AUBURN, Ala. – In the first true road test of the season, No. 21/22 Auburn softball (15-1) makes the short trek to Troy to face the Trojans Wednesday night at the Trojan Softball Complex.
First pitch is slated for 6 p.m. CT. The midweek tilt will be streamed via ESPN+.
"This week is going to be a great experience," said head coach Mickey Dean. "The deeper you go into any season, the tougher the games get. It starts with Troy. They have one of the top pitchers of the country."
Auburn extended its win streak to 10 consecutive games with a 5-0 performance at the Auburn Invitational. The Tigers faced Troy to open the tournament, winning the contest by an 8-1 final. The Trojans held a 1-0 lead early in the game before senior Makenna Dowell sparked Auburn's rally of eight unanswered run with her first home run of the season. The Tiger freshman duo of Maddie Penta and Shelby Lowe both saw innings against Troy.
LEADING OFF
- In its first true road test of the 2021 season, Auburn makes the short trek to Troy, Ala., for a rematch with the Trojans on Wednesday. The meeting is the first midweek tilt for the Tigers and the final tune up before the beginning of conference play.
- Auburn enters Wednesday's contest on an 10-game win streak, the longest win streak since winning 11 straight in 2019.
- The Tigers enter the weekend with its highest ranking of the season as Auburn checks in at No. 21 in the USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll.
- With her 69 putouts this season, Justus Perry is just the sixth Tiger to reach 1,000 putouts during their Auburn career. Perry is just 75 putouts shy of overtaking Kendall Veach for fifth in program history.
- Tossing two no-hitters over the month of February, Maddie Penta is the first Auburn pitcher to toss multiple no-hitters in the same season since Marcy Harper (2) in 2014.
- Shelby Lowe's scoreless inning streak came to a close after 24.1 consecutive innings. The mark was the eighth longest in program history. She secured Auburn's third SEC Freshman of the Week honor on Monday, setting Auburn's program record for most freshman weekly honors in a single season.
- Auburn's offense holds a .318 two-out average at the plate this season with 28 two-out RBI. Lindsey Garcia leads the with six two-out RBI this season.
- Auburn and Alabama are the only two SEC programs to have two players ranked in the top 10 in strikeouts. The Tiger freshman duo of Maddie Penta (59) and Shelby Lowe (56) rank sixth and seventh, respectively.
- The Tiger pitching staff has allowed just 19 earned runs in 109.0 innings pitched to rank fourth in the SEC and 16th nationally with a 1.22 earned run average.
- Head Coach Mickey Dean is just 11 wins shy from his 600th career coaching victory. His career record currently stands at 589-222.
ON DECK
Auburn opens Southeastern Conference play at Jane B. Moore Field this weekend as the Tigers welcome in-state rival No. 4 Alabama for a three-game series. The series opens on Friday with first pitch scheduled for 5 p.m. CT.