LOUISVILLE, Ky. – After turning in a pair of All-Southeastern Conference performances, Auburn softball's Maddie Penta and Nelia Peralta earned national honors as the duo was selected to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association's All-Southeast Region Teams, the organization announced Thursday.
The award honors softball student-athletes from the association's 10 regions with first, second and third team selections. NFCA member head coaches from each respective region voted on the teams, and all student-athletes now become eligible for the 2023 NFCA Division I All-America squads.
Penta and Peralta mark the 33rd and 34th student-athletes in program history to earn NFCA All-Region honors. Auburn's two selections are the most since 2018. Penta is earning her second straight NFCA All-Southeast Region First Team selection. She is the first Tiger to win back-to-back, first-team honors since the trio of Kasey Cooper, Emily Carosone and Tiffany Howard in 2015 and 2016. Peralta was tabbed to the NFCA All-Southeast Region Third Team.
A right-handed pitcher from Chesapeake City, Maryland, Penta leads the SEC and ranks sixth nationally in wins with a 25-5 record in the circle. Her 25 wins are the fourth most by an Auburn pitcher in a season. Penta was just the fifth player in school history to win at least 10 games in conference play, closing the season with 12.
Penta ranks second in the nation with 287 strikeouts to her credit, which sets Auburn's junior strikeout record. She is the first pitcher since Ann Thompson (2010, 2009) to record at least 250 strikeouts in back-to-back season. Her strikeout total ranks third in Auburn single-season history, and she is just 13 shy of becoming just the second Tiger in school history to record 300 strikeouts in a season. Penta has totaled a career best 10 double-digit strikeout games in 2023.
The first SEC Pitcher of the Year in program history, Penta began the season with 62.1 consecutive innings before allowing her first earned run to score She stands second in the league and ninth nationally with a 1.10 earned run average, allowing just 32 earned runs to score in her 203.1 innings of work. She has issued just 48 walks compared to her 287 strikeouts and has held opponents to a .150 batting average at the plate.
Penta enters the Clemson Regional also ranked second in the SEC in innings pitched, strikeouts, shutouts and hits allowed per seven innings (3.65), fourth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.98) and strikeouts per seven innings (9.9) and ninth in walks allowed per seven innings (1.65).
Other highlights for the First Team All-SEC honoree include setting the program record with four SEC Pitcher of the Week selections, tying the program record for strikeouts in a SEC game with 17 versus Missouri, earning Auburn's first shutout win over Florida in Gainesville since 2017, picking up Auburn's first road series win at Alabama since 2017 behind a pair of victories and tossing Auburn's first no-hitter in SEC play in 17 years with her efforts in the series finale at South Carolina.
She enters the weekend currently ranked in the top 10 in 14 Auburn single-season pitching categories and sits in the top 10 in 20 Auburn career pitching categories, including wins, strikeouts, earned run average, innings pitched and shutouts.
Auburn's most consistent piece in the lineup, Peralta has started every game for the Tigers at shortstop and has been a staple at the top of the lineup. The Wellington, Florida, native leads the team with a .336 batting average, 38 runs scored and 50 hits.
Of her 50 base hits, Peralta has slugged six doubles, two triples and nine home runs, which includes four homets to lead off a game. The All-SEC Second Team honoree stands second on the team with a .584 slugging percentage and has added 21 RBI.
Patient at the plate, Peralta leads the squad with a staggering 40 walks and ranks seventh in the SEC as she averages .70 walks per game. She has added five hit by pitches en route to a .487 on base percentage, a mark that is good for ninth in the league. She has reached safely in 53 of Auburn's 57 contests, which included a stretch of reaching base in 29 consecutive games to record the sixth longest streak in school history.
Completely overhauling her defensive game, the shortstop has committing only five errors and holds a .964 fielding percentage with 62 putouts and 72 assists.
The 2023 NFCA Division I All-America teams, voted on by the NFCA DI All-American Committee, will be announced on Wednesday, May 31.
