Auburn outfielder Tiffany Howard’s dream catch has Tigers ready for Game 3

Tiffany Howard’s phone might still be buzzing.

After her game-saving catch in Tuesday night’s 11-7 win against Oklahoma in Game 2 of the Women’s College World Series championship series, the Auburn left fielder took questions in front of media as her phone rang constantly in the background.

“I have reminders for things, so I apologize,” Howard said with a laugh. “I’m a forgetful person.”

Whatever notification Howard received during the press conference most likely paled in comparison to the barrage tweets and texts she received after the game.

Howard’s catch, where she went over the wall in left to rob a home run off the bat of Shay Knighten, was voted the No. 1 play on SportsCenter’s top 10 Tuesday night.

The play came with two outs in the top of the sixth inning of a 7-7 game after Auburn had rallied from seven down in top of the second to keep its WCWS dreams alive. Howard made sure her Tigers could keep dreaming for another day.

Auburn and Oklahoma will play a decisive Game 3 today at 7:05 p.m. on ESPN.

“All of Oklahoma fans started cheering, because they thought it was over, and I see (Howard) put a glove on it.” said Auburn third baseman Kasey Cooper. “I’m jumping up and down going, ‘She just robbed this, this is our game and this was meant to be.”’

While the catch might have come as a surprise to almost everyone in attendance, the senior from Pembroke Ga., said she had the ball line up the entire time.

“I knew I had it,” Howard said. “We’ve worked on it so much. I’m talking about we have bruises on our arms as outfielders, jumping over walls in practice. I’ve done it a gazillion times. I just knew if I could find a wall and get up, I could catch it.”

The Auburn outfield is not stranger to big time plays this WCWS. During Sunday’s 8-7 win against Florida State, center fielder Victoria Draper also grabbed the top play on SportsCenter, ranging to her right before diving to catch a line drive and save a run for the Tigers.

When asked after the game if Draper provided any advice on how to deal with the extra attention, Howard smiled.

“We will converse about that later,” she said.

Howard received plenty of love on Twitter on Tuesday night. More importantly, she saw it from her teammates.

“I owe Tiffany like a million steak dinners,” said Auburn pitcher Rachel Walters, who gave up the long fly to Knighten in the top of the sixth. “I’ve already told her that. She has pet rats, and they can even stay in my room.”

A game-winning grand slam from second baseman Emily Carosone in the bottom of the eighth inning capped off the Tiger’s magical night, ending a national best 31-game winning streak from Oklahoma.

Auburn will look to add its first ever WCWS title tonight, while Oklahoma is going for its third championship in program history.

“Tonight was a war, and tomorrow will be a war again,” Carosone said after the game. “We are going to come out firing.”

This story was originally published June 8, 2016 at 12:55 PM with the headline "Auburn outfielder Tiffany Howard’s dream catch has Tigers ready for Game 3."