Across the Diamond: Alabama Softball Goes 6-0 in Hawaii

Alabama softball continued their winning ways by taking all six games in the Rainbow Wahine Classic at the University of Hawaii.

The Crimson Tide defeated SIUE, Niagara and Hawaii twice each to remain undefeated on the season.

Two Hard Fought Games against SIUE

Alabama's two toughest outings in Honolulu came against SIUE Thursday and Friday. Both games came down to the late innings, but the Crimson Tide's superior talent and depth proved to be too much for the Cougars.

While Alabama struck first in both games, SIUE had answered with run-scoring rallies to put themselves in position to make a game of it. In the first game, the Crimson Tide scored a run in the second inning but the Cougars fought back for three runs in the fourth inning to take a 3-1 lead. Following an RBI single from Bailey Hemphill in the top of the fifth inning, Claire Jenkins delivered the biggest hit of the game with a two-run, two-out double to give the Tide the lead for good en route to a 6-4 opening game victory.

The following day, Alabama scored the first two runs of the game but SIUE responded with two runs in the fourth inning to tie the game. The Crimson Tide would finish strong again by scoring six of the game's final seven runs to win 8-3.

SEC Leader in Home Runs

For the past two seasons, offensive productivity has been among the main reasons for Alabama's struggles against the Southeastern Conference and top teams nationally.

This season, they are setting the standard with an SEC leading 46 homers as a team and are second in the conference in runs scored (222) and RBIs (198).

This weekend, the Crimson Tide launched 12 round trippers in six games at the Rainbow Wahine Classic including four in Friday's matchup against Hawaii. Seven Crimson Tide players recorded at least one home run with Kaylee Tow swatting three long balls along with two each from Bailey Hemphill, Reagan Dykes and Merris Schroder.

All Five Pitchers Start in the Circle

Patrick Murphy's pitchers saw plenty of meaningful playing time in Hawaii as all five of the pitchers on the roster got at least one start over the weekend.

Krystal Goodman started the weekend off against SIUE tossing 2.2 scoreless innings in a no decision. The following day against Niagara, she came out of the bullpen to toss nearly four innings of scoreless relief to notch her fifth win of the year.

Sophomore Madison Preston made her first start of the season against Niagara Thursday. The Centrailia, Missouri, native allowed three earned runs in 3.1 innings before giving way to Goodman. Preston rebounded the following day against Niagara by striking out two in a scoreless inning.

Senior Courtney Gettins took the circle for two starts and picked up two wins against SIUE and Niagara. Gettins surrendered four earned runs in innings with two walks and six strikeouts.

Montana Fouts and Sarah Cornell each dominated in starting roles against Hawaii. In Friday's 9-0 victory, the freshman star gave up four hits and one walk while fanning seven batters in five innings of work. In Saturday's tournament finale, Cornell needed just 97 pitches to toss a complete game victory. Like Fouts, the transfer from Hofstra walked one batter while striking out seven in the 6-2 victory.

Schedule for the Week

Due to the lengthy trip across the Pacific Ocean and across the mainland United States, Alabama will have no midweek game but will resume SEC play Friday night at Texas A&M to begin their first conference road series of the season.