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This started as my links for Coffee and Magnolia in the morning, but I decided they deserved their own article. Even if it is hitting rather late on Sunday evening! It will, of course, get a link in the morning link-dump, so hopefully no one misses it!
SOFTBALL
Well, the ladies came up juuuust short of winning the SEC regular season, yesterday. They took the series from LSU, but could not win the final game on Sunday that would have put them a half game ahead of Florida for the SEC Title.The second place SEC regular season finish is still good for the highest in program history. It was a tense series to say the least. Auburn was one-hit on Saturday, but that one hit (a Haley Fagan homerun) was all it took for the 1-0 victory.
The ladies have the first round of the SEC Tournament off, and will face the winner of Missouri vs Mississippi State on Wednesday. The SEC Tournament is single-elimination. Winning it would be a fantastic part of the season, but however they perform likely won't alter their seeding in the NCAA Regionals. The Tigers are still in excellent position to make a deep run into the post season. You can see the tournament brackets in the tweets below. One is a printable bracket, the other is ESPN's graphic bracket.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Full bracket can be seen below. Auburn with the early game on Thursday. Need three wins for championship. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WarEagle?src=hash">#WarEagle</a> <a href="http://t.co/S9CfRUDJLz">pic.twitter.com/S9CfRUDJLz</a></p>— Auburn Softball (@Auburn_Softball) <a href="https://twitter.com/Auburn_Softball/status/594993299653464064">May 3, 2015</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">They're calling Baton Rouge! The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SEC?src=hash">#SEC</a> Softball Tournament Bracket is set » <a href="http://t.co/MjZShjp8mm">http://t.co/MjZShjp8mm</a> <a href="http://t.co/KlbJuDsgWa">pic.twitter.com/KlbJuDsgWa</a></p>— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) <a href="https://twitter.com/SECNetwork/status/594987970253463553">May 3, 2015</a></blockquote>
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BASEBALL
For baseball, the guys came away with a huge series win over South Carolina. Auburn's pitching was rocked in Friday's game, but they came back with a vengeance over the weekend to take Saturday and Sunday. Hoover is almost assured as the Tigers got back to .500 in the SEC, and a series win over Alabama next weekend place the Tigers in excellent shape to reach an NCAA Regional.
Tuco gave us an update last week on what it would take for the Tigers to make it to Hoover, and Auburn did what they needed to do this weekend by taking two of three from the Gamecocks. With a 32-17 overall record and an RPI of 18 as of Saturday, it would take a monumental collapse over the remaining two SEC series and one mid-week game for Sunny Golloway's team not to make a Regional in his second season on the Plains.
Hopefully both sets of Tigers can keep the momentum going. The ladies into the post-season, and the guys through the end of the regular season and beyond.
War Eagle!