BY NOAH GRIFFITH
FOR THE OBSERVER
AUBURN —
With two wins over Smiths Station and two losses to Central in the AHSAA 7A Area 4 Tournament, Auburn High School softball will head to the Region Tournament as the Area 4 runners up.
After game one’s 11-3 defeat of the Panthers, Auburn could not get anything going offensively and was shut out twice by the Red Devils, 3-0, then 15-0. While Central will advance as the area champions, Auburn took the win, 10-2, in the runner-up game with Smiths Station to advance to play in the Region Tournament on Thursday, May 11.
With the season on the line, the Tigers sent Abigail Helms to the circle. The sophomore picked up her 13th win of the season, going four innings and allowing just two runs (one earned) on four hits and three strikeouts.
Meanwhile, senior Ivey Davis continued to dazzle from the leadoff spot, going 3-for-3 with two runs and an RBI. This improved her season average to .353 with a team-leading .465 OBP.
Sophomore Daley Alsobrook added to the damage with a two-run homer, and sophomore Katie Johnson went 2-for-4 with three RBIs, increasing her team-leading batting average to .384.
Senior Allie Roberts had a comparatively quiet game at the plate, but the team’s ace kept her arm hot as well, pitching the final three innings and only allowing a single base runner on a walk. The Huntingdon College commit didn’t allow a run or a hit while tallying three Ks to tick her ERA down to 2.09.
After coming through with 12 hits and 10 runs as a team in the win-or-go-home game, the Tigers will look to keep the offense rolling against Enterprise (30-11), the Area 3 champion. Auburn only faced Enterprise once in the regular season on March 18 and lost, 2-0.
In the same double-elimination tournament, Central will face Area 3’s runner up, Prattville. Auburn lost each of four matchups against Central this year, but it got the best of Prattville in both matchups, 6-0 and 4-3, in February and March. The Region Tournament will start at 9:30 a.m. CST from Lagoon Park in Montgomery, as Auburn High softball vies for its first ever 7A State Championship. Game 2 will take place at 1:45 p.m. and, if necessary, game three is at 4:45 p.m.