Lack of 'zone discipline' dooms Tigers Saturday

Mickey Dean has spent the past six months teaching his hitters to understand the difference between a pitch they can hit and a pitch they cannot hit.

The Auburn coach thought his hitters understood that difference.

Now he's not so sure.

The Tigers failed to create much havoc at the plate during their 4-1 loss to Alabama Saturday night. Three singles in 23 at-bats was the final tally, but the seven strikeouts seemed to bother Dean the most.

"I see lack of zone discipline," he said. "The better the pitching, the more difficult it is. We just haven't seen (a lack of zone discipline) for the last couple weeks. It showed its ugly head yesterday and tonight."

Auburn, which dropped Friday's game 6-0, needed a win Saturday to at least salvage a chance to win the series. Alabama starter Montana Fouts was more than up to the task, however, and seemed to strengthen as the game progressed.

Her most important at-bat occurred during the sixth inning, when she coaxed a strikeout from Auburn sophomore catcher Aspyn Godwin with two runners on base. The final pitch was a riseball above Godwin's eyes.

There was no way Godwin could have made contact. That's exactly what had Dean so frustrated afterward.

Is it a function of players being scared? Or perhaps inexperience is to blame?

"I think it may be different for each person," Dean said. "If you were seeing it just out of freshmen, you’d understand it. Two of them were seniors and one was a sophomore. When you practice and practice and practice, you should be able to develop that discipline. It’s not the first at-bat (of the game); it's the third at-bat after months of training."

Auburn's difficulties at the plate undermined a generally strong performance from freshman left-hander Shelby Lowe, who conceded just one run through the first five innings Saturday. She ran into trouble during the sixth inning, though, and conceded back-to-back doubles that moved Alabama ahead 3-1.

The Tide tacked on a final run against reliever KK Dismukes during the seventh inning.

Of note, Lowe was particularly careful, or perhaps shrewd, when pitching to Bailey Hemphill. The Tide's catcher crushed a pair of home runs Friday night, but finished with two walks and twice was hit by pitch in four plate appearances Saturday.

Lowe wasn't going to let Hemphill be the heroine again. Still, Alabama had enough firepower without her.

Dean says the Friday and Saturday losses add pressure to the Tigers' task Sunday.

"Any games you let go now, you have to make up for at some point," he said.

First pitch Sunday is scheduled for 2 p.m. The game will be televised by the SEC Network.