KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Auburn softball (27-18, 4-15 SEC) and No. 4 Tennessee (35-9, 10-6 SEC) were tied in a 2-2 game heading into the seventh inning, but the Lady Vols knocked a walk-off home run Thursday at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium to take game one of the series 4-2.
“There were big pitching performances from both sides,” said co-head Chris Malveaux. “Everyone was working ahead in the count. I am proud of our pitchers for throwing well. Malayna (Tamborra) had a great start. It’s just tough luck. That’s just the game sometimes. I was happy with the way we didn’t back down at the plate. We stayed in attack mode, and it was a hard-fought game. It’s going to set up for a good series the rest of the weekend.”
It was a pitchers’ duel through the first five innings as Tennessee’s Karlyn Pickens and Auburn’s Malayna Tamborra and SJ Geurin tossed five scoreless frames and scatted a combined five hits.
The Tigers were limited to just one hit until the top of the sixth. Abbey Smith and Rose Roach knocked back-to-back infield singles to put traffic in front of the heart of the order. Nelia Peralta moved both in to scoring position with a sacrifice bunt before AnnaLea Adams cleared the bags with a single to left field.
Smith closed the game with two of Auburn’s four hits with her 2-for-3 effort at the plate.
Tennessee cut into the Tiger lead in the bottom of the inning as a Sophia Nugent and Gabby Leach slugged solo home runs to tie up the game. After a walk to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning, Tennessee walked the game off with a Taylor Pannell home run.
Tamborra was strong in her first SEC start of the season. She tossed a pair of scoreless innings, scattering three hits. Geurin went 3.2 innings for the Tigers before leaving a tied game in the sixth. Haley Rainey suffered the loss for the Tigers, falling to 6-4 on the year.
UP NEXT
The Tigers look to even up the series on Friday. First pitch on the SEC Network+ is set for 5 p.m. CT.