Inside the Tide: Mizzou Preview

April is upon us. That means we’re at the halfway point in SEC Softball play and with Alabama starting out with three of its first four conference series on the road, to be sitting at 8-4 is not bad at all. Three of those losses were by one-run coming on the road against a top-ten team.

If the Crimson Tide wants to four-peat, it has to put up a great record in the second half but the second half schedule is much more friendly to Bama than the first half was. This weekend is a huge one for the Tide.

Missouri officially comes into the weekend with the lead in the SEC standings, but I can’t help but point out the Tigers have played the least amount of conference games thus far (just eight) and six of those games were against the two teams at the bottom of the SEC standings.

The best measuring stick to try to get a sense of just how good Missouri is, is the rain-shortened series they played against Texas A&M. The Tigers struggled offensively in against the Aggies winning game one, 2-0, on a one-hit shutout and falling in the second game, 11-3.

For Missouri it all starts and ends with Chelsea Thomas. She is right there with Traina and Ricketts among the nation’s elite pitchers. Thomas leads the SEC in the circle with a 0.58 ERA and has 119 strikeouts in 84 innings pitched this year and if that wasn’t enough, she has only walked 17.

The last time Alabama faced Missouri was in 2011. A 3-1 win for the Crimson Tide in Tampa. Kayla Braud had an RBI double in that game.

If Alabama can manufacture some runs on Friday, it could prove to be a long weekend for Missouri. Outside of Thomas, the Tigers don’t really have much left in the circle.

Also, congratulations to Braud for being named one of ten finalist for the Senior CLASS Award. Make sure you go and vote for Kayla each day to help her bring the award back to Tuscaloosa. She is well deserving of it! (click on the picture below to go vote)

Look forward to seeing you all at out the Rhoads House this weekend. Don’t forget about the Stripe Out tonight! We’ll have all the games for on from CTSN on 99.1 and 991wdgm.com. Roll Tide!