AUBURN, ALABAMA (EETV) For the first time in 2022, Jane B. Moore Field opened its gates to welcome fans for a full weekend of Auburn softball; with all eyes on them, head coach Mickey Dean’s squad delivered a weekend of competition worth watching, winning each of their first four games and posting yet another emphatic victory over UMass Lowell on Sunday afternoon.
To the delight of the orange and blue faithful, the Tigers were dialed in at the plate, hanging three runs in the first, blasting deep bombs in the ensuing pair of innings and setting a precedent for the remainder of the contest.
“I thought our kids did a really nice job,” Dean said. “We faced good pitching today. Their kid hadn’t allowed a run yet and so — I don’t care who you are — a pitcher is a pitcher. We jumped on her early and made her bring the ball down and we really capitalized on that.”
While the offensive production was just as present for the Tigers as it had been throughout the weekend; however, the effort of sophomore pitcher Shelby Lowe was arguably the most encouraging sight for fans of the orange and blue.
Despite coming into Sunday’s contest having already thrown 10 innings, allowing no earned runs and recording two wins, Lowe showed no signs of fatigue. The preseason all-conference pitcher tossed three innings, sat six hitters down on strikes and held the visiting Riverhawks scoreless before being subbed out for fellow sophomore Maddie Penta.
According to their skipper, the decision to split responsibility came due to pitches thrown ahead of Sunday.
“It was nice to have those five inning games and six inning games,” Dean said. “That’s how I decided that Shelby was going to start today. It wasn't anything other than Maddie had thrown about 70 more pitches than Shelby.”
With the Tigers’ blowout victory, Lowe improves to 3-0 on the young season.
“Our pitchers work ahead,” Dean said. “I think we have one of the best pitching staffs in the country and if our pitchers work ahead they’re going to have a great amount of success.”
With Sunday’s win, Auburn improves to 5-0 on the season and will now turn its attention to preparing for an appearance in the 2022 installment of the St. Pete Clearwater Invitational where the Tigers will take on the likes of Texas Tech, Wisconsin, Texas, UCLA and South Florida.
“The mistakes that we made this weekend, we won’t get away with next weekend,” Dean said. “We only get two days of practice but we’re going to watch video and try to clean some things up and then we’re going to go play.”
Auburn will take the field against Texas Tech on Thursday, Feb. 17 at 11:30 a.m. CST to kick off the weekend. The contest will be broadcast live on SEC Network and the ESPN app.
