Photo Courtesy of Alabama Athletics
Photo Courtesy of Alabama Athletics
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Alabama softball tallied another pair of wins Saturday at the Easton Crimson Classic, defeating Stanford 4-0 in the opener before throwing the second no-hitter of the weekend in a 10-0 win over Drake.

Alabama (18-2) got the day started with a 4-0 shutout over Stanford (12-7) before blanking Drake (12-8) in the second game of the day, 10-0, in five innings with Madi Moore and Sydney Littlejohn combining to throw the second no-hitter of the weekend and 32nd overall in program history. Alexis Osorio pitched another gem in the opener against the Cardinal, throwing a complete-game shutout with 18 strikeouts and just one hit allowed.

At the plate, Merris Schroder had another strong day, going 3-5 with two runs scored and three RBIs, including a double and a triple.  Demi Turner and Elissa Brown posted a pair of hits and Carrigan Fain and Claire Jenkins each hit a home run in the second game of the day, the first long ball of the year for both players.

GAME ONE: ALABAMA 4, STANFORD 0
Alabama opened play at the Easton Crimson Classic Saturday with a 4-0 shutout over Stanford. Another strong start from Osorio (9-1) in the circle kept the Cardinal offense off balance, striking out 18 batters while allowing just one hit in the complete-game shutout. On offense, Brown and Schroder had two-hit performances with Schroder driving in three of the Tide’s four runs on a three-run triple in the first inning.

With two out in the bottom of the first, Alabama drew three walks to load the bases for Schroder, who smashed a three-run triple to the wall in left to make it a 3-0 game. The score remained the same until the bottom of the fifth when Schroder hit a two-out double and Reagan Dykes followed with an RBI single to make it 4-0. That would go as the last run of the day for either team as Osorio and the Tide defense shut down the Cardinal for the remainder of the contest.

GAME TWO: ALABAMA 10, DRAKE 0 (5 INNINGS)
After two scoreless innings to start the game, the Alabama offense came alive in the bottom of the third to the tune of eight runs, adding two more in the next inning to ultimately win 10-0 in five innings. In the circle, Moore (3-1) and Littlejohn teamed up to throw the second combined no-hitter of the weekend, each allowing just one walk. Fain and Jenkins drove in five of the Tide’s 10 runs with a pair of home runs.

Some heads-up defense saved a run in the top of the third. With two on base and one out, Moore fielded a chopper and threw to third for the force out. A wild pitch in the next at-bat moved the runners up and the lead runner tried to go for home on the play but Bailey Hemphill quickly gathered it and fired it to Moore covering home for the final out of the half-inning.

With a runner at first in the bottom half of the inning, Hemphill laced a hard-hit double in the gap to score Turner from first and make it 1-0 Alabama. Later with runners at the corners and nobody out, Marisa Runyon pulled a single through the right side to score one and another runner came home in the next at-bat on a fielder’s choice, stretching the lead to 3-0.

Fain doubled the lead with one mighty swing, blasting a three-run home run that bounced off the light pole in right-center to make it 6-0. As Alabama batted around the order in the half-inning, Turner took advantage of her second at-bat with an RBI single to make it 7-0. A sacrifice fly by Hemphill tallied the eighth and final run of the inning for Alabama to take a commanding 8-0 lead.

After a one-out walk by Fain in the bottom of the fourth, Jenkins smashed a line-drive home run to straightaway center, stretching the lead to 10-0. A 1-2-3 top of the fifth would secure the run-rule victory for the Tide.

Alabama concludes play at the Easton Crimson Classic tomorrow, facing Jacksonville at 1:30 p.m. CT.

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