Traina Shines in the Circle, Alabama Softball Earns Series Win with 4-1 Victory

Alabama junior All-American Jackie Traina allowed one run on two hits and also went deep to lead the No. 4 ranked Crimson Tide to a 4-1 victory over No. 9 Texas A&M, Sunday afternoon from the Aggie Softball Complex. With the victory, UA improves to 32-5 overall and 8-4 in Southeastern Conference play.

Traina struck out seven and also hit a solo home run. She tossed six shutout innings before allowing a home run in the seventh. Senior Kayla Braud paced the Tide at the plate with three hits and two RBI.

Alabama opened the scoring in the third inning. The Tide loaded the bases and then Braud hit a bloop single down the line in left to plate sophomore Danae Hays. Junior Kaila Hunt then hit a sac-fly to deep center to score senior Courtney Conley and give UA a 2-0 advantage.

The Tide extended its lead to 3-0 in the fifth when Braud took advantage of a two out walk to freshman Haylie McCleney. The senior smashed a double off the wall in center to plate the rookie all the way from first.

Traina helped her own cause on the first pitch she saw to lead off the sixth inning, sending a solo shot over the wall in right to give the Tide a 4-0 lead. The home run was the 13^th on the season for the All-American.