"She gave me a screwball and i just hit it"

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theplainsman.com

Auburn avoids sweep in game three win against Kentucky

4–5 minutes

Auburn avoided the sweep against the No. 23 Kentucky Wildcats on Monday night, winning a 4-1 ballgame at Jane B. Moore field. 

Kentucky got on the board first as Erin Coffel hit a solo-home run to center field in the top of the first. It proved to be the lone run for the Wildcats as pitcher Shelby Lowe responded by holding them to five hits in her seven innings of work, recording four strikeouts along the way. 

 

“Just keeping them off-balance,” Lowe said on her performance. “Working side-to-side and getting them to chase outside of the strike zone and really working up and down, just keeping their eye level off balance.

“It feels good. It feels good to have confidence again. That’s a hard thing to earn back. So, I’m working on it and I’ve earned it back.” 

Auburn head coach Mickey Dean had high praise for the senior after she improved to 7-3 on the season with the win tonight.

“She did a masterful job,” Dean said. “That’s back-to-back-to-back (games) 100+ pitches. She hasn’t done that since her freshman year. We’re excited. She’s excited.” 

Makayla Packer got the scoring started for the Tigers in the bottom of the second inning with a solo-home run that she blasted over the wall in left field. 

“Our video analyst, she talked to us about taking a lot of pitches,” said Packer. “Like we’re 50%, and so I went into that box and I was like ‘see strike hit strike’ and she gave me the screwball and I just hit it.” 

 

Packer scored another run in the bottom of the fifth after reaching on a walk and stealing second. Millie Roberts moved her to third on a single through the right side of the infield. Annabelle Widra grounded out to first base and Packer was initially called out at the plate, but after review, the call was reversed giving the Tigers another run to extend their lead. 

Widra doubled to left-center in the sixth and KK McCrary and Mariah Penta reached on a walk and a hit-by-pitch to give the Tigers loaded bases with one out. Amelia Lech walked allowing Taliah Martin, who pinch ran for Widra, to score. An at-bat later, Packer reached on a fielder’s choice to second base driving in McCrary. 

On a night where hits were scarce for the Tigers, recording only three hits to Kentucky's five, Auburn was able to capitalize on offensive opportunities to salvage the series. 

“It’s about the runs. It really is. You know, we got beat on what, two hits last night? So, it’s not about the hits, it's about the runs. You’ve got to be able to score runs,” Dean said. 

Up next for the Tigers is a trip to Oxford, Miss for a three-game series against Ole Miss. The series begins on Friday, April 26 at 5 p.m. CST. Television coverage will be available on the SEC Network and the matchup can be heard around the state on the Auburn Sports Network.

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Logan Fowler | Sports Writer

Logan Fowler is a junior from Sumiton, Alabama, majoring in journalism. He joined The Plainsman in Spring 2024.

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auburntigers.com

Auburn softball storms back to take down No. 24 Kentucky 4-1

Auburn University Athletics

~3 minutes

AUBURN, Ala. – Behind another stellar performance by Shelby Lowe, Auburn softball (25-15-1, 6-12 SEC) scored four unanswered runs to take down No. 24 Kentucky (29-16, 7-11 SEC) 4-1 Monday night at Jane B. Moore Field.

  "They have to recognize their greatness," said head coach Mickey Dean. "Sometimes in a space of time, you aren't where you want to be when it comes to wins and losses. We're not where we want to be, but you have to look at home many 'championship' games, those final games of the series, that we have won. That's a big deal. It's going to mean a great deal at the end of the season and postseason. It shows us that we're good on championship day."

  In another complete game effort, Lowe (7-3) held the Kentucky offense to just five hits. The Wildcats lone run was off an Erin Coffel solo home run in the first inning. Lowe issued two walks and struck out four to help strand five base runners, including leaving the bases loaded in the sixth.

  Auburn totaled three hits on Monday, but the biggest was from senior Makayla Packer. Her second home run of the season, a solo shot to left in the second inning, locked the game at 1-1.

  Packer's speed was key in the Tigers scoring the go-ahead run in the fifth. Drawing a walk and making her way to third off a stolen base and a Mille Roberts pinch-hit single, Packer raced home on an Annabelle Widra groundball back to the pitching circle. The Wildcats seemingly turned an inning-ending double play to end, but Auburn challenged the out call at home. The call was reversed as Packer slid safely under the tag.

  Anna Wohlers' one-out double sparked the scoring in the sixth. The Tigers loaded the bases behind her with a walk and hit by pitch before Amelia Lech drew a bases-loaded walk to plate an insurance run. Packer picked up her second RBI of the night off a fielder's choice as the Wildcats attempted to make the force out at the plate, but all hands were safe.

  Auburn continues SEC action this weekend with its final road series when the Tigers travel to Ole Miss. First pitch on the SEC Network is set for 5 p.m. CT.

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247sports.com

 

The Comeback Kid Lowes dominance lifts Auburn softball to win over Kentucky

Phillip Marshall

5–7 minutes

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Shelby Lowe pitched her second complete game in win over Kentucky. (Photo: Auburn University)

AUBURN, Alabama – For the better part of two years, senior Auburn softball left-hander Shelby Lowe battled through pain, disappointment and frustration. But never did she give up on her goal of getting back to where she was as a freshman when she was selected for the All-SEC team, the All-SEC freshman team and had a 1.48 ERA in 165 2/3 innings.

And now she is back. Kentucky and LSU can attest to it.

Sunday, in a game Auburn desperately needed to win, she went the distance in the circle. Auburn beat Kentucky 4-1. She gave up five hits and struck out four. Only two Kentucky baserunners reached third base.

When it was over, Lowe hugged teammates. She was on the ESPN set. And she was smiling a lot.

"It feels good to have confidence again," Lowe said. "That's a hard thing to earn back, and I'm earning it back. I have worked really hard these past two years to get back. It's a true blessing to be able to pitch seven innings again."

Lowe's family was there to celebrate with her.

"It was very special," Lowe said. "Having everybody here makes it even better."

Back in 2002, before Lowe felt discomfort in her left forearm, it was reasonable to expect those kinds of games would be the norm. But the discomfort became pain. She sat out some weekends and tried to pitch in others, but it wasn't the same.

After having two surgeries in the summer before her junior season, there was hope that Lowe would return to the form of her freshman year. But there was still discomfort. She could not throw all those nasty breaking pitches hitters hated. Even this season, she was inconsistent early. But she's been nothing but consistent in recent weeks.

Against Kentucky, Lowe pitched 11 innings and gave up one run. She had to leave Saturday's game because of stiffness after four lightning delays and a 1:38 rain delay. She could only watch as a 2-0 Auburn lead became a 5-2 loss.

At LSU, Lowe went the distance, giving up just three hits in Auburn's series-clinching victory. She had pitched 4 1/3 innings, giving up five hits, Auburn's series-opening 3-2 victory.

No one has enjoyed watching Lowe come back than head coach Mickey Dean, who will step down for health reasons when the season is over.

"She did a masterful job," Dean said. "She was rolling on Saturday night. It would have been nice if she could have finished that one."

Lowe has thrown more than 100 pitches in each of the complete games.

"She hasn't done that since her freshman year," Dean said. "We are excited. She is excited."

The win kept the Tigers in position to make a move in the jockeying for SEC Tournament position. They improved to 24-15-1 overall and 6-12 in the SEC. They caught South Carolina in the standings and are one game behind Kentucky. They are two games behind Alabama and Missouri.

After dropping the first two games against Kentucky in disappointing fashion, Sunday's game became, for Auburn, the most important of the weekend. It was Shelby Lowe Weekend, and Lowe had been honored on Saturday. And she carried the load Monday night.

It seemed like it might not happen when Kentucky star Erin Coffel hit a 3-2 pitch over the centerfield fence for a one-out home run in the first inning. Lowe was unfazed.

Makayla Packer hit a home run, drove in two runs and scored two runs for Auburn. (Photo: Auburn University)

Auburn's Makayla Packer tied it with a solo homer in the second, and the duel was on between Lowe and Kentucky ace Stephanie Schoonover. Lowe would not give up another run, though she had to pitch out of some serious trouble in the top of the sixth.

With the score tied 1-1, Kentucky loaded the bases with one out on a single, a walk and another single. But Lowe got a strikeout and a popup to shortstop to end it.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Tigers took the lead. A Packer walk and stolen base and a pinch-hit single by Millie Roberts put runners on first and third with nobody out. Icess Tresvik returned to replace Roberts and stole second. Packer broke for home on the throw but was caught in a rundown. Tresvik kept going to third, but Packer got back safely. Tresvik was tagged out.

Annabelle Widra grounded out to the pitcher. When the throw went fo first, Packer broke for home again. She was called out by the home plate umpire, but the call was reversed on review and Auburn led 2-1 going to the sixth.

After Ann Wohlers hit a two-out double in the bottom of the sixth, Auburn scored a run on a bases-loaded walk and another on a Packer's run-scoring fielder's choice. Kentucky got a groundball single in the top of the seventh but nothing more.

Packer was a big problem for the Wildcats. She scored two of Auburn's runs and drove in the other two. Her home run tied the game. Her sprint from third gave Auburn the lead. She said she took off and never looked back.

"I used my speed to my advantage," Packer said. "I saw it and I took it. I was past the third-place coach. I just ran."

