⚾ 🥎 Walk-Off and Shutout Complete Weekend Sweep for Alabama Softball Over Arkansas

[UA Press Release]

THIS WEEKEND
NO. 11/9 Alabama (21-2) vs. No. RV/24 Arkansas (19-1)
Tuscaloosa, Ala. - Rhoads Stadium

• Friday, March 9 - 6:30 p.m. CT
• Saturday, March 10 - 5 p.m. CT (SEC Network)
• Sunday, March 11 - 1:30 p.m. CT

FOLLOWING THE TIDE

• Video:
  • Saturday - SEC Network
  • Friday/Sunday - SEC Network+ (Online Only)
• Radio: 93.3 FM (praise933.com)
• Live Stats: rolltide.com
• Twitter: @AlabamaSB

SCOUTING NO. 11/9 ALABAMA (21-2)

• Alabama stretched its current winning streak to 14 games with a pair of midweek wins this week, defeating Loyola, 5-0, on Tuesday and Valparaiso, 1-0, on Wednesday.
• Tide pitching leads the SEC in opposing batting average (.136), strikeouts (236) and wins (21). Individually, Sydney Littlejohn leads the league in ERA (0.24) while Alexis Osorio leads the NCAA with 140 strikeouts. Osorio and Littlejohn are ranked first and fifth, respectively, in the SEC in opposing batting average at .081 and .142.
• Sophomore Merris Schroder is ranked 10th in the SEC with a .453 batting average while freshman Bailey Hemphill is tied for sixth with five home runs and is ninth with 21 RBIs. The pair are back-to-back in slugging percentage, with Hemphill in fourth at .824 and Schroder in fifth at .792.
• Alabama is in the midst of a 12-game home stand, which continues this weekend and ends with a doubleheader at Rhoads Stadium next Wednesday.
• Alexis Osorio was named SEC Co-Pitcher of the Week, her second weekly conference award of the season.

THE OPPONENT
Arkansas Razorbacks

• Southeastern Conference
• 2017 Record: 19-1
• Head Coach: Courtney Deifel (Second Season)
• Letterwinners Returning/Lost: 18/7
• Newcomers: 11

Arkansas Stat Leaders

• Batting Avg. - Nicole Schroeder - .526
• Hits - Nicole Schroeder - 30
• Home Runs - Nicole Schroeder - 12
• Wins - Autumn Storms - 8
• ERA - Autumn Storms - 1.06
• Strikeouts - Grace Moll – 51

ALL-TIME VS. THE OPPONENT
53-8 vs. Arkansas

• Current Streak: Alabama 7
• First Meeting: March 14, 1997 - L, 1-9 (5) - Fayetteville, Ark.
• Last Meeting: May 3, 2015 - W, 1-0 - Fayetteville, Ark.
• Last Meeting in Tuscaloosa: April 5, 2014 - W, 4-3

LAST TIME OUT: ALABAMA DEFEATS LOYOLA AND VALPARAISO

• Alabama 5, Loyola 0: After a 90-minute rain delay to start the game, Alabama softball needed just two hours to shut out Loyola Chicago, 5-0, and earn its 20th win of the season. Alabama scored in five of the six innings it came to bat while Loyola-Chicago struggled to even make contact against Crimson Tide starter Alexis Osorio, who struck out 18 and allowed just one hit in the complete-game shutout. It is her third game of the season with at least 18 strikeouts, now owning three of the five such performances in Alabama softball history. On offense, six of the Tide's nine starters got a hit, led by Peyton Grantham with a 2-2 performance.
• Alabama 1, Valparaiso 0: Runs were at a premium Wednesday night at Rhoads Stadium, as an unassuming run in the first inning ultimately made all the difference in a narrow 1-0 victory for Alabama softball over Valparaiso. Alabama scored its lone run of the day on what would have been an RBI groundout, though a Valparaiso error on the play allowed the hitter to reach safely. That proved the only tally for either team, who were evenly matched with four hits apiece. Crimson Tide starter Sydney Littlejohn and the Alabama defense got out of some late jams, leaving four baserunners stranded as Littlejohn struck out a career-high 13 in the complete-game win. Valparaiso starter Ashlyn Montgomery also went the distance, allowing the lone run on four hits and two walks.

ALABAMA IN SEC PLAY

• Alabama is 410-143 (.741) all-time in SEC play, including a 375-122 (.755) mark under Head Coach Patrick Murphy.
• Since switching to the current 24-game conference schedule in 2013, Alabama is 65-31 (.677). That includes a 35-13 mark at home, winning 14 of the 16 home conference series.
• The Crimson Tide has won five SEC regular season titles: 2006, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2014
• Alabama owns an all-time winning record against every SEC opponent except LSU.

SIGNIFICANT STREAKS

• Alabama has won 14-straight games heading into this weekend, its longest winning streak of the season. The longest winning streak since 2013 came last season when the Tide won 18-straight from Feb. 13 through March 5.
• Merris Schroder has earned a hit in 15-straight games, the longest streak for any player this season and the longest for any Tide player since Haylie McCleney hit in 16-straight games in 2014. Schroder's 15-game streak is the 10th-longest in program history.
• Bailey Hemphill's reached base streak of 22 games ended on Wednesday, tying her for the second-longest reached base streak by a freshman in program history. Cassie-Reilly Boccia (2009) and Jackie Wilkins (2002) each reached base safely in 22-straight games during their freshman seasons, but all three are far behind record-holder Kelly Kretschman, who reached base safely in a whopping 49-straight games as a freshman in 1998. Within that streak is an SEC-record 35-game hitting streak.
• Alabama pitchers Alexis Osorio and Sydney Littlejohn are currently riding career-best scoreless inning streaks, with Osorio at 22 and Littlejohn at 21. Littlejohn has won eight-straight games, which is tied for the longest winning streak of her career, while Osorio has won six-straight which is one shy of her career best of seven, set last season.

ALEXIS OSORIO NAMED SEC CO-PITCHER OF THE WEEK
For the second time this season, junior pitcher Alexis Osorio has earned SEC Pitcher of the Week honors, announced Monday by the Southeastern Conference. She shares this week's honor with Florida senior pitcher Delanie Gourley.

The weekly award is the third of Osorio's career, previously winning on Feb. 29, 2016 and Feb. 13 earlier this season. Overall, Alabama has won SEC Pitcher of the Week 36 times in program history.

Osorio went 3-0 last week over three appearances, striking out 38 batters over 15.0 innings while not allowing a single run. On Friday, she started as part of a combined no-hitter against Jacksonville along with sophomore Madi Moore, already the second no-hitter that Osorio has pitched in this season along with her perfect game at Coastal Carolina in week one. Against the Dolphins, she struck out 11 batters over 4.0 innings. On Saturday against Stanford, she earned a complete-game victory over the Cardