FULL GAMES NOTES (PDF)

SOFTBALL HEADS TO AUBURN FOR MIDWEEK MATCHUP
Samford (2-2) heads southeast for the first of seven SEC matchups this season as they face the Auburn Tigers (5-0) on Wednesday, February 13 at 6 p.m. CT.

OPPONENT SCOUTING REPORT
Auburn (5-0) - The Tigers opened their season hosting the Plainsman Invitational, winning all five of its games and outscoring their opponents a combined 42-8.  Sophomore outfielders Branndi Melero and Morgan Estell are the Tigers' early leaders at the plate, as they each went 7-14 (.500) with a double and a triple while Melero added nine RBI.  Senior infielder Brooke Lathan went 8-17 (.471) with two extra-base hits and seven RBI while freshman infielder Emily Carosone went 4-12 (.333) with two long-balls and nine RBI. Freshman Marcy Harper has earned the most time at the mound so far this season, throwing 11.1 innings with a 2-0 record and a 1.85 ERA.  Auburn was picked to finish sixth in the seven-team SEC West in the preseason poll with Estell representing them on the preseason All-Conference team.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. AUBURN
Samford owns a 6-12 all-time record against the Tigers.  The last meeting between these two squads was in the 2011 season, a 5-0 Auburn victory.  Samford's last victory over Auburn came on the opening game of the 2003 season, a 1-0 win, and the Bulldogs' last win in Auburn, Ala., came on Feb. 23, 2000.

SAMFORD SPLITS FOUR GAMES TO OPEN SEASON IN TAMPA
Against a challenging slate of opponents, Samford Softball came out of the USF-Wilson DeMarini Tournament in Tampa, Fla., with a 2-2 record.  The Bulldogs started off with consecutive wins over Florida Atlantic, 7-1, and Marshall, 2-1, before falling to two ranked opponents in #10 USF, 3-0, and #13 Michigan, 4-0.

Over three starts and 17.1 innings pitched, sophomore transfer Mollie Hanson impressed in her debut weekend as a Bulldog.  She owns a 2-1 record and a 1.21 ERA with 18 strikeouts and no walks.  Preseason All-SoCon honoree Madison Dickey is the early leader at the plate, owning a .455 average (5-11) while freshmen Megan Dowdy (.444) and Hannah Taylor (.364) both collected four hits in the opening weekend.

Samford opened its weekend off with a convincing 7-1 victory over a perennial postseason team in FAU.  Neither team would score until the sixth inning when the Samford offense exploded to the tune of seven runs.  FAU would avoid the shutout in the top of the seventh but could not overcome the significant deficit as Samford started its season with a win.

The next day, the Bulldogs opened up play against Marshall.  The Thundering Herd would strike first courtesy of a double-steal in the first inning as they went up, 1-0.  In the bottom of the second, a bases-loaded groundout and an RBI single would put Samford on top, 2-1, and that score would prove final as Hanson threw five shutout innings to move the Bulldogs to 2-0.

Later that night, Samford would face a challenging matchup in #10 USF, a College World Series participant last season.  Samford would fight with the Bulls all the way, never letting the home team pull too far away.  Ultimately, USF's nationally-renowned bullpen, timely hitting and a charged home-field crowd gave them the slight edge in a 3-0 victory over Samford.

Samford's final matchup of the weekend would be against another ranked opponent, #13 Michigan.  All three of Samford's pitchers would see time in this game and all of them frustrated a very potent Michigan offensive lineup, limiting them to two earned runs off nine hits.  An error would allow two additional Wolverine runs to score and the Bulldog offense couldn't capitalize on scoring chances, stranding six runners on base.  Michigan would take the 4-0 win as Samford ended its weekend with a 2-2 record.

POTENT PITCHING
Samford's pitching was certainly a highlight of its opening weekend.  Samford's team ERA of 1.88 is the second-best in the SoCon and Mollie Hanson is the only SoCon starter to not issue a base on balls in the opening weekend.

SCORING SEVEN
Samford's 7-1 victory over Florida Atlantic is the first game in which Samford has scored at least seven runs since April 28 of last season, where they beat Appalachian State 11-7 on a walk-off grand slam on the back-end of a double-header in Birmingham.  Samford scored at least seven runs in five games last season.  The last time the Bulldogs scored at least seven runs in one inning was two seasons ago in a May 5, 2011 win against the College of Charleston.

WEATHER OUTLOOK
Auburn, Ala. - Wed. Feb. 13
Mid 50s
Morning showers, cloudy in the afternoon
15-20 mph winds

UP NEXT
Samford will head to Spartanburg, S.C., for the Firehouse Subs Spartan Invitational, hosted by USC-Upstate.  The Bulldogs will play four games starting with Winthrop on Friday, Feb. 15 at 4 p.m. ET.  Samford will then play George Washington on Saturday at 10 a.m. ET and Bowling Green (9 a.m. ET) and USC-Upstate (1 p.m. ET) on Sunday.  The game versus USC-Upstate will be live streamed for free at www.asun.tv.