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Maddie Penta, the outstanding freshman pitcher for the Auburn, ran her record to 3-0 with an early game win on Saturday as her Tigers team came back to beat #19 South Carolina 5-4.
Penta became the first Auburn freshman pitcher to starter her career 3-0 since Makayla Martin did it five years ago.
Ranked wins are always fun. 😎 https://t.co/tkHosn0WxN
— Auburn Tigers (@AuburnTigers) February 20, 2021
Auburn—heading into an afternoon game against Jacksonville in Jacksonville Florida—ran its record to 4-0 as Penta went the distance, giving up four earned runs on six hits while striking out nine
Maddie is a 6-foot-2 right-hander from Chesapeake City, Maryland. Last week she was named as the SEC Co-Freshman of the Week—sharing the award with Georgia’s Sydney Chambley–after Penta went 2-0 with a no-hitter and shutout during the opening weekend.
In the two games, she allowed just one unearned run in 12 innings of work while holding opponents to a .051 batting average and striking out 13.
“For a long, long time, ever since I was a little girl, I’ve been waiting to have this opportunity,” the freshman said after that great season-opening start on February 13. “I’ve been working for it. To be able to step out on this field and be with this amazing and amazing coaching staff is all I could hope for. It was amazing.”
FINAL | NO-NO 🚫
In her first collegiate start, Maddie Penta tosses the 26th no-hitter in program history behind 7 strikeouts! #WarEagle pic.twitter.com/4HiN8U0oEG
— Auburn Softball (@AuburnSoftball) February 13, 2021
In her very first collegiate start, Maddie tossed the 26th no-hitter in program history and the SEC school’s first since Martin blanked Maryland in February of 2018. Over her five innings of work, the right hander struck out seven as she led Auburn to an 8-0 victory over Southeastern Missouri.
We’re not surprised at Maddie’s great start as she was a dominating pitcher at the high school and club level too. We had her ranked #3 in the 2020 Extra Elite 100 and the #1 pitcher overall… here’s what her bio said when we published the Top 10 on Nov. 1, 2019:
3—Maddie Penta, P, PA Chaos (Auburn)
Madison or “Maddie” saw her 2018 summer end with a freak arm injury where her forearm muscle got too strong and led to a stress fracture in a game. As you’ll read in this profile, she was already one of the top pitchers in the nation a year ago and just went to another level in 2019. The 6-foot-1 right-handed pitcher shined on the prep and club scenes this year, starting with a perfect campaign for her Bohemia Manor (Chesapeake City, Maryland) High team as she went 21-0 with a 0.11 ERA and 299 K’s versus just 16 hits all year to earn Extra Inning Softball 1st Team All-American honors as well as the Gatorade State Player of the Year. Maddie even threw a no-hitter in the state title game and recorded 19 K’s. This summer for Joe Spina’s PA Chaos, she helped lead the team to some impressive wins such as taking first at the So Cal A’s Invitational where she was clocked at 68-70 mph and went 5-0 with 23 innings of shutout ball. She also showed her offensive talents as she had a .636 on-base percentage. At PGF Nationals, Maddie went 5-1 with a 1.03 ERA and 58 K’s in 39 innings. She’s a true power-pitcher who has greatness written all over her.
Among her other honors for us were Extra Inning Softball 1st Team All-American recognition and on the travel ball side she led the PA Chaos to several summer titles and at the 2019 PGF Nationals she earned PGF Premier All-Tournament Teamrecognition as she went 5-1 with a 1.03 ERA and 58 strikeouts in 39 innings for Chaos.
She and fellow freshman pitcher Shelby Lowe are having impressive success out of the gate for Mickey Dean’s team and actually faced off during the summer of 2019 when Lowe’s Birmingham Thunderbolts and Penta’s Chaos met in the title game of the So Cal A’s Invitational.
Here’s our profile on Maddie from 2 1/2 years ago when she was really making a move up the national charts…
*****
Extra Star Power… 2020 Extra Elite 100 Player Spotlight: Madison Penta
Originally published on September 9, 2018 on Extra Inning Softball
It was a bittersweet summer for Auburn-bound Madison (“Maddie”) Penta, the tall flame-throwing pitcher from Maryland, who was almost untouchable for much of the club season, striking out 312 of the 580 batters she faced before a stress fracture in her arm curtailed the Keystone State hurler’s great run.
At the So Cal A’s Invitational in June, Maddie was very impressive and it looked like she was going to be one of the top pitchers heading into nationals, but unfortunately she wasn’t able to make it to nationals as hoped.
It was an interesting injury too in that her forearm muscle got too strong and it caused a fracture during a pitch thrown in a game. However, she went to the physician who fixed former Red Sox ace Curt Schilling’s shoulder and now Madison is back on the mend ready to have an even bigger and better 2019.
You’ll want to read about Maddie’s recruiting process and how she knew she was supposed to go to Auburn, what artist she likes to sing to herself while in the circle and the one celebrity she wouldn’t turn down if he invited her to dinner!