No. 3 Auburn’s Ninth Inning Double Spoils Prince’s Stellar Day
LEXINGTON, Ky. – A one-out RBI double
in the top of the ninth inning was enough to lift the No. 3 Auburn Tigers to a
3-1 extra-inning win over the No. 12 Kentucky Wildcats on Sunday afternoon at
John Cropp Stadium in Lexington in front of over 1,200 people.
With the win on Sunday, the Tigers move to
33-4 overall on the season, and jump into a tie with Florida for the top spot
in the Southeastern Conference with a 9-3 league record through four weekends
of action. Kentucky falls to 31-8 overall in 2016 and 8-4 in SEC play, just one
game outside Florida for the top spot in the SEC.
For the second day in a row, the Kentucky
pitching staff had a tough-luck loser – as Meagan Prince – who pitched nine
innings on just six Auburn hits and three runs suffered her second straight
loss on the season after pitching a great game. Prince struck out five Auburn
batters in the game, and threw just over 125 pitches in the nine inning affair.
Kentucky will host the first of an annual
two-game series with in-state rival Louisville on Wednesday night at 5:30 p.m.
ET inside John Cropp Stadium. The game will be shown live on the SEC Network+,
ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app with Dick Gabriel and Dorian Craft on the call.
Kentucky will continue SEC play on Saturday night in Baton Rouge, La., against
the LSU Tigers.
Key Stat
Nine. The nine-inning game against Auburn on
Sunday afternoon was Kentucky’s longest game of the season. UK played an
eight-inning game on Tuesday at Ohio, as the Wildcats drop to 0-2 in extra-inning
games in 2016.
Key Play
In the top of the ninth inning in a 1-1 game,
Auburn’s Jenna Abbott hit a double to the wall in center field to score Jade
Rhodes, who led off the inning with a walk to score the eventual game-winning
run.
Key Player
Meagan Prince was Sunday’s key player, going
the full nine innings for Kentucky, striking out five batters and only allowing
the potent Auburn offense to garner three runs on six hits.
Run Recap
Jade Rhodes hit her second home run of the
series to left field in the top of the second inning to give Auburn the early
lead in the game. AU 1, UK 0
Kentucky tied the game in the bottom of the
fifth inning, when Jenny Schaper legged out an infield single to get the
offensive rally going for the Wildcats. Schaper was pinch ran for at first base
by Ansley Smith, who scored the tying run on a double to right by senior
Christian Stokes. UK 1, AU 1
After a lead-off walk was issued to Jade Rhodes,
Jenna Abbott doubled to the wall in center field to score the runner from
second and plate the game-winning run. Auburn would score an insurance run on a
one-out groundout to the shortstop. FINAL – No. 3 Auburn 3, Kentucky 1 (F/9)
For the latest on the Kentucky softball team, follow @UKSoftball on Twitter, Instagram
and Facebook, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com.
