AUBURN, Ala. – No. 22 University of South Alabama softball plated four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to go ahead of No. 4 Auburn, 4-2, but the Tigers stormed back with five unanswered runs to eliminate the Jaguars with a 7-4 victory in the final of the 2015 NCAA Auburn Regional on Sunday.
 
USA finishes the 2015 season 40-13, marking the program's fourth-straight 40-win season. South Alabama played in its fourth-consecutive NCAA Regional final on Sunday after claiming its third Sun Belt Conference Tournament title in four years a week ago.
 
Auburn (52-9) swept its regional this weekend, going 3-0 at Jane B. Moore Field to advance to the program's first-ever Super Regional. Auburn defeated South Alabama, 1-0, on Saturday to earn its spot in the final. USA dropped Tennessee Tech in the losers' bracket last night to claim a rematch versus the Tigers. The Jaguars would have had to defeat Auburn twice to advance to the Super Regional stage.
 
Jaguar sophomore center fielder Amanda Minahan supplied a one-out triple, her second of the weekend, and scored to cut Auburn's 2-0 lead in half on a fielder's choice off the bat of junior catcher Stephanie Pilkington in the bottom of the fourth inning. Freshman Kristian Foster drew a walk to load the bases, and classmate Haleigh Lowe singled to left field to score Johnson, who followed Minahan's triple with a base hit, as USA leveled the score at two-all.
 
Junior third baseman Emily Messer singled to right field to plate Pilkington, as USA took a 3-2 lead, and sophomore designated player Chloe Rathburn put the Jaguars up two runs with a bases-loaded walk. Rathburn's RBI was her 53rd of the year, which surpassed former USA standout Brittany Fowler's previous single-season program record.
 
Auburn answered with four unearned runs in the top of the fifth and scratched another across an inning later to build a four-run lead. USA went down in order in the final two innings.
 
Jaguar freshman Kalen McGill (16-4) suffered the loss after giving up five runs (all unearned) on seven hits with a strikeout in 3 1/3 relief innings. Starter Devin Brown allowed two runs (both earned) on four hits and walked a career-high eight batters in 3 2/3 total innings pitched. The Jaguars committed a pair of errors on the day.
 
Rachael Walters was credited with the win for Auburn, improving to 18-3 after throwing 3 2/3 shutout relief innings with three walks and a pair of strikeouts. Starter Lexi Davis threw 3 1/3 frames, allowing four runs (all earned) on six hits with two walks and a strikeout.
 
"First of all, I would like to say how proud I am of our kids," said USA head coach Becky Clark. "When you see them, I think you understand what South Alabama softball is all about. They have a tremendous amount of grit, heart and fight. That's what we stand for every time we come out. That's how we want to represent the university. I'm very proud of them giving us a chance today. It is a tough tournament when you take a senior pitcher out of the mix. When you look at what our two freshmen have done in order to give us a chance on Sunday, that was a pretty tall order. Those kids fought their tails off on the mound. Unfortunately, Farish Beard wasn't available. McGill and Brown gave us everything they had. Unfortunately, we came up short, and congratulations to Auburn for moving forward. They are a very good team and have done a very good job.

"I haven't had a chance to talk to them yet," added Clark in the postgame press conference. "I will talk to them in a minute, but when you look at the body of work these young ladies have put together, it is impressive. When you look at what our seniors have done, they have poured their hearts out for our program. I'm proud of them for that. Giving us a chance to move forward today, that was big time considering everything we had to overcome."

The 2015 Jaguars set single-season program records in one-base percentage (0.405), stolen base percentage (0.909), walks (215), fewest strikeouts (184) and saves (7), in addition to losing the second-fewest games in program history. Griffith set a new single-season home run standard with 14 this year, tying former USA standout Christin Crocker with the most in career history as well with 28 all-time. Griffith also hit a season-record six sacrifice flies. Rathburn and senior first baseman Amanda Herron tied the program's single-season record in doubles this year with 15 apiece.

Minahan's five triples set a new season record, along with Rathburn's 53 RBI.

Brown set a new season record in most strikeouts per seven innings, mowing down an average of 10.92 per outing.

Said Johnson to sum up her career at South Alabama, where she has played the most softball games of any student-athlete in school history, "It has been awesome. I would not trade it for the world. South Alabama softball has great things coming for it. The great things we were able to do in my four years have been amazing. Hats off to Auburn. They are a great team too, but we fight. I love it. Just don't count us out because we have everyone returning and new girls coming into the program. They are going to do it. Look out for South Alabama softball."
 
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).