Auburn softball coach Mickey Dean evaluates Shelby Lowe's outing vs. Kentucky

Auburn softball coach Mickey Dean was appreciative of Shelby Lowe’s outing against Kentucky Monday night, during a 1-1 game in the 4th inning.

Through four innings, Lowe gave up just two hits and one earned run, although it was a home run. Lowe also had two strikeouts.

Speaking on the broadcast on SEC Network, Dean gave the latest on his pitcher.

“She’s doing a nice job working both sides of the plate and changing eye level,” Dean said. “So as long as she can continue to do that, she’ll experience some success.”

Kentucky starter Stephanie Schoonover went 3.2 innings at the time of Dean’s interview and only allowed one hit and one earned run. She also had four strikeouts.

“Well, I mean tonight she’s done a lot of first pitch strikes,” Dean said. “So what was the pitch that McKayla hit? It was the first pitch. And so you know, good pitchers are difficult to hit when you’re down 0-2, so if you don’t swing the bat, it makes it difficult. So she’s gonna come at you then you need to be ready and you need to attack.”

Coming into the game, Dean and Auburn lost the first two of a three-game series against the Wildcats, 5-2 and 2-1, respectively.

“It comes down to timely hitting,” Dean said after the game Sunday. “The team that gets the timely hits wins the ball game. They got it, and we didn’t.”

In a pitcher’s duel between Auburn’s Maddie Penta and Kentucky’s Sydney Langdon, both teams were held to just two hits on Sunday, but Kentucky came up with clutch hits.

The Wildcats led 2-0 after a two-run 4th inning and Auburn only responded with one run in the bottom of the sixth. As far as Dean and the Tigers, they certainly needed the game Monday night to salvage the series against the Wildcats.

Following the series against the Wildcats, Dean and his squad will travel to Oxford for a three-game set against Ole Miss (April 26-28) and then return home for three against rival Alabama (May 2-4).