AUBURN, Ala. - No. 20 Auburn fell to No. 5 Texas A&M in extra innings as Emiley Kennedy goes the distance to defeat Auburn Friday, 5-4.
After a quick top of the first inning, Auburn got after Kennedy quickly. After two walks and a bloop single from AnnaLea Adams, the bases were quickly loaded for senior first-baseman, Amelia Lech. Looking for early runs, Lech struck a ball into deep right field over the right-fielder's head, which promptly cleared the bases as she dove into third.
It would be a quiet game for both teams, especially Auburn, for a couple of innings until the top of the fourth. Icess Tresvik did excellent in her first ever SEC start but started to struggle heading into the fourth. After Tresvik gave up a walk to Perez, Harper hit a well-struck ball into right field. According to Brit Bowen in the booth, Harper’s ball looked like a regular fly ball but kept on going until it got over the wall in right. Tresvik would only see one more batter before Auburn’s win leader SJ Geurin came on.
After that three-run first inning, Auburn’s offense did not score until late in the ninth against Kennedy, as the only hopeful opportunity came in the fourth inning. Kennedy started by walking Amelia Lech and Skylar Elkins with a Lisenby single to left field to the bases loaded. Then Kennedy added two more strikeouts to her total, bringing it to six so far and 11 total by the end of the game.
SJ Geurin played well the next three innings as she only gave up one run in the sixth on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Amari Harper. That sac-fly by Harper tied up the game and turned up the pressure on Auburn’s offense even more. That pressure was at its peak as Auburn’s offense came up in the seventh after being shut down the last three innings; but Kennedy’s dominance would continue as she struck out the side to force extra innings.
Geurin tried to give her team a chance in extras, but Auburn’s workhorse allowed two straight hits and steals to give Texas A&M the lead in extras. AnnaLea Adams would homer in the bottom of the ninth to try and get her team back into it, but the homer was too little too late as the Aggies won the first game 5-4.
Auburn will look to break their losing streak against Texas A&M tomorrow morning. The second game will be broadcast at 11:00 a.m. on WEGL 91.1 FM and the SEC Network.
