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Bri Ellis, Maddie Penta earn SEC Honors

Maddie Penta mid-pitch to Florida batter 4/3/22
Maddie Penta mid-pitch to Florida batter 4/3/22

Bri Ellis and Maddie Penta were both recognized with Southeastern Conference honors, per the league office Friday. Ellis was selected as the SEC Freshman of the Year and All-SEC Second Team, while sophomore Maddie Penta was named All-SEC First Team by the league’s coaches.

Ellis becomes the first Tiger to ever win the SEC Freshman of the Year award outright and the second Auburn player to win it overall. The National Freshman of the Year finalist’s 18 home runs led all SEC freshmen and ranked third overall in the league.

Ellis’s .757 slugging percentage, 45 runs batted in and 106 total bases all rank second in school history for freshmen. The Hendersonville, Tenn. product is tied with three-time Auburn All-American Kasey Cooper for the program’s freshman home run record.

Maddie Penta became the first Auburn Softball student-athlete to receive All-SEC First Team honors since the 2017 season. The righty led the SEC with 23 wins, including a program record of nine consecutive winning decisions.

Penta’s 258 total strikeouts ranked second in the SEC and 15th nationally, setting an Auburn sophomore single-season record. The Chesapeake City, MD. native led the conference with 182 innings pitched while ranking second with a 1.77 earned run average and 9.9 strikeouts per seven innings.

Penta is just the seventh Auburn pitcher to record 250+ strikeouts in a season and the first since Anna Thompson in 2010. After only two seasons on the Plains, she now ranks sixth in program history with 363 career strikeouts.


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