Softball Weekly Recap - Sweeping Up Wildcat Hair

After taking down Alabama last weekend at home to win their first SEC series, Mickey Dean’s Auburn Tigers took another one, this time over the Kentucky Wildcats. That followed a huge midweek victory against Alabama State, and the Tigers’ record now stands at 31-6 overall, 5-4 in the SEC.

First, let’s remember what used to be the Alabama State softball team.

Final score: 22-0, Auburn. The Tiger pitching trio of Chardonnay Harris, Ashlee Swindle, and Kara Bilodeau allowed just one hit in five innings, and Auburn cranked out 15 hits, scoring eight runs in the first, five in the second, and nine in the third before cruising to the run-rule victory.

After getting an easy and satisfying win in the midweek, the Tigers welcomed Kentucky to the Plains for the second straight home conference series. UK had been swept by Florida, and then swept LSU in the first two series of the season, and there were no illusions about Auburn having an easy time at home.

In game one of the series, the Tigers built a three-run lead before Kentucky tacked on a run in the 7th inning to close the gap, but it wasn’t enough. A solid 3-1 win aside, there was a lot happening in Auburn on Friday night.

That broken record that’s indicated was Victoria Draper’s single-season school record of 34 stolen bases, with many more games to go.

I believe it’ll be hard to leave her off the All-SEC First Team when the regular season concludes. Either way, the 3-1 win was a little sleepy aside from the broken record, but the next night the fans in attendance got to see one of the best games of the year.

Tied 0-0 at the end of regulation, Auburn and Kentucky proceeded to play into the TWELFTH inning, with Kaylee Carlson dealing for the duration. Needing just one run, it takes one good look at a ball to end the game, and that’s exactly what happened.

Snow’s fifth homer of the year ended the tense action and gave Auburn the series win. It also gave Snow a little extra hydration after the long bomb.

With the series in hand, Auburn turned its attention to clinching the sweep on Sunday, and that they did.

Casey McCrackin opened the scoring with a solo home run in the first inning, taking back the team lead for homers and giving Auburn the early advantage. Kentucky went up with a two-run third, but Auburn countered with three in the bottom half of the frame to get back a lead at 4-2. Both teams would score two more runs, but the Tigers would stay out in front and take the win, and the sweep.

Here are your stat leaders after three weekends of conference play:

• BATTING AVERAGE - Victoria Draper - .416
• HITS - Victoria Draper - 42
• RUNS - Victoria Draper - 33
• DOUBLES - Alyssa Rivera/Justus Perry - 8
• TRIPLES - Taylon Snow - 3
• HOME RUNS - Casey McCrackin - 6
• WALKS - Morgan Podany/Casey McCrackin - 22
• STOLEN BASES - Victoria Draper - 35 (NEW Auburn record)

And your pitching leaders as well:

• WINS - Kaylee Carlson - 14
• COMPLETE GAMES - Kaylee Carlson - 7
• ERA - Kaylee Carlson - 0.62
• STRIKEOUTS - Kaylee Carlson - 85
• OPPONENT BATTING AVERAGE - Kaylee Carlson/Makayla Martin - .194

Next up: @ Ole Miss, vs Kennesaw State, vs Tennessee