No. 16 Auburn softball rewrote the history books Thursday at the SEC Tournament. Down by four runs, the Tigers were able to put together a comeback together against Ole Miss, winning 8-7, in what was Auburn's largest come-from-behind victory ever in the SEC Softball Tournament.
"It's easy to win the pretty games," Auburn head coach Mickey Dean said. "It's difficult to win the ugly games. We had to continue to fight back all game long. Being able to answer right back after they scored six runs in the third inning was a huge key to the game. Annabelle (Widra) came into the game and gave up only one earned run. Those two things put our defense and hitters into a position to win that game."
The push came in the bottom of the fifth inning when Icess Tresvik hit a two-run home run to left-center to tie the game at 7 a piece. Rose Roach would follow the effort with a single which sent the go-ahead run to the plate.
"It doesn't matter who is in the circle," Roach said. "It doesn't matter how tired we are. We have each other's backs. We're always going to come back and fight. Maddie (Penta) has our backs when we aren't doing too hot. We'll always have her back."
Tresvik was the star of the show on the offensive side of the ball. The sophomore tallied two hits, most notably the home run which led to two crucial RBIs. Tresvik was able to end the four-year drought of a Tiger not hitting a home run in the SEC Tournament with the long ball. In addition, Tresvik is the first Tiger since 2015 to record three runs in an SEC Tournament game.
"We worked too hard to let someone beat us easily," Tresvik said. "We can't dwell on the little things. We have to flush it and keep fighting. We are all big competitors. We hate losing. We've played them before. We knew what to expect. We just had to dig deep mentality and keep fighting."
Ace Maddie Penta got the start for Auburn, but the outing did not go to plan. The dominance of Penta was not felt throughout the duration of the 4.1 innings the junior pitched. The Rebels were able to capitalize on this and score five runs off seven hits.
Annabelle Widra would be called upon to take the place of Penta and try to create hope in the Tiger's dugout. The Alabama native did exactly that, finishing out the game while only giving up one run in the process.
Auburn will be back in action Friday at 3 p.m. CT against South Carolina in the quarterfinals of the SEC Softball Tournament. The game will be broadcasted on ESPN2.
