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Sophomore pitcher Maddie Penta had a remarkable week for her Auburn Tigers as she won six games over a five-day span and picked up every win in the inaugural Jane B. Moore Memorial Tournament.
Penta, who was tabbed as an Extra Inning Softball Pitcher of the Week, also was honored as the SEC Pitcher of the Week and the Wilson/NFCA Pitcher of the Week, after allowing just one run in her 25 innings and six appearances to give her a 0.36 ERA and just a .086 batting average against.
She had 48 strikeouts versus just four walks and, teaming with junior KK Dismukes, combined for a no-hitter against North Carolina A&T on March. 4.
Penta was named as the Jane B. Moore Memorial MVP and made the All-Tournament team.
Heading into SEC action with three games scheduled against Texas A&M Friday through Saturday, Penta was the only pitcher in the conference with over 100 strikeouts this season as she already has set a career-high with 121 K’s, which ranks second in the country.
Penta also leads the SEC with her 13 wins with her 13-0 record and is tied for the national lead in victories.
Pre-College Top Pitcher
But Maddie’s success isn’t a surprise as she’s long been considered one of the top pitchers in the country.
On Nov. 1, 2019, Extra Inning Softball released the Top 10 in the 2020 Extra Elite 100 and she was announced as the #1 pitcher in the class and the #3 player overall.
Here’s what was written about her then, almost 2 ½ years ago:
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… 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 her PA Chaos team to several summer titles. At the 2019 PGF Nationals she earned PGF Premier All-Tournament Team recognition as she went 5-1 with a 1.03 ERA and 58 strikeouts in 39 innings for Chaos.
She and fellow Auburn pitcher Shelby Lowe 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 a photo of the two at that time, which we published July 1, 2019:
The Fall prior to that, Extra Inning did an Extra Star Power profile on Maddie where we interviewed the multi-year 1st Team All-American and Maryland State champion; here it that spotlight piece….
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Extra Star Power… 2020 Extra Elite 100 Player Spotlight: Madison Penta
Originally published Sept. 4, 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!