After beating Mercer in six innings, the No. 19 Auburn Tigers (32-9) (7-8 SEC) came back to Jane B. Moore Field to take on the Niagara Purple Eagles (11-16) (5-3 MAAC) in a doubleheader on Friday April 15th. Auburn dominated the day winning the first game 8-0 in six innings and the second game 15-7 in five innings thanks to 26 total hits on the day, and riding fast starts to victory.
The first game was kickstarted in the bottom of the second by Bri Ellis getting her 15th homerun of the season, Sydney Cox would also double to center scoring two, and Abbey Smith would get on with a bunt single scoring one and score herself on a wild pitch, as the Tigers scored five in the second and never looked back.
Sydney Cox, Kenadie Cooper, and Maddie Majors all singled to each add one insurance run to aid pitchers Maddie Penta, and KK Dismukes, but the pitchers did not really need the insurance as they held the Purple Eagles to no runs and only two hits.
Maddie Penta got the start for the Tigers and pitched the first two innings giving up no hits and had four strikeouts. However, KK Dismukes got the win for the Tigers pitching the last four innings and had five strikeouts and only gave up two hits. The dominating performances ended the game in six innings and set up the last game of the doubleheader.
The second game was started by the Purple Eagles’ Samantha Hare who scored one on a fielder’s choice in the top of the first, but that was quickly rectified by Aubrie Lisenby who singled and scored one to tie the game back up at one. Then Auburn stepped the pedal through the floor, as Bri Ellis hit a two-run home run, her second of the day and her sixteenth of the season, Carlee Mccondichie hit a triple that scored one, as she scored on a wild pitch making the score 5-1 through the first as the Tigers never looked back.
Jessie Blaine started the bottom of the second with a two run shot, as Kelsey Schmidt hit a three-run shot that brought the score to 10-1 after two innings, and despite the Purple Eagles getting some runs through a Samantha Hare home run, as she would get a total of four RBIs in the second game being one of the few bright spots of the day for Niagara, Auburn still was able to add on to their run totals with Aubrie Lisenby hitting a three-run home run in the bottom of the fourth that led to the game ending in five innings 15-7.
Maddie Penta got the start and pitched the first two innings giving up no hits and only one run and producing five strikeouts. KK Dismukes would go on to get the win again after pitching the last 1.1 innings after Samantha Yarbrough came out after giving up six earned runs.
After losing two SEC series to Florida and Arkansas, Auburn will be looking to pile on the momentum against non-conference opponents, and so far they have succeeded blowing out Mercer on April 13 and Niagara on April 15, and will have Jacksonville State on April 19 at 6:00 PM, and Chattanooga April 20 at 4:00 PM both at Jane B. Moore Field, before playing Mississippi State in Starkville. Mississippi in a three game series starting April 22 at 5:30 PM.