Packer said video coordinator Savanna Parker deserved some credit for her home run. Parker told Auburn players before Monday's game that they were swinging at less than 50 percent of first-pitch strikes. Packer took her words to heart.

"(She) talked to us about taking a lot of pitches we should hit," Packer said. (Schoonover) threw me a screwball, and I just hit it."

Auburn goes to Ole Miss for a three-game series starting Friday before returning home to play Alabama in the final series of the regular season.

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al.com

Learning from 'Miss. Shelby': Auburn softball's Shelby Lowe goes back to kindergarten

Published: Apr. 24, 2024, 6:00 a.m.

5–6 minutes

There’s a lot that can be learned from Auburn senior pitcher Shelby Lowe.

Having tossed more than 450 strikeouts in her career while maintaining a 2.22 ERA, it’s likely the southpaw pitcher can teach one a thing or two about carving up batters.

Lowe can also offer a lesson in perseverance after having undergone multiple surgeries on her pitching arm during her time at Auburn. Up until Auburn’s series-clinching win over LSU on April 14, Lowe hadn’t pitched a complete game since her last surgery.

“It feels good to have confidence again,” Lowe said Monday night after pitching her second complete game of the season. “It’s a hard thing to earn back, so I’m working on it and earning it back.”

Take Lowe away from the softball field, and you’ll still find her teaching lessons.

A self-proclaimed “magnet to kids,” Lowe is an aspiring teacher and is currently helping teach an elementary class at Cary Woods Elementary School. There, she’s teaching lessons about the life cycle of a butterflies, the infamous “Sneaky E” and some math here and there.

And she’s good at it, too.

“They are a worm first. Then they’re a chrysalis, and then a butterfly,” recited Weslyn, who is one of Lowe’s kindergarten students at Cary Woods Elementary School.

Meanwhile, Rhett, also a kindergartener at Cary Woods, says Miss. Shelby taught him all about the “Sneaky E,” which refers to the silent letter ‘E’ that comes at the end of certain words.

“Like ‘take’ and ‘cake,’” Rhett explained between glances at the pitching circle, where Miss. Shelby toed the rubber.

With popcorn and Dippin’ Dots fueling the fire, excitement was bubbling over for Weslyn, Rhett and another handful of Lowe’s students, who spent Saturday afternoon running and jumping around the concourse of Jane B. Moore Field, where Auburn softball was celebrating “Shelby Lowe Day” — otherwise known as Lowe’s senior day.

“This has been a plan that we’ve put into place, Auburn encouraged it, like two and a half months ago — like in January,” said Meg Burns, a kindergarten teacher at Cary Woods and supervises Lowe’s internship. “And they have been excited since the first time it was mentioned.”

Throughout the season, Burns has showed the class videos of Lowe when she’s pitched for the Tigers.

“They just think it’s the coolest thing ever,” Burns said of Lowe’s students watching her on TV.

On Saturday, there was no screen needed to watch Lowe pitch for Auburn.

Instead, as Lowe was announced as the Tigers’ starting pitcher for Auburn’s series-opening game against Kentucky, she ran between two lines made up of her waist-high students, being sure to high-five each one.

“Great!,” announced Rhett when asked about the experience. “She’s a fast pitcher.”

The excitement of Lowe’s students, who came to Saturday’s game toting orange and blue shakers and handwritten signs, is a testament to the relationships she’s fostered with each of the students.

“She really loves the kids. She gets the curriculum done, but then she’ll also cut up with them and have fun and be silly, which is really important in kindergarten,” said Burns, who is finishing up her 24th year of teaching this year. “One of the biggest things in teaching is you have to get the kids to love you first before you can teach them so they respect you and she did that right off the bat and has had a lot of fun with them.”

Being a Division I athlete has forced Lowe’s internship experience to look a bit different, Burns says.

Because the internship requires that students log a certain number of days in the classroom, Lowe had to start her internship back in November to take into account some of the time she’d miss for softball.

“Her situation has been really unique because she’s a D1 athlete,” Burns said. “You know, she had to leave early to go to practice and workouts and traveling for games and everything.”

But Lowe has made it work — even when it’s required her to go to workouts on her own instead of with her teammates.

“I have a lot of people who work with me to be able to work around it,” Lowe said. “And I enjoy going to school every day, so I think it’s fun. I think it’s worth my time, so tired or not, I’m going to be there.”

After all, there’s teaching to be done and lessons to be learned.

And while Lowe has positioned herself to be the one doing the teaching, she’s learned a thing or two from her students.

“You really just learn that they’re going to love you regardless. They’re really looking for someone to love them and that’s what they need,” Lowe said. “They really just teach you to be a great person, honestly.”

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