March 5, 2008

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford softball team dropped a hard-fought 7-3 decision against the Auburn Tigers on Wednesday in front of 412 fans at Bulldog Field. Samford jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, but fell behind late as Auburn scored seven unanswered runs down the stretch.

"This was a tough loss for us and I'm disappointed in how we lost," said Samford head coach Beanie Ketcham. "Despite the loss, I thought that we did make some nice plays. Kayla (Burris) made some nice pitches and she had them (Auburn) off balance pretty much all night, with the exception of a few mistakes, so that was good for us."

Samford (8-12) jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning as freshman Aaren Fisher lined a three-run homer to deep left-center field. The round-tripper was her fourth of the season.

The Bulldogs' Jessica Owens ignited the rally with a leadoff single to shortstop. She then advanced to second base as Kylie Harmon reached on a sacrifice bunt to first. Fisher, the third batter in the lineup, then sent a 2-2 count over the wall in left field.

"Early in the game, we were able to put a few things together with the base runners and the home run," Ketcham said. "We were able to do some good things, but we just can't seem to be able to put a whole game together. Right now, we just need the team to continue to work on the things that we need them to work on, and hopefully we'll keep getting better."

Owens paced Samford's offense Wednesday with a 2-for-4 performance at the plate. Fisher finished 1-for-1 with a home run, but was later forced out of the game with an injured left arm. Senior Jeslyn Metcalf also added a base hit for the Bulldogs.

Auburn (16-3) was held hitless until the top of the fourth inning. With one out in the frame, Taryn Gray picked up the Tigers' first hit of the game with a double off the wall in left center.

Then, with one out and Gray at second base, Samford's starting pitcher Kayla Burris (5-4) struck out the cleanup hitter Tatiana Fernandez for the second out of the inning. Auburn's first baseman Jorja Bell then came up and reached on a fielding error by the third baseman.

The Tigers' Katie Colton, Starr Dorsey and Kyndall White then all tallied consecutive singles to score the four runs in the frame.

"That was a tough inning," said Ketcham. "We gave up three bloops in a row after the error and we just couldn't seem to stop the bleeding. Kayla was throwing some good pitches and they (Auburn) just basically stuck their bat out, so there was not much that we could do about it."

Auburn was led offensively by Gray, Brittany Scott and Dorsey. All three players turned in two-hit performances for the Tigers.

Samford wasn't able to score any more runs in the game and finished with 15 strikeouts. Auburn's Lauren Schmalz (3-0) picked up the victory in the circle, while Anna Thompson earned the save.

"This was a disappointing loss, but the most disappointing thing to me was that we didn't fight back once we were down," Ketcham said. "When they brought their ace (Thompson) in, we knew what to expect from her, but we just didn't make any adjustments."

Auburn tacked on a pair of runs in the top of the fifth inning and then added its final score in the seventh frame.

The Samford University softball team will next be in action Friday as the Bulldogs travel to Atlanta, Ga., for the 2008 Georgia Tech Buzz Classic. Samford is slated to play Vermont at 2:30 p.m., and Western Carolina at 4:30 p.m.