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Timing is everything. Tennessee would have been better off Saturday saving some of its offensive barrage in the first game of a double header at Auburn for the nightcap.

The Tigers made the only hit off Megan Rhodes stand up for a 1-0 victory to gain a split at Jane B. Moore Field.

The Lady Vols (31-6, 7-5 SEC) won the opener 8-4, bashing 14 hits off two Auburn pitchers.

Auburn (29-9, 8-6) got a masterful pitching performance from Brittany Day in the second game.

Auburn's only hit of the second game was a timely one. In the third inning, Cassie Trosclair worked Rhodes for a walk. Lead-off hitter Brittany Scott then slammed a double to center field that scored Trosclair.

Tennessee had only two hits but both produced failed scoring opportunities.

Kelly Grieve singled in the third inning but was stranded at third base after Shannon Doepking struck out looking to end the inning.

Tonya Callahan's single to lead off the sixth was followed by two fielder's-choice plays that left Tiffany Huff at second base and Jennifer Lapicki at first with two outs.

Erinn Webb put the ball in play for an error by the Auburn second-baseman Megan Mitchell, but Huff was thrown out at the plate trying to score on the play.

Rhodes (14-3) struck out 12 and walked three. Day fanned 11 Lady Vols and walked five.

In the opener, UT's offensive show included a towering home run by Callahan and another by Webb.

Callahan's ninth home run of the season cleared the scoreboard and struck the top of a 40-foot light standard in left-center field in the third inning.

Webb went 3-for-4 with a triple in addition to her fourth homer.

Ashton Ward improved to 17-3 despite allowing eight hits and four earned runs. Auburn's Anna Thompson (8-4) yielded 11 of UT's hits in four innings.

Chandra Mogan, Lapicki and Grieve each had two hits.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.