Big Innings Lift No. 3 Auburn Past No. 12 Kentucky in Series Opener
LEXINGTON, Ky. – In front of a
season-high 1,231 fans at John Cropp Stadium in Lexington, the No. 12 Kentucky
softball team suffered a 9-0 defeat at the hands of the No. 3 Auburn Tigers
after three runs in the first inning and five runs in the third inning, which
propelled Auburn to the series opener on Friday night.
Meagan Prince fell victim to her first loss in
the circle this season on Friday, throwing the first 2.1 innings of the game.
Kelsey Nunley then came in to throw 0.2 innings of action before Shannon Smith
closed out the game for Kentucky with a great outing, allowing just one run in
two full innings.
Kentucky drops just its second Southeastern
Conference game of the season and falls to 8-2 in SEC play, but remains in a
tie with No. 1 Florida for the top spot in the SEC standings after the Gators
lost to Alabama on Friday night in Gainesville.
UK and No. 3 Auburn will play again on
Saturday and Sunday, with Saturday’s game slated for a 3 p.m. ET first pitch at
John Cropp Stadium. Limited tickets are still available for purchase, but the
game is extremely close to selling out. Sunday’s series finale will be at 1
p.m. ET with all remaining games of the series shown live on the SEC Network+,
ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app.
Key Stat
Two. Friday night was just the second time
this season that an opposing SEC team has scored first against Kentucky in 10
league games. The Wildcats are 28-0 this season overall and 7-0 in the SEC when
scoring the game’s first run. Last week in Fayetteville, Arkansas scored four
times in the top of the first, but UK responded with 12 unanswered to cap off a
series sweep of the Razorbacks.
Key Play
After Auburn put two runners on with no outs
to start the game, Meagan Prince got three-hole hitter Kasey Cooper to
strikeout for the first out in the inning. After a fielder’s choice failed to
score a run, and put runners on the corners with two outs, the Tigers’ Jade
Rhodes hit a three-run home run to rightcenter field to give Auburn the early
3-0 lead.
Key Player
Shannon Smith was the key player for Kentucky
on Friday night, allowing just one run on two hits and striking out five of the
six batters she got out in the game. Smith pitched the entirety of the fourth
and fifth innings on Friday night.
Run Recap
In the top of the first inning, Kentucky gave
up three runs to hand the Tigers an early 3-0 lead on a Jade Rhodes three-run
homer to centerfield, which scored Carlee Wallace and Tiffany Howard who led
off the game with a single to left and a walk. AUB 3, UK 0
Auburn would extend its lead to 8-0 in the top
of the third inning after scoring another five runs off three hits and one Kentucky
error. With the bases loaded, Wallace plated the first run of the inning on a
fielder’s choice to the shortstop to put runners on first and second with one
out and one in. Two more runs came in to score on a two-base error by the
Kentucky defense and a walk with the bases loaded made it 8-0 Tigers after the
top of the third was complete. AU 8, UK 0
The Tigers would score their ninth run in the
top of the fourth inning as Wallace had a one-out double in the inning off the
wall in right center. Rhodes notched her fourth RBI of the game on a single to
center to plate the ninth run of the game for AU. FINAL – No. 3 Auburn 9,
No. 12 Kentucky 0
For the latest on the Kentucky softball team, follow @UKSoftball on Twitter, Instagram
and Facebook, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com.
