Following an undefeated start to the 2025 season over opening weekend, Auburn softball’s senior shortstop Nelia Peralta was selected as SEC Co-Player of the Week on Monday the league office announced.
The Wellington, FL native turned in the best weekend of her career as she helped Auburn to a 5-0 performance at the Tiger Invitational to start the 2025 campaign. Peralta shares the award with Oklahoma’s Ella Parker. The selection is Peralta’s first SEC weekly honor of her career.
Holding a .611 average over the five-game slate, Peralta totaled 11 hits with five going for extra bases – three home runs, two doubles. She added nine runs scored and 10 RBI, including the 100th of her Auburn career.
With a pair of walks, Peralta held a .667 on-base percentage coupled with a 1.222 slugging percentage over opening weekend. She did not record a single strikeout in her 18 at bats.
Her best performance over the weekend came during Saturday’s doubleheader slate.
The Tigers overcame a six-run deficit to force extra innings against Appalachian State. The Mountaineers took a one-run advantage in the ninth before Peralta delivered the walk-off home run, her second homer of the game, to secure a 10-9 win for the Tigers. It was her third multi-home run game of her career and her first since the 2023 season.
Peralta followed that up with a 4-for-4 performance versus Southern Illinois later that afternoon, setting a career high in hits. It was the first four-hit performance by a Tiger since Jessie Blaine and Aubrie Lisenby both recorded four hits versus Niagara on April 16, 2022.
Auburn returns to action on Thursday at the Shriners Children's Clearwater Invitational Presented by EvoShield. The Tigers face a familiar postseason foe in Clemson on 3 p.m. CST Thursday on ESPN2 to begin their six-game late in Clearwater, Florida.
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Patrick is a junior from Auburn, Alabama, double majoring in journalism and marketing. He started with The Plainsman in the fall of 2022.
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