College softball season begins this weekend and the No. 19 Auburn Tigers will face a challenge right out of the gate.
The Tigers’ first matchup will be against Virginia Tech, who is just outside of the USA TODAY/NFCA Coaches Poll to begin the season and ranked No. 18 in the preseason poll by Softball America. The matchup features two of college softball’s top pitchers, Auburn’s [autotag]Maddie Penta[/autotag] and Virginia Tech’s Emma Lemley.
Although we are not sure if these two will battle it out, the potential of the matchup is intriguing to Softball America, which has included this weekend’s games in its “lineup card” of must-see games. Brady Vernon of Softball America is looking forward to seeing how each pitcher performs during the opening weekend.
It’d be fun to see a pair of flamethrowers in Emma Lemley and Maddie Penta face off against one another. Lemley is looking to have a bounce-back year, and with the new pitching rules (depending on how they are enforced), should be closer to her freshman year. Penta was phenomenal a season ago, and will face an explosive Virginia Tech lineup that can hit the long ball.
Auburn fans will get the chance to watch these two teams square off twice during the weekend. The Tigers and Hokies will first meet on Friday, and again on Saturday, both games will start at 1 p.m. CT at Jane B. Moore Field.
Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on X (Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Taylor on Twitter @TaylorJones__