AUBURN, Ala. – With the second weekend of the season on the horizon, No. 25 Auburn softball (5-0) sees a step up in its competition as the tigers prepare to compete in the St. Pete Clearwater Elite Invitational presented by Wilson at the Eddie C. Moore Complex in Clearwater, Fla.
Auburn opens the tournament on Thursday against Texas Tech at 11:30 a.m. CT on the SEC Network. Mark Neely and Danielle Lowrie will have the call.
"I thought our hitters did what the coaches were asking them to do over opening weekend," said head coach Mickey Dean. "When you have success, you are going to have more and more buy in, which is key. Each game I thought was a little different. We have things that we still need to work on, and those things will be brought out with better pitching that we'll face, especially this weekend. If we swing at strikes, we are a really good hitting team."
Friday features a doubleheader slate as Auburn opens the morning with a 10:30 a.m. CT contest versus Wisconsin on ESPN+. The Tigers then face their first top-25 test of the season in No. 11 Texas. First pitch on the Longhorn Network is slated for 3 p.m. CT.
On Saturday, Auburn takes on No. 3 UCLA at 9 a.m. CT on ESPNU. Auburn closes the tournament on Sunday against South Florida on ESPN+.
"We've worked on seeing some velocity at practice the last couple of days," said sophomore Sydney Cox. "We're just going to stick to our gameplan and work on hitting that first good pitch we see."
Also featured on the broadcast call this weekend is Tiffany Green, Madison Shipman, Mike Couzens, Kayla Braud, Drew Carter and Jenny Dalton-Hill.
All five of Auburn's contests can be heard on the Auburn Sports Network with JJ Jackson on the call.
LEADING OFF
- Combining for 50 strikeouts over opening weekend, Maddie Penta (27) and Shelby Lowe (23) rank first and second, respectively, in total strikeouts in the SEC. The duo helped Auburn to a 0.52 ERA, the seventh lowest in the country.
- Six of sophomore Sydney Cox's base hits over opening weekend went for extra bases. Cox leads the SEC with four doubles while her 1.214 slugging percentage is good for fourth in the SEC.
- Sophomore Shelby Lowe became just the 15th Tiger in program history to surpass 200 career strikeouts. She is on pace to move into the top 10 in Auburn career history for strikeouts by the end of her sophomore season.
- Throughout the 2022 season, Auburn softball is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the 1997 inaugural season. With a road sweep of Samford on Feb. 18, 1997, the Tigers ushered in Division I fastpitch softball to the Plains.
- Nearing a major program milestone to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the program's inaugural season, Auburn is just five wins shy of recording its 900th victory in program history.
ON DECK
Auburn faces its first midweek battle of the season, trekking to Jacksonville State on Wednesday. First pitch is slate for 5 p.m. CT.