Softball Game Preview: Auburn Tigers vs. Thompson Warriors

The Auburn Tigers will take on the Thompson Warriors in a tournament on Friday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (Auburn 3.9, Thompson 1.8) so any runs scored will be well earned.

Auburn is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Alabama's top teams: Central, who was ranked third at the time (Auburn was ranked 23rd). The Tigers might be feeling deja-vu: they lost 11-1 to the Red Devils, which was the same score (and result) they got the week prior. The pitching woes were uncharacteristic for the Tigers, who until this match were averaging 3.89 runs allowed.

Auburn saw five different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Peyton Fitzgerald, who went 2-for-3 with one triple.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Thompson). Their pitchers stepped up to hand Prattville a 15-0 shutout on Thursday. The win was familiar territory for the Warriors, who have now won ten games in a row.

Thompson's victory was their seventh straight at home, which pushed their record up to 27-2. Those home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.4 runs on average over those games. As for Auburn, their defeat ended a four-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 18-9.

Auburn might still be hurting after the 9-0 loss they got from Thompson in their previous meeting back in April of 2023. Can the Tigers avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.