Alabama Softball Recap: Crimson Tide Roasts the Razorbacks

No. 9 Alabama continued their winning ways over the weekend thanks to a three-game sweep of No. 24 Arkansas.

The Crimson Tide took game one Friday by a score of 9-0 in five innings while sweeping Sunday’s twin bill by scores of 4-3 in nine innings and 5-0 in six innings.

Junior Alexis Osorio shined in the SEC opener as she won all three games for the Crimson Tide going 12.2 scoreless innings allowing just two hits and five walks while striking out 21 Razorbacks batters.

Chandler Dare

The highlight of not only the weekend but the season came from senior outfielder Chandler Dare. On the day she was honored for her four-year career in Tuscaloosa, the American Christian Academy product swatted a walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth to cap off Alabama’s 4-3 come-from-behind win in game two of the series. Dare finished the game 3-5 with her walk-off homer, an RBI triple and three runs scored.

Prior to her heroics, the Crimson Tide found themselves trialing 3-0 going into the bottom of the 6^th inning.  Sydney Littlejohn worked gave up 11 hits, 3 earned runs and walked 5 batters while working around numerous jams in 7.1 innings pitched. Along with Dare, Merris Schroeder provided a key two-out run scoring single to get Alabama on the board in the bottom of the sixth inning. An inning later, Dare’s RBI triple along with Payton Grantham’s sacrifice fly tied the score at 3-3 to force extra innings.

After the doubleheader, Chandler Dare spoke about what she learned about the team in Sunday’s doubleheader.

“That we never give up. We were down 3-0, and in the seventh inning we come back. In the eighth inning we come back, in the ninth inning. We just keep swinging and we never give up and we’re never out of a ball game.” Dare said.

Mid-week Doubleheader

Before traveling to Mississippi State for the first SEC road series of 2017, Alabama hosts a day/night doubleheader with single games against Winthrop and Georgia Southern.

Winthrop begins Wednesday’s twin bill with a 3:30 PM first pitch. The Eagles lost to Delaware and UNCG during the Spartan Classic on Saturday to fall to 11-12 on the season. In addition to Wednesday’s game at Alabama, Winthrop faces Jacksonville State for a doubleheader Tuesday. From the plate, senior Leah Young leads the team with 6 steals along with 4 round trippers while junior Maddie Antone is first on the team with 24 hits, 7 doubles, 17 RBIs and a .414 batting average.

Georgia Southern claimed their first Sun Belt Conference series over the weekend by defeating Troy University in two of three games. Senior Emily Snider paces the Eagles with a .373 batting average along with 7 home runs and 21 RBIs. From the circle, sophomore Dixie Raley is 7-6 with a 2.58 ERA and is fifth in the Sun Belt with 69 strike outs.

College Softball around Alabama

No. 2 Auburn fought off No. 12 LSU in winning their first SEC series of the season. Auburn won games one and three by identical scores of 5-4 while LSU blanked Auburn 8-0 in six innings in game two of the series. Morgan Academy alum Kendall Veach led the orange and blue Tigers with 4 RBIs over the course of the series.

UAB pulled stole their opening C-USA series from Southern Miss thanks to a three-run bottom of the seventh inning in Sunday’s rubber match. Claire Blount drove in two runs and pitched a complete game in UAB’s 3-2 win in the series finale.

South Alabama took one on the chin as Georgia State took the series sweep in Atlanta. Senior Amanda Manahan provided the Jaguars one of their few bright spots this past weekend by belting two home runs and recording 4 RBIs in the final two games of the series.

Troy dropped two of three games in their opening Sun Belt Conference series at Georgia Southern. Becca Hartley plated 5 RBIs over the weekend including a grand slam in their only win of the weekend.

In the Choccolocco Classic in Oxford, Alabama, Jacksonville State won three of four games including an 8-0 win in five innings over Samford. The Gamecocks hit three long balls against the Bulldogs including a grand slam from sophomore Anna Chisolm. Meanwhile, Samford and Alabama A&M lost three of four games while Alabama State lost all four-games during the two-day tournament.