AUBURN, Ala. – In its first road midweek test of the season, No. 25 Auburn softball (14-6-1) treks to Troy (22-9) to face the Trojans Tuesday at Troy Softball Complex.
First pitch is set for 6 p.m. CT. Tuesday's contest is available on ESPN+. JJ Jackson and Jacob Hillman will have the radio call on WEGL 91.1 FM and the Auburn Sports Network.
"It's a quick turnaround for us," said head coach Mickey Dean. "With another tough SEC series this weekend, Tuesday gives us another chance to play in front of a hostile crowd, which we haven't done much yet this season. There's always a big turnout when we travel to Troy. They are hitting the ball well this season, so it's going to be a challenge."
The Tigers are coming off their Southeastern Conference home opener as Auburn played spoiler on Sunday to take a 2-1 win over No. 20 Arkansas. The victory was a historic one for Auburn ace Maddie Penta as she secured her 68th win of her career to surpass Kaylee Carlson (2016-18) for the program's career wins record.
Auburn holds a 22-7-1 advantage in the all-time series versus Troy. Since a 5-5 tie during the 2014 season, Auburn has won 10 straight contests in the series. The Tigers are 9-4-1 in true road matchups in the series.
Troy is returning home after picking up a Sun Belt Conference series win at Coastal Carolina, winning the final two games of the three-game series. Jade Sinness leads the Trojans at the plate and holds a .409 average behind 38 hits. She has added 30 runs scored, seven home runs and 30 RBI.
With a pitching staff that is six Trojans deep, Libby Baker has carried the bulk of the work. Baker has totaled 10 wins behind her 3.58 earned run average.
Penta continues her reign as one of the top pitchers in the nation. She enters the midweek ranking third in the country with six shutouts while her 106 strikeouts are good for sixth nationally. Penta is on the verge of becoming just the second Tiger in program history to surpass 800 career strikeouts as she is just 17 shy of reaching the milestone. She currently ranks second in program history with 783 strikeouts behind only Anna Thompson's record mark of 1,073.
Auburn's transfer duo of Amelia Lech and Anna Wohlers are the heart of the Auburn offense. The duo has combined for 31 hits, 31 RBI, 23 runs scored and 14 extra-base hits. Seven of Lech's 13 hits have been home runs as she ranks fourth in the SEC in home runs per game (.33) and 12th in both total home runs and slugging percentage. Wohlers leads the team in batting average (.353), runs scored (13) and hits (18).
