BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – With a record performance that carried No. 19 Auburn softball to a historic sweep, junior Maddie Penta was honored as the Southeastern Conference Co-Pitcher of the Week, the league office announced Tuesday.
Penta shared the award with Georgia's Shelby Walters. Penta has won six SEC weekly honors over her career. This marked her second SEC Pitcher of the Week selection of the season as she won the award once in February. Penta has been named the conference's pitcher of the week three times in her career.
The Chesapeake City, Maryland, native earned a pair of wins to help Auburn earns its first series win over Missouri since 2017 and its first series sweep of the opposing Tigers in school history.
In 14.0 innings of work, Penta allowed three hits and one run to post a 0.50 earned run average. She struck out 25 batters and held Missouri to a .070 average. She issued just five walks in her two complete-game efforts.
In Saturday's series opener, Penta tossed a complete-game shutout while striking out 17 batters to match her career high. She tied Auburn's program record for strikeouts in a SEC contest, joining Chardonnay Harris. Harris also struck out 17 in a performance versus Florida on April 17, 2019. Penta clinched the series sweep on Monday with a one-hit performance in the circle.
One of the top arms in the conference, Penta leads the SEC in strikeout-to-walk ratio (11.29) and victories (12), while ranking second in total strikeouts (158) and third in earned run average (0.98)
Penta and the Tigers return to midweek action on Wednesday as Auburn treks to Birmingham to face Samford. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. CT with the midweek tilt available on ESPN+.
Maddie Penta earns second SEC Pitcher of the Week honor
