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AU ATHLETICS
AUBURN —
With a pair of victories to secure Auburn softball’s best finish in Southeastern Conference play since 2017, junior Maddie Penta set the program’s record with her fourth SEC Pitcher of the Week selection of the season, the league office announced Tuesday.
Penta has now won eight SEC weekly honors over her career and has been tabbed SEC Pitcher of the Week five times in her career. Penta and Kristen Keyes (2002-04) are the only two Tigers in program history to win the award five times in their career.
The Chesapeake City, Maryland, native secured Auburn’s fourth consecutive SEC series win and its sixth overall of the season with a pair of wins versus Mississippi State, which helped Auburn clinch the No. 3 seed at the 2023 SEC Tournament.
In two complete-game efforts, Penta posted a 1.00 earned run average, allowed just two run runs to score in Friday’s series opener. The right-handed held the bulldogs to five hits and a .109 average at the plate. She issued five walks and struck out 18, including turning in her 10th double-digit strikeout appearance of the season on Friday.
On Sunday, Penta tossed her second one-hitter against a conference foe this season as she secured her sixth shutout in SEC play to tie Kristen Keyes (2004) for the Auburn single-season SEC record.
Penta concluded SEC play with a 1.02 ERA, which set the Auburn record for lowest ERA in an SEC season. She also finished tied for second in Auburn history with 12 SEC wins.
After earning the double bye into the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament, Auburn opens the postseason Thursday against the winner of No. 6 seed LSU vs. No. 11 seed Ole Miss. First pitch from Bogle Park in Fayetteville, Arkansas, is set for 10 a.m. CT on the SEC Network.