AUBURN, Ala. – Southeastern Conference play has arrived as No. 25 Auburn (12-2-1) softball preps for a top-25 showdown at No. 12 Missouri (18-2) with a three-game series set at the Mizzou Softball Complex.
"The conference is as tough as I've ever seen it," said head coach Mickey Dean. "Out of our 24 conference games, we play 21 against SEC teams currently ranked higher than us. We're going to take it one pitch at a time, one game at a time. Win, lose or draw, we're going to take a step back, evaluate and move on to the next game. We're not going to hold on to stuff. I think this team is very capable of that. It's a wonderful thing to play in one of the toughest conferences and play one of the toughest games you can play. It's not always about your physical effort, it's about your mental effort. If we can keep ahold of those things and stay tight to each other, we'll see what happens."
Auburn opens the series in Columbia on Friday at 4 p.m. CT. Game two features a 2 p.m. CT start on Saturday. Sunday's finale is slated for 12 p.m. CT. All three games are available on the SEC Network+ with Noah Reed (play-by-play), Brook Wilmes (analyst) and Kylee Hansen (reporter) on the call. Radio coverage will not be available during Auburn's trip to Missouri.
After sweeping Missouri in Auburn last season, the Blue and Orange are looking to win back-to-back series over Mizzou for the first time since 2015 and 2017 series. Last season, Auburn edged out Missouri in a pair of 2-1 games to secure the series sweep.
Auburn has not won a series in Columbia since 2015 with Missouri holding a 5-3 mark in games played in its home stadium. Overall, Auburn holds a 12-11 record in the all-time series.
Missouri enters the series on a five-game win streak and holds ranked victories over No. 13 Utah and No. 5 Clemson through the first month of the season. Both of the Tigers' losses have been in one-run games as Missouri has fallen to San Diego State and No. 22 Baylor during the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic
Looking to extend its seven-game win streak, Auburn will rely on its ace Maddie Penta in the pitching circle. The reigning SEC and NFCA National Pitcher of the Week, Penta is on a hot streak with four consecutive shutouts and five straight games of 10 or more strikeouts to her credit.
Penta enters conference play leading the league in shutouts and strikeouts while ranking fourth in the SEC with a 0.60 earned run average. On the verge of history, Penta needs one win to tie Kaylee Carlson for the program's career wins record and two to break it.
Another senior leads the Tigers on the offensive side of the ball as Makayla Packer stands as the clubhouse leader with a .375 batting average with 12 hits and 11 runs scored to her credit. Packer slugged a walk-off grand slam to lift Auburn to an 8-4 victory over USC Upstate last Sunday. The homer was her first since her sophomore season.
Amelia Lech continues to pace the offense with 17 RBI. Five of Lech's 10 hits this season have been home runs as she ranks fourth in the SEC in home runs per game (0.33), fifth in runs batted in per game (1.13) and seventh in slugging percentage (.818).
