After run-ruling Troy in an in-state matchup on Wednesday, March 1, No. 19 Auburn (16-1) returns to the Plains for a final home tournament, the Jane B. Moore Memorial, starting this Friday, March 3, before conference play begins next week.
The Tigers are scheduled to take on Bowling Green (5-9), in-state South Alabama (9-6) as well as Tennessee Tech (1-10).
After dropping their one and only loss in the NFCA Leadoff tournament in Clearwater to Pittsburgh, the Tigers have won 14 straight games, with the last six of them being shutouts.
Off to a hot start, the Auburn offense is heating up the SEC leaderboards right now. The team leads the conference in batting average (.373), RBIs (133), home runs (35), slugging percentage (.632), hits (163) as well as runs (146).
Part of the reason behind the Tigers’ hot start is senior Carlee McCondichie. After going 2-for-4 in the game against Troy on Wednesday, McCondichie leads the team in batting average (.520). She is also riding a 14-game hitting streak that is good enough for ninth-longest in program history and will attempt to stretch it this weekend.
While Auburn’s offense is getting it done behind the plate, the pitching staff is definitely holding its own, leading the nation in ERA (0.75), shutouts (11) as well as strikeouts to walk ratio (13.00 K/BB).
The ace of said pitching staff is also putting her name out there this season. Junior Maddie Penta hit another career milestone this past Wednesday by surpassing 450 career strikeouts, making her the fifth Auburn pitcher to do so.
Penta leads both the SEC and the NCAA with her perfect 0.00 ERA. With her spotless record, Penta also leads the nation with nine wins. With her 79 strikeouts so far this season, Penta leads the SEC and only stands behind UCLA’s Megan Faraimo (91) in the national standings.
The Tigers are slated to take on Bowling Green and South Alabama starting on Friday.
Both Bowling Green and South Alabama have seen other SEC competition, so they will come into Auburn having faced similar teams. Bowling Green met No. 3 Florida early on in its season, losing the contest with a final score of 10-7. South Alabama faced Mississippi State just last Friday, taking the 8-4 loss in Mobile, Alabama.
Auburn will not see Tennessee Tech until Saturday evening at 5:30 p.m. CST. The Golden Eagles have also seen competitors from the SEC, having faced South Carolina both last Friday and Saturday but dropped both contests in a run rule.
Overall, the Tigers are set to face off against competition who have already seen SEC teams early on in the season. Auburn is going to be focused on remaining strong both offensively and in the circle as well as giving other players as many in-game opportunities as possible until SEC play starts next weekend.
The first pitch of the Friday double header is set to be at 3 p.m. CST with the second game following at about 5:30 p.m. CST. The Saturday slates are set for the same times as Friday, with the lone Sunday game wrapping up the tournament with a start time of 2:30 p.m. CST.
Due to other sporting events on the Plains this weekend, only the Sunday game will be streamed on SEC Network+.
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Emily Porch is a senior from Sylacauga, Alabama. She joined The Plainsman in fall 2021.
Twitter: @emilycporch
