Kilfoyl’s Perfect Game Fuels Tide to Series Win Over Georgia

Alabama softball, after losing the opener and winning the second game, won the rubber match against Georgia on Monday after Lexi Kilfoyl pitched her first career perfect game.

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Despite earning the start just a day before on Sunday, junior Kilfoyl got the start on the mound again Monday. She ended up recording 10 strikeouts, which is a new career high, while giving up no hits or runs. Her perfect game was the 41st no hitter in Alabama softball history.

"I was a little surprised at first, not gonna lie, because I threw so much last night, but I knew that when I get the right mindset I could do it," Kilfoyl said about how she felt after learning that she would start again on Monday. "I was pretty excited because I had all that experience from last night and I knew that I wasn't going to let [Georgia] do anything tonight."

Both No. 4 Alabama (31-5, 8-4) and No. 15 Georgia (31-7, 5-4) started out the game slow, with no runs being scored through the first four innings. Alabama came the closest to scoring in this time, with the Crimson Tide being able to load the bases up with two outs before Aubrey Barnhart was struck out.

The scoring started at the bottom of the fifth inning with Ally Shipman singling up the middle for a 2 RBI, sending both Dallis Goodnight and Kat Grill home. The runs continued with Bailey Dowling singling to left, which brought Kali Heivilin home, then Kaylee Tow getting a base hit that sent Shipman home. The fifth inning onslaught continued as Jenna Johnson singled to the right side, sending Tow and M'Kay Gidley home, and concluding the inning with the Tide leading 6-0.

"Tonight was big for [Alabama's] psyche," said Alabama head coach Patrick Murphy. "When we didn't score nobody pouted, nobody was a Debby Downer, nobody gave up. There's some good hitters up to bat too that didn't come through, but then it started and all it took was for Ally Shipman to get the hit."

The Tide used the momentum from the fifth along with Kilfoyl's 10 strikeouts to officially put the Bulldogs away in the sixth, with Shipman hitting a home run to left field, sending her, Goodnight, and Grill home and ending the game 9-0 via run-rule. On the offensive end, Alabama ended the game with eight hits and zero errors.

Alabama's next four games will be on the road. First, the Tide will play on the road against Jacksonville State on Wednesday, April 6 at 6 p.m. CT. They will then play a Saturday-Sunday-Monday series against Florida, which will be aired on ESPN, ESPN2, and the SEC Network respectively, as well as all the games can be heard on the radio by tuning into Me TV 97.5 FM or downloading the Me TV FM 97.5 App.