The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Auburn
Softball Falls In Home Opener Against Auburn, 4-3
2/17/2004 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Feb. 17, 2004
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- Despite charging out to an early 3-0 lead, the UAB softball team lost its 2004 home opener on Tuesday as the Blazers surrendered four runs on nine hits against the Auburn Tigers in a 4-3 defeat at George Ward Park.
"I felt like we didn't play our best softball today," said UAB head coach Marla Townsend. "It was a very disappointing loss for us and I'm disappointed in our performance. I don't think that we came to play and I'm looking forward to next Tuesday's games so that we can get this loss out of our minds."
UAB (1-6) jumped out to an initial 3-0 lead on Tuesday as freshman Holly Krzan and junior Kris Lara recorded a pair of key hits in the bottom of the first inning.
To get the rally started, the Blazers' Sara Christophel led the inning off with a walk and then Krzan ripped a single into centerfield. After Auburn (12-2) earned the first out of the inning, UAB's Amanda Ellis drew a walk and Kris Lara lined a shot through the left side to plate the Blazers' first run of the game.
The Tigers then took out starting pitcher Beth DiPietro and replaced her with Kristen Keyes. Against the second batter that Keyes faces, Auburn's catcher Sara Dean attempted to throw behind the runner at first base, but the Tigers' Martha Phillips missed the throw and allowed two more UAB runs to score.
After the Blazers' Beth Mullins and Ellis scored to make the score 3-0, Auburn's Keyes did not allow a hit for the remainder of the game. She pitched the final 6 2/3 innings of the contest, retired every batter that she faced and struck out 13.
"She (Keyes) did a great job," Townsend said. "She struck out 13 of the 20 batters that she faced and we couldn't get it going. We did make some good adjustments in our at-bats at the end of the game, but I felt that we should have made them a little bit earlier."
Auburn scored two runs in the second inning and then notched another pair in the top of the fifth frame. The Tigers' Ashley Griffin went 2-for-3 on the day and scored a run, while her teammate Dean finished 2-for-4 and also scored a run.
"We made some defensive errors tonight that we can't afford to make," said Townsend. "We're not putting the ball into play right now and that makes our errors more costly. We need to start manufacturing some more runs and we feel as if they spotted us three runs today and we couldn't take advantage of it."
The UAB softball team will next be in action on Tuesday, Feb. 24, as the Blazers square off against the Jacksonville State Gamecocks in a doubleheader beginning at 4 p.m., in Jacksonville, Ala.
Auburn (12-2) def. UAB (1-6), 4-3
AU 020 020 0 - 4 9 1
UAB 300 000 0 - 3 2 1
Top Hitters: UAB, Krzan 1-3 R, Lara 1-3 RBI; AU, Griffin 2-3 R, Dean 2-4 R. WP: Kristen Keyes (6-2), LP: Erica Mascarenas (1-3)
