jane B. Moore Field in Auburn.
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