AU ROUNDUP: Softball blasts Mississippi State

Special to the News
Published: March 12, 2008

Myesha Finney’s three-run home run capped a five-run outburst and propelled the Auburn softball team to an 8-0 victory over 15th-ranked Mississippi State on Wednesday afternoon at Jane B. Moore Field.

The win earned the Tigers a series victory over Mississippi State and improved Auburn’s record to 22-4 overall and 2-1 in the Southeastern Conference. The Bulldogs fell to 22-6 overall and 1-2 in the SEC.

“I’m really proud of our team’s effort today,” Auburn head coach Tina Deese said.

“We had good run production from the top, middle and bottom part of our batting order. Brittany Day did an outstanding job pitching, holding them to only two hits. It was just a great effort all the way around.”

Day moved to 6-1 on the season after throwing 5.0 innings and surrendering just two hits and no walks. Day struck out seven in the effort. In 9.0 innings of work against the Bulldogs, Day allowed two hits, had 11 strikeouts and earned two wins.

Misty Flesher (7-4) took the loss for Mississippi State after giving up two runs, both earned, on three hits in 1.1 innings of work.

Men’s tennis travels to Blue-Gray Invitational
The No. 28-ranked Auburn men’s tennis team hopes to bounce back from a two-match losing streak this weekend as the team travels to Montgomery for the Blue-Gray National Tennis Classic.

The Tigers (6-5, 2-2 SEC) take on Brown University (6-6) in the first round of the tournament today at 9 a.m. The winner will take on the winner of the Oklahoma State-Furman match.

Auburn enters the tournament after dropping a pair of SEC road matches last weekend, falling to No. 5 Ole Miss (4-1) and No. 49 Mississippi State (4-3).

“I was not happy with the way we played last weekend,” head coach Eric Shore said.

“Hopefully, it was a wake-up call to the guys, and I expect us to come out ready to play this Thursday.”

The match against Brown will be the first meeting between the Tigers and the Bears. Although both teams have traveled to the Blue-Gray Classic multiple times in recent years, the two have never had the opportunity to compete head-to-head.

Brown has not had much success in the tournament in recent years, going 0-3 in 2006 and 2007, but Shore said he is not taking this match for granted.