Oct. 21, 2016 AUBURN, Ala. - Even though the temperatures began cooling off, the offense remained hot as the Auburn softball team swept its doubleheader against Wallace State CC-Hanceville on Friday night. The Tigers improved to 6-0 in the fall slate behind nine extra-base hits on the day.
Haley Fagan and Tannon Snow flexed their muscles at the plate by combining for three home runs and five RBI in the two games. Brittany Maresette laced two triples, while Casey McCrackin added another.
Justus Perry, Emily Spain and Kendall Veach each notched doubles en route to a tightly-contested first game win and a more dominant victory in the back end of the doubleheader.
"We've got to get better," said head coach Clint Myers. "We made a decision early that we were going to make changes at a certain time, so these kids that are normally going in with 8-10 run leads now have the chance to either win or lose a ballgame. We got a little pressure on them, so we got to see some things that were real tonight.
"We got better in the second game. We had a long talk after the first game, but we got better. If you look at how we finished, it was a JC team versus a JC team. They were all freshmen and sophomores out there. This has got the makings of a good team, we've just got to go out and learn the game better."
Underclassmen combined to tally 13 of the team's 21 hits and 13 of Auburn's runs on Friday.
Kaylee Carlson started the first game and struck out eight in 5.0 innings of work in the circle. Jenna Abbott came on in relief and added one send-down in 2.0 frames out of the bullpen.
In the second contest, Makayla Martin went 4.0 hitless stanzas and netted a pair of strikeouts. Alexa Nemeth and Ashlee Swindle tossed the final 4.0 innings and struck out four and two, respectively.
The Tigers wrap up their fall slate next Saturday when they host three games at Jane B. Moore Field. Action begins at 12 p.m. with a battle between Columbus State and Northwest Florida State. Auburn takes the field in the final two contests of the day, beginning at 2:30 and 5 p.m.
Admission to all home fall games is free.