#3 Auburn Softball Sweeps #12 Kentucky in Lexington

Auburn continues to role through the SEC as they picked up their second sweep in a row. This weekend's was even bigger since it was over the 12th ranked team in the nation and it was on the road. With the sweep, Auburn improved to 33-4 on the season, 9-3 in conference play. The Tigers are currently on an 8-game winning streak.

Friday (9-0 Victory, 5 innings)

Kaylee Carlson pitched a fantastic 2-hit shutout Friday night as Auburn racked up 9 runs over the course of five innings to secure yet another mercy rule victory. The Tigers got things started off early, as they've been wont to do this season, with 3 runs in the first inning thanks to a 3-run shot by the Colossus of Rhodes increasing her team leading total to 12 on the season. 5 more runs in the 3rd inning were enough for the Tigers, but they added one more for good measure in the 4th inning when Jade Rhodes picked up yet another RBI for her 4th of the game.

Saturday (6-5 Victory)

The Saturday contest was much more competitive, and once again they picked up 5 runs in a single inning, which proved to be the difference. Kentucky jumped on the 1-0 lead early in this one before Auburn's bats picked up in the 3rd. Kasey Cooper's 11th home run of the season, a 2-run shot, started things off in the 3rd. Kentucky would battle back late, but thanks to Emily Carosone driving in Tiffany Howard in the top of the 6th, Kentucky's 2-run 6th inning still left the Wildcats 1 run short.

Freshman Makayla Martin got the start, and the win. Marcy Harper came on in relief, but didn't record an out. She was replaced by Rachel Walters, who finished out the 6th inning and then struck out the side in the bottom of the 7th for the Tigers to pick up the game and the series victory.

Crazy winds had a part to play in Saturday's game. The gif below shows just how nuts the winds were, with gusts reaching 40mph at one point. In the final stanza, the umpire had to call timeout because the wind blew dirt into his eyes.

Tough being an outfielder today with wind gusts 40 MPH+, Morgan Podany makes the 3rd out of the inning on this snag: pic.twitter.com/iRmZ7ERJel

— Auburn Softball (@Auburn_Softball) April 2, 2016

Sunday (3-1 Victory)

Sunday's game picked up where Saturday's left off, with runs hard to come by. Auburn's lone run came on yet another Jade Rhodes home run. The Wildcats were able to get a run back late, though. The game went into extra innings, and Auburn thankfully remained undefeated in games that go beyond regulation. It took all the way to the 9th inning before Auburn broke the tie in the 9th with 2 runs to take the 3-1 lead. They held off the Wildcats and left Lexington with the sweep.

Pitching remains the strong point with this team, as the Tigers allowed few runs throughout the weekend. The strong hitters, Tiffany Howard, Kasey Cooper, Jade Rhodes, etc, remain strong. They'll play a mid-week game Wednesday against Troy before welcoming Longwood (who is Longwood!?) to the Plains for a three game series this weekend.