The Auburn Tigers continued their winning ways, coming back after a weather suspension on Friday to sweep a doubleheader on Saturday.
Auburn took on Northwestern and USC Upstate as part of the Jane B. Moore Memorial Tournament at Jane B. Moore Field. The first game of the day’s events saw a pitcher’s duel take place, with the Tigers taking the 1-0 win in the end. Auburn found its offense in game two, taking out USC Upstate 10-4.
Head coach [autotag]Mickey Dean[/autotag] made sure to show how proud he was of his pitchers when the games got put in tough spots.
“Just a phenomenal job in the circle from both Maddie (Penta) and Annabelle (Widra),” Dean said. “We found a way to win in that first game against a tough pitcher. We kept battling at the plate in that second game. I like how we continued to compete. Annabelle did a fantastic job giving us a chance to win that game.”
It took Auburn (10-2-1) a few innings before it was able to stick the only run of the game on the board against Northwestern (7-6). A [autotag]Nelia Peralta[/autotag] walk began the 4th inning, where she was then lifted for pinch runner Thalia Martin, who advanced to third on two later groundouts.
With two outs and the Wildcats close to getting out of the inning, [autotag]Aubrie Lisenby[/autotag] slapped a ball over to third, which then resulted in a throwing error by the Northwestern third baseman and a run scored by the Tigers.
While the Wildcats had a chance to tie it in the 7th with a runner on third, [autotag]Rose Roach[/autotag] fielded a grounder and fired it to the plate where Lisenby protected the shutout.
The second game of the twin bill began positively for the Tigers as [autotag]Anna Wohlers[/autotag] drew a walk before giving way to [autotag]Amelia Lech[/autotag], who hit an RBI double to give Auburn the early 1-0 lead over USC Upstate (8-8).
The Spartans then made a huge statement to open up the 2nd, as they quickly got the bases loaded before Denver Lauer sent a grand slam over the left field wall to give her a team a 4-1 lead.
What did the Tigers do as a result? Well, Rose Roach bunted for a single before [autotag]Skylar Elkins[/autotag] blasted a two-run home run to left field, cutting the deficit to one. It was Elkins’ first homer in her collegiate career.
Peralta hit a two-run shot of her own to give the Tigers the lead again in the 3rd, and Roach hit an infield single that would score [autotag]Makayla Packer[/autotag] later in the inning. Auburn scored four in the 4th to put the nail in coffin, securing the 10-4 win.
[autotag]Maddie Penta[/autotag] recorded her third-straight shutout in the win over Northwestern. She pitched the full seven innings, striking out 10, only walking one and only giving up four hits. [autotag]Annabelle Widra[/autotag] earned the win in the victory over USC Upstate, striking out four, giving up just one run and one hit in her 6.0 innings of relief for [autotag]Shelby Lowe[/autotag].
On the offensive side, Lech and Roach were the only Tigers to have a multi-hit performance in either game. Lech ended the day at 2-for-5 with three RBIs and a double, while Roach finished 3-for-5 with an RBI and three singles.
Auburn looks to build on this success with another doubleheader on Sunday, taking on North Texas at 12 p.m. CT and USC Upstate in a rematch at 3 p.m. CT.
Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on X (Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Tyler on Twitter @traley34