No. 17 Auburn falls short in pitching duel at SEC Tournament - Auburn Tigers Official Athletic Site

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Opening the 2022 Southeastern Conference Tournament with a pitchers' duel, sophomore Maddie Penta pitched a gem behind 11 strikeouts, but No. 17 Auburn softball (39-15) fell 1-0 to No. 24 Missouri (34-19) Wednesday at Katie Seashole Pressley Stadium.

"We knew it was going to be a tough game with the two pitchers in the circle," said head coach Mikey Dean. "They were able to come through with the quality at-bat. That was the difference in the game."

Auburn held the advantage in the hit column with four, all singles from the heart of the Tiger order.

Penta tossed the complete-game effort, limiting Missouri to just three hits. The right-hander struck out 11, matching her season high against SEC opponents. Penta worked around six walks and a pair of hit by pitches to strand a total of 10 Missouri base runners.

With 258 strikeouts this season, Penta surpassed Holly Currie (2005) for the program's sophomore strikeout record. Penta now stands sixth overall in Auburn single-season history for strikeouts. Penta also climbed a spot to sixth for most career strikeouts in program history with 363.

The base paths were crowded early as Penta and Missouri's Jordan Weber stranded 11 total bases runners to keep the game scoreless heading into the bottom of the fourth.

Auburn loaded the bases in the bottom of the second, but a fly ball to right field resulted in a double play at the plate to keep the game scoreless.

A one-out walk would prove trouble for Auburn in the bottom of the fourth. After the base runner advance on a pass ball with two outs, Jenna Laird doubled to left field to break the stalemate.

Auburn put the leadoff runner on in both the fifth and sixth innings but were unable to come up with the equalizing hit.

UP NEXT
Auburn's postseason fate will be decided on Sunday with the NCAA's Selection Show scheduled to air on ESPN2 at 6 p.m. CT.

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