Courtney Shea
Courtney Shea went 2 for 3 with a two-run home run against Kennesaw State. (Dakota Sumpter/Auburn Athletics)
(Dakota Sumpter)
Kasey Cooper didn't start but still managed to help Auburn win.
The Tigers All-American third baseman missed her first start in 135 games after taking a ground ball to the face during pregame warmups, causing a change to the lineup and shuffled batting order less than a half hour before the game.
Cooper, whose left cheek was swollen just below her eye, came in as a pinch hitter in the sixth and delivered a sacrifice fly to help lead No. 7 Auburn past Kennesaw State, 7-3, at Jane B. Moore Field Wednesday night.
Auburn coach Clint Myers said Cooper, who is hitting .300 with seven home runs and 34 RBI, will be reevaluated on Thursday and status for this weekend's series at South Carolina will be determined later.
"No indication anything's broke," Myers said. "The ball just kind of popped up on her. It's the face so we always take precaution."
Despite the late change to the lineup and batting order, with Victoria Draper leading off for the first time, Kendall Veach moving from first to third and Jenna Abbott coming in at first, Auburn managed to get 11 hits, including four extra-base hits.
"I feel like we have to be able to handle disaster and I can guess you can consider that a disaster," said catcher Courtney Shea, who hit a two-run home run to put Auburn up 4-2 in the fourth. "I think it was good Jenna was able to step in. ... I think it's good that we have backup plans."
Auburn (37-7) took a 2-0 lead in the third on a pair of RBI doubles from Carlee Wallace and Alyssa Rivera.
Kennesaw State (31-14) tied it in the fourth on a two-run single from Kira Czyrklis, but the Tigers retook the lead in the bottom of the frame when Shea lined a 3-1 pitch over the wall in right for her fifth home run of the season.
"I was looking for a good pitch to hit," Shea said, "and I feel like I got my barrel on that one."
After Kennesaw State got a run back in the sixth, Auburn scored three runs in the bottom of the inning on an RBI double from Abbott, single by Casey McCrackin that snapped an 0 for 16 skid and sacrifice fly by Cooper.
The bottom four of the Auburn lineup had five runs scored and four RBI but with a chance to break the game wide open and get a run-rule win with the bases loaded and one out in the sixth, the Tigers struck out twice and couldn't capitalize.
"It's important that we have more than just two people in the front of the lineup trying to score runs for us," Myers said. "We're better than that and we need to prove it. we got to stop talking about it; we've been doing a lot of talking.
"We got to go out and spank somebody, let them know that Auburn is for real."