Saved by rain: Auburn softball’s rematch with Virginia Tech ends in tie

Sometimes, rain truly is a good thing.

During softball season, rain is usually not a welcome guest. However, for Auburn, a rain delay could not have come at a better time.

The No. 20 Tigers entered the 7th inning of Saturday’s rematch with Virginia Tech tied at 5-5. Three Hokies reached base in the inning, setting up Bre Peck for a chance to push her team ahead by a wide margin.

Peck delivered.

Peck smashed a 1-1 fastball over the left field wall for a grand slam, Virginia Tech’s second grand slam over Auburn in as many days, to go ahead, 9-5. However, the long ball will not go down in the record books.

Shortly after Peck’s grand slam, the game went into a delay due to heavy rain. The delay lasted over two hours, which led officials to end the game as the rain appeared to have no end in sight. The 7th inning was not completed, therefore the box score must revert to the last complete inning, thus ending the game in a 5-5 time.

Prior to the abrupt end to the game, two Tigers added home runs to their early-season total. [autotag]KK McCrary[/autotag] put Auburn on the board in the 3rd inning by hitting a solo home run to left field. Her second home run of the weekend pushed Auburn ahead, 1-0.

Virginia Tech answered in the top of the 5th inning. Emma Ritter doubled to left field with two outs to score Cori McMillan from 3rd base to tie the game at 1-1. The Hokies took the lead on a throwing error in the next at-bat to score Ritter and Rachel Castine to move Virginia Tech ahead, 3-1.

The Tigers answered with a three-spot of their own in the bottom of the inning. [autotag]Abbey Smith[/autotag] took advantage of a wild pitch by scoring from 3rd base to cut the Hokies lead to 3-2. Two at-bats later, [autotag]Amelia Lech[/autotag] drilled her second home run of the season, a two-run shot, to give the Tigers the lead back, 4-3.

The teams traded scores in the 6th inning to create the 5-5 tie. Castine hit a two-run shot to give Virginia Tech a 5-4 lead, then a fielding error in the bottom half allowed [autotag]Nelia Peralta[/autotag] to score to tie the game yet again.

Auburn recorded five hits in the game, with zero players recording more than one hit. Lech was the top hitter in the contest, as her two-run home run would be enough to give her the RBI lead. Castine lead the Hokies in the hits category with two.

[autotag]Maddie Penta[/autotag] earned the edge in her anticipated pitching battle with Virginia Tech’s Emma Lemley. Penta went 4.2 innings, where she allowed three hits and three walks while striking out eight. Lemlee allowed three hits and struck out one in 4.0 innings of work. However, she walked seven batters. Three of those batters were issued free passes in the 1st inning.

Auburn’s originally scheduled game with Illinois has been canceled to the rain. The Tigers will return to action Sunday at 2 p.m. CT to face Belmont on the final day of the Tiger Invitational.

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