Florida vs. Auburn Softball

Auburn infielder Madi Gipson (4) throws in from right field during an NCAA softball game against Florida Saturday, March 12, 2016, at Jane B. Moore Field in Auburn, Ala. (Julie Bennett/jbennett@al.com) ORG XMIT: ALBIN

(JULIE BENNETT)

The No. 3 Auburn softball team dropped its opening SEC series of the season Saturday with an 8-5 home loss to top-ranked and undefeated Florida.

Emily Carosone's solo home run gave Auburn an early first-inning lead before Florida tied the game in the second and pulled ahead in the third with a two-run homer from Amanda Lorenz. The Tigers retook the lead in the bottom of the third with back-to-back home runs from Kasey Cooper and Carlee Wallace, but Nicole DeWitt's three-run bomb in the fourth put the Gators back on top for good.

Florida moved to 26-0 and 2-0 in the SEC with the win while Auburn dropped to 22-3, 0-2. The Gators won Game 1 Saturday night, 6-3.

"We had some opportunities," said Auburn head coach Clint Myers. "We made three basic, little mistakes. And that's the stuff we have to figure out -- the little things.

"The pitching was not that good today, but to be a great team you've got to have good pitching, you've got to play good defense and you've got to have timely hitting. We got three two out of the three. We just gave them too many free passes."

Alicia Ocasio (9-0) pitched the final four inning for Florida and got the win. She allowed three hits and one run with four strikeouts in relief of starter Kelly Barnhill, who also had four strikeouts. Auburn's Rachael Walters (2-2) took the loss after allowing two hits and one earned run in one inning.

Marcy Harper started the game for the Tigers and allowed five hits and five earned runs in three innings. Lexi Davis relieved Walters and pitched the final three innings, allowing four hits and two earned runs. In total, the Tigers allowed 11 hits and walked five batters while striking out only one.

Auburn had seven hits in the game, as Wallace and Tiffany Howard had two apiece.

Auburn and Florida close the series with Game 3, which is set for Monday at 6 p.m. at Jane B. Moore Field. Myers said Kaylee Carlson will start on the mound as the Tigers hope to avoid the series sweep.

"It's the second (SEC) game of the season, we've got 22 more to go," Myers said. "There's a reason they're ranked No. 1 in the country. Nobody has scored five runs against them. Nobody's scored more than three, and we've done that two days in a row. So we're moving in the right direction, we just have to keep them from scoring."