After defeating Jacksonville State 3-0 on Wednesday, April 19, No. 21 Auburn is traveling to Tuscaloosa to face No. 13 Alabama in a crucial series to determine who will move above who in the SEC standings.
As of Thursday, April 20, Alabama, Auburn and Arkansas are all sporting a 9-6 SEC record. As the end of the season is rapidly approaching and the SEC Tournament is looming large, every conference win counts as teams are vying for higher seeds.
After taking the upset win against No. 15 LSU last weekend, the Tigers continued to take care of business with the long ball in the midweek win over in-state competitor Jacksonville State.
A combined shutout effort by the Auburn pitching staff, which included junior Maddie Penta’s 600th career strikeout, and home runs by sophomores Bri Ellis and Icess Tresvik capped off the solid night for the Tigers.
The Crimson Tide is looking for a bounce-back series as they split their midweek games on Tuesday, April 18. The Liberty Lady Flames handed Alabama its 13th loss of the season with a final score of 5-3. The Tide came right back with a 3-1 win over Marshall to end the night.
The last time Auburn and Alabama met was in the 2021 season, where the Tide swept Auburn at home early in the SEC slate. Three pitchers will be returning from that series: Alabama’s Montana Fouts and Auburn’s Maddie Penta and Shelby Lowe.
So far this season, Fouts has carried Alabama on her back. She leads the SEC and the NCAA in strikeouts with 244. Fouts has been the Tide’s go-to Friday and Saturday starter as Alabama’s famed offense has taken a while to warm up this season.
As Fouts is the Tide’s usual Friday starter, fans will most likely be treated to a pitching clinic as Penta is the usual Friday starter for the Tigers. Penta collected two losses in the 2021 series against the Tide while Fouts collected a win and a save on the weekend.
As the SEC leader in wins (19) and second only to Fouts in strikeouts (227), Penta is looking to continue her dominant season thus far against a hot-and-cold Alabama offense.
For the Tide, their spark at the plate is going to be senior Jenna Johnson, who is leading the team in batting average in SEC play with a .349 mark. In her last nine games, Johnson is hitting .360 with five RBIs.
Also crucial for Alabama to win is star freshman Kenleigh Cahalan.
Cahalan started the year off strong for the Tide, currently sitting second on the team in cumulative batting average (.321) and batting in the leadoff position for the majority of the year. However, once Alabama entered conference play, Cahalan’s average dropped (.240 conference), and she was moved down the lineup. If her bat gets hot, Auburn is going to have its hands full.
An indicator of Auburn’s weekend offensive success is going to rely on the bats of sophomores Aubrie Lisenby, Nelia Peralta and Bri Ellis as well as senior Lindsey Garcia.
Lisenby is leading the Tigers in conference play with a .394 average after coming up big for Auburn against Missouri earlier in the season. Ellis is riding a hot streak for Auburn, totaling three home runs in the last 11 games as well as collecting five RBIs.
Peralta and Garcia started the season off hot, but have cooled off after encountering the SEC part of the schedule, hitting .228 collectively in conference play but contributing four home runs apiece. Total, these four Tigers have combined for 13 home runs and 26 RBIs during SEC play, with the rest of the team totaling three home runs and 14 RBIs.
The battle of the pitchers begins in Tuscaloosa this Friday, April 21, at 8 p.m. CST. Saturday’s game will begin at 3 p.m. CST and both games will be streamed on SEC Network. Sunday’s first pitch will be at 11:30 a.m. CST and will be broadcasted on ESPN.
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Emily Porch is a senior from Sylacauga, Alabama. She joined The Plainsman in fall 2021.
Twitter: @emilycporch
