AUBURN, ALABAMA. (EETV) - The No. 15 Auburn softball team struggled in their last series of the regular season against the No. 14 Tennessee Volunteers.
The Tigers looked to steal a game from Tennessee following Saturday’s doubleheader in which the Vols swept Auburn and secured the series.
Game three turned into a pitcher's duel between Maddie Penta and Ryleigh White.
Through the first three innings, both teams only allowed one hit each with all runners being stranded on the bases.
Tennessee opened up the scoring in the fourth inning thanks to two walks to open the inning. Kelcy Leach singled to center scoring the first run of the game. Ashley Morgan drove in another run before Leach would be tagged out at home trying to score a third run of the inning.
There would be little action before Penta let up a homer to Amanda Ayala in the bottom of the sixth to make it a three-run game. KK Dismukes came into the game and retired all three batters she faced.
Down 3-0 in the seventh inning, the Tigers attempted to get some late-game heroics going with a Jessie Blaine solo shot to left field to bring the deficit to two runs.
Bri Ellis followed the homer up with a double to left. with one out. Tennessee went to the bullpen and brought out Erin Edmoundson who retired the two batters she faced and clinched the game for the Volunteers.
“We did not do a great job of making adjustments, but we continued to battle.” said head coach Mickey Dean, “We had a chance there at the end of the game. This game can be humbling sometimes. (Maddie) Penta and KK (Dismukes) both did well in the circle. Our defense played exceptionally well. We only struck out a couple times at the plate, but the balls we did put into play just unfortunately went right to Tennessee.”
Auburn will look to regroup for the SEC tournament. Auburn’s path to the SEC Championship is still to be determined but the team will start play Wednesday, May 11 in Gainsville Florida.
