Maddie Penta has been outstanding throughout most of her seven starts this season.

Her eighth wasn't very good.

The Tigers' freshman right-hander, in her first conference start, surrendered three runs during a bumpy first inning and never really recovered from those early missteps. She allowed four earned runs in four innings of work and absorbed her first loss of the season.

Alabama won, 6-0.

"For Maddie, it’s working ahead," coach Mickey Dean said. "It’s not the singles that get you, it’s the balls that leave the park. That usually occurs when they’re seeing a lot of pitches. (Penta) would waste too many pitches."

Penta needed 83 pitches to get through her four-plus innings Friday night. Her biggest blight came during the first inning, when she left a changeup over the middle of the plate on a 1-2 count. Alabama catcher Bailey Hemphill deposited the pitch well beyond the fence in left field for a two-run homer.

Penta surrendered a second homer to Hemphill during to open the fifth inning. That ended Penta's night.

"If you’re going to pitch as much as these pitchers are gonna pitch, they’re going to have games like that," Dean said. "Now our pitchers can see that great-hitting teams are going to make you pay for your mistakes."

Auburn's hitters made some mistakes of their own.

The Tigers loaded the bases during the first inning (one out) and the third inning (zero outs) and didn't push a single run across. Auburn went 0-for-5 with two strikeouts in those situations.

"Today we were 0-fer. We can't be 0-fer," Dean said. "We just have to be better than that. That’s momentum. That changes things."

Auburn (16-2) resumes play Saturday for the series' second game. First pitch is scheduled for 4:02 p.m. CST and the game will be available via streaming at WatchESPN.com.