After a perfect, 5-0 opening weekend at home, Auburn softball travels to Clearwater, Florida, for the St. Pete’s Clearwater Elite Invitational. The invitational consists of 16 total teams, and play begins on Thursday, Feb. 17, and wraps up on Sunday, Feb.e 20.
Auburn lines up with five of those teams over the course of the weekend, including matchups with two ranked opponents. After winning four of their first five games by mercy rule in five innings and winning the other by seven runs, the Tigers expect to face elevated opponents in Clearwater.
The games take place in Eddie C. Moore complex, which has nine total fields. Four of those fields expect to be put to use over the four-day series.
The weekend series opens with a game versus Texas Tech on Thursday at 11:30 a.m. CST. The Red Raiders sit at 3-1 after sweeping UTSA and splitting a two-game series with Houston last weekend in the Houston Invitational.
To start the action on Friday, Auburn takes on Wisconsin at 10:30 a.m. CST. The Badgers are off to a 3-3 start after they opened the season in the Northern Lights Tournament. They seem to struggle with SEC opponents so far, as they dropped contests to Kentucky and Missouri, and also falling to No. 13 Virginia Tech.
Later in the day, the Tigers play their first ranked opponent in the season. No. 9 Texas boasts a 4-1 record. Its one loss came at the hands of Florida Gulf Coast, 6-4, but it also stole a nice win in its opener versus a ranked Clemson squad in the FGCU Kickoff Classic last weekend.
On Saturday, Auburn braces up for a 9 a.m. first pitch with the No. 3 UCLA Bruins, who represented the No. 2 seed in the 2021 NCAA tournament. The Bruins were handed an early exit in the tournament after 3-seed Alabama shut them out in a 6-0 victory.
This season has started off rapidly for the Bruins, as they faced No. 1 and 2021 World Series champion Oklahoma in the opening weekend at the Mark Campbell Invitational and suffered their first blemish of the campaign, 1-4.
Besides the tough loss to the top dog, UCLA showed its potential in shutout, mercy rule victories over Mississippi State, Nevada and CSUN. It also shut out UC San Diego 5-0.
The action-packed weekend wraps up for Auburn on Sunday in a 5 p.m. battle with USF. The Bulls have had some impressive wins already, including a 4-1 defeat of No. 16 Michigan, and six and seven-run margins in the wins over Kansas City and Illinois State, respectively.
The Bulls faltered to end the USF-Rawlings invitational on Sunday, however, in a 12-0 beatdown from No. 4 Florida. This leaves them at 3-1 entering the weekend.
The whole series streams on ESPN Networks, and can be viewed through the WatchESPN app.
After a successful opening weekend in front of home fans at Jane B. Moore field, the eight Auburn freshmen play their first college road games this weekend in Clearwater. The Tigers have yet to compete in a tight contest, with the closest margin of victory on opening weekend being seven runs.
With those things in mind, the Clearwater Elite Invitational is likely to illuminate Auburn’s true colors, and put the team to the test truly for the first time in the young 2022 campaign.
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