Auburn softball stumbles in extra innings to South Florida – Auburn Tigers

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Amelia Lech’s second home run of the afternoon extended the game to the ninth inning, but South Florida (44-14-1) scored five unanswered in the top of the frame to take down Auburn Softball (32-23) 12-7 in extra innings Friday at JoAnne Graf Field in the opening game of the Tallahassee Regional. 

“We came out aggressive,” said co-head coach Chris Malveaux. “We had a lot of good things going at the beginning. South Florida is a good team. You don’t win 40 games in a season for no reason. They took advantage of the openings that they got. I didn’t feel like we fought less. The game just didn’t go our way today. We had opportunities throughout the game but couldn’t come through. We struggled closing out innings in the circle. One thing we’ve got to do is not make it bigger than it is. We still get to get up tomorrow morning and get back at it.”

Auburn put up five runs in the first inning, but South Florida scored six over the middle innings to take its first lead of the game. Aubrie Lisenby tied the game in the sixth with an RBI single, which ultimately led to extra innings. After the two teams traded one-out, solo home runs in the eighth, South Florida scored five in the top of the ninth to win the game. 

Lisenby led the Tigers at the plate with a 3-for-4 effort, tying her season high in hits. Entering the game with just two home runs this season, Lech doubled her home run total after knocking two and driving in four of Auburn’s seven runs. Rose Roach, KK McCrary and Abbey Smith also all turned in multi-hit games for the Tigers. 

Auburn’s offense came out firing with singles from Nelia Peralta and McCrary to put traffic on the bases with one out for Anna Wohlers. Wohlers lined a ball to right center to drive in a run. The Bulls were able to make a play at the plate to keep the Tigers from adding to its lead on the play. 

Two outs didn’t slow down the offense. After Icess Tresvik reached via a walk, Roach drove in a run with a single to left center. Lech broke open the game with three-run blast down the left field line to push the first-inning lead to 5-0.  

🚨 BIG INNING ALERT 🚨

We LECH it 💣

📺: ESPNU #WarEagle | @amelia62746659 pic.twitter.com/ZH1KXRYiwK

— Auburn Softball (@AuburnSoftball) May 16, 2025

South Florida used a two-out rally in the top of the second to chip into the lead. With two on via a walk and a single, a two-out single to center from Kathy Garcia-Soto plated a pair of…