AUBURN, Ala. – The No. 19 Auburn Tigers (28-10, 6-3 SEC) took on the Ole Miss Rebels (21-16, 2-7 SEC) at home at Jane B. Moore Field this weekend in a three-game series. The Tigers won two out of the three games, winning 8-2 on Friday night, losing 4-1 on Saturday afternoon and finishing up with a 1-0 win on Sunday afternoon.
Maddie Penta pitched the whole game for Auburn on Friday night and only allowed two runs off of two hits, walked two batters and struck out nine in seven innings of work.
Auburn got the scoring started in the second inning with a solo home run from Bri Ellis and a two-run homer by Aspyn Godwin. Ole Miss responded with a solo home run by Paige Smith in the top of the third inning to put the Rebels on the board.
The Tigers added on four more runs in the bottom of the third inning and another in the bottom of the fifth. Ole Miss added on another in the top of the sixth, but the final score ended up being an 8-2 Auburn victory.
"We have to be hitting up and down the order like we did tonight if we want to continue to have success," said head coach Mickey Dean. "We had production at the top. We had it at the middle. We had it at the bottom. That's what you like to see. Everyone is doing their job. We want to keep it there."
Ole Miss bested Auburn 4-1 in the second game of the series. Annabelle Wildra got the start for the Tigers and ended up with the loss in a 4.2-inning effort in which she allowed four runs off of seven hits, walked one batter and struck out four. Emmah Rolfe pitched the final 2.1 innings and only allowed one hit, one walk and struck one batter out. Catelyn Riley pitched the whole game for Ole Miss and allowed one run off of six hits, walked two batters and struck out four.
Smith got the scoring started for the Rebels in the bottom of the second inning with a two-run homer. Taylor Malvin came around to score on a wild pitch and Jalia Lassiter hit a double that allowed Taylor Whitley to score in the top of the fifth inning. Auburn's only run of the game came in the bottom of the fifth inning when Icess Tresvik tagged up on a flyout by Aubrie Lisenby.
"We need to hit our pitch," said head coach Mickey Dean. "We kept going after the pitcher's pitch. Every time we got runners on, we kept going after that drop ball and hit it to their infielders. Too many easy plays for them. Credit to the Ole Miss pitcher, she threw well. We just need to have better at-bats tomorrow."
Auburn took a 1-0 victory in the final game to clinch the series victory. Penta pitched the whole game for Auburn again and allowed no runs off of two hits, walked two batters and struck out eight in seven innings of work.
"I didn't have the strikeout numbers that I would like to have,” Penta said. “But I was able to work through it. My defense really had my back, especially today. Without them, that wouldn't have been a win."
The only run of the game came in the bottom of the third inning when Abbey Smith was able to score on a play that required expert base running in a run-down situation.
"Heck of a ballgame,” said head coach Mickey Dean. “Great pitching. Great defense. We were clean on defense and that was the difference in the ballgame."
Auburn will be back in action this weekend when the Tigers travel down to Gainesville to take on the Florida Gators (26-9, 4-5 SEC). First pitch is at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday and Friday and at 12:00 p.m. on Sunday.
