AUBURN, Ala. – It will be the Iron Bowl of softball to open the 2025 SEC Softball Tournament in Athens, Georgia, as (15) Auburn (32-21) takes on (10) Alabama (36-20) in Tuesday’s opening round at Jack Turner Softball Stadium.
“Auburn versus Alabama has always had the notoriety in every sport,” said co-head coach Chris Malveaux. “I’m excited. This is the first meeting that I get to experience as a competitor. I can’t wait to see and really feel that It’s not far for our fans to travel. It’s going to be a fun night.”
The Tigers will play in the third and final game of Tuesday’s opening round. First pitch will be approximately 6 p.m. CT with the likelihood of time being adjusted due to games earlier in the day. Tuesday’s winner will advance to face (7) South Carolina on Wednesday.
All three games of Tuesday’s opening round will air on the SEC Network. Beth Mowins, Michele Smith and Holly Rowe will have the call. Brit Bowen and JJ Jackson will have radio coverage throughout the weekend in Athens on WEGL 91.1 FM and the Auburn Sports Network.
Auburn is appearing in its 24th SEC Tournament and has won the tournament title in both 2015 and 2016. Tuesday will mark the 10th time Auburn has faced Alabama in the SEC Tournament. Alabama holds a 6-3 record in those previous meetings. The two teams last squared off in postseason play in Columbia, Missouri, at the 2018 SEC Tournament. Alabama claimed a 6-4 win.
Alabama enters the tournament after dropping a pair of games at No. 14 South Carolina to wrap up the regular season. The Crimson Tide recorded SEC series wins over Missouri, Oklahoma and Georgia this season.
Freshman Audrey Vandagriff leads Alabama with a .404 average at the plate, which ranks 14th overall in the SEC. She’s totaled 63 hits with 15 going for extra bases and has scored 48 runs. She ranks second in the country with 48 stolen bases this season. As a team, Alabama ranks 15th nationally with 106 steals. Kali Heivilin and Brooke Ellestad both have totaled over 40 RBI this season. Heivilin leads the team with 13 home runs.
Alabama ranks sixth in the SEC with a team earned run average of 2.94. Jocelyn Briski leads the team in wins with 15. She’s struck out 101 batters in her 144.0 innings of work and holds a 2.67 ERA.
Auburn is coming into the postseason having won five of its last six games after ending the regular season with a pair of run-rule wins versus NC State. Nelia Peralta knocked a pair of walk-off hits to secure the wins while the Tiger pitching staff delt back-to-back shutouts. Peralta added her name to another Auburn record with her three-RBI weekend as she is now tied for 10th in program history with 124 career RBI.
Four of Auburn’s last five victories have been shutout wins as the team has posted a 1.44 ERA across those five victories. Even more impressive, three of the four shutouts have also been one-hit efforts by the duo of SJ Geurin and Haley Rainey.
Geurin became the 12th Tiger in program history to record 20 wins in a season after her complete-game effort in the opening contest versus the Wolfpack. She is now third in the SEC and 18th in the country in total wins. She’s been directly involved in 24 of Auburn’s 32 victories by recording the win or the save.
She leads Auburn with a 2.76 ERA and 90 strikeouts. Her next strikeout will be the 100th of her collegiate career.
A finalist for NFCA D1 National Freshman of the Year, AnnaLea Adams continues to pace the Tiger offense. She enters the tournament with a .407 overall average, which ranks 13th in the SEC and leads all SEC true freshmen.
She holds the second highest batting average and third highest slugging percentage (.699) recorded by an Auburn freshman. Despite not playing in nine of Auburn’s 51 games, the freshman still ranks in the top five on the team in hits (50), RBI (35), doubles (9), home runs (9) and total bases (86).
Icess Tresvik leads the Tiger sluggers with 11 home runs. It marks the first time since her 2021 freshman season at North Carolina A&T that Tresvik has hit double-digit home runs in a season. She ranks 23rd in the league in total home runs while her 16 stolen bases are good for ninth.
The Tigers have seen dramatic improvements under Malveaux, surpassing their 2024 hits total, runs scored total, extra-base hits total and wins total ahead of Tuesday’s opening round of the SEC Tournament. The team has also improved its slugging percentage by 50 points from a season ago.
Auburn’s 59 home runs this season are currently the eighth most hit in a single season and the most slugged by the Tigers since 2023 (64). Auburn has scored 10 or more runs eight times this season after doing so only twice in 2024. Auburn is 8-0 when scoring 10 or more runs and 21-1 this season when scoring at least six runs.