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By Alex Byington Sports
Sixth-ranked Alabama is looking to end centerfielder Haylie McCleney’s All-American collegiate career with a Women’s College World Series title, the rare accomplishment not yet on her resume.
Alabama has won one only World Series title, in 2012, the year before McCleney’s class arrived on campus.
“You want to leave a place better than you found it, and that’s what we, as a senior class, have tried to do because that’s what we were taught,” McCleney said. “We came in as freshmen wanting to leave our mark, and I think we’ve done a nice job of that, and we have one more week to really kind of leave our footprint.”
Alabama (51-12) will take on No. 3 seeded Oklahoma at 6 p.m. in the third game today, the first day of the WCWS in Oklahoma City.
It’s a familiar opponent for McCleney, who made arguably the two most important plays in a decisive Game 3 of last season’s Super Regional series against the Sooners, which the Tide won 5-3 on a go-ahead grand slam to advance to its second straight WCWS.
“I think it probably saved the whole ballgame, because their momentum, they would have had it for the rest of the game,” Alabama head coach Patrick Murphy said. “And she took it away with two catches, and basically willed us to the World Series.”
McCleney robbed Oklahoma of two potential game-altering hits in the top of the first inning when she climbed the wall in centerfield to take away a potential two-run home run for the first out and then made a diving catch in shallow right-center to end the inning and leave the bases loaded.
“Just the momentum that created was huge, because we knew we needed the support from our fans if we were going to take Game 3,” McCleney said. “Getting two plays in centerfield is almost unheard of. I’m lucky if I get two plays a game. … And I think it really helped Alexis (Osorio) out a lot to know that, not just me, but the rest of the outfield, the rest of the infield completely had her back.”
Training to be a centerfielder since she was a little girl making diving catches on a trampoline in the backyard with her brothers, McCleney’s career at Alabama is littered with defensive plays that often involved the 5-4 sparkplug laying her body on the line.
“Once you know the ball is in your glove, and you’re completing the process of the catch, that’s when it hits you that, ‘OK, yeah, that was pretty cool,’ ” McCleney said.
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Alabama has won one only World Series title, in 2012, the year before McCleney’s class arrived on campus.
“You want to leave a place better than you found it, and that’s what we, as a senior class, have tried to do because that’s what we were taught,” McCleney said. “We came in as freshmen wanting to leave our mark, and I think we’ve done a nice job of that, and we have one more week to really kind of leave our footprint.”
Alabama (51-12) will take on No. 3 seeded Oklahoma at 6 p.m. in the third game today, the first day of the WCWS in Oklahoma City.
It’s a familiar opponent for McCleney, who made arguably the two most important plays in a decisive Game 3 of last season’s Super Regional series against the Sooners, which the Tide won 5-3 on a go-ahead grand slam to advance to its second straight WCWS.
“I think it probably saved the whole ballgame, because their momentum, they would have had it for the rest of the game,” Alabama head coach Patrick Murphy said. “And she took it away with two catches, and basically willed us to the World Series.”
McCleney robbed Oklahoma of two potential game-altering hits in the top of the first inning when she climbed the wall in centerfield to take away a potential two-run home run for the first out and then made a diving catch in shallow right-center to end the inning and leave the bases loaded.
“Just the momentum that created was huge, because we knew we needed the support from our fans if we were going to take Game 3,” McCleney said. “Getting two plays in centerfield is almost unheard of. I’m lucky if I get two plays a game. … And I think it really helped Alexis (Osorio) out a lot to know that, not just me, but the rest of the outfield, the rest of the infield completely had her back.”
Training to be a centerfielder since she was a little girl making diving catches on a trampoline in the backyard with her brothers, McCleney’s career at Alabama is littered with defensive plays that often involved the 5-4 sparkplug laying her body on the line.
“Once you know the ball is in your glove, and you’re completing the process of the catch, that’s when it hits you that, ‘OK, yeah, that was pretty cool,’ ” McCleney said.
Decatur Daily—Continue reading...
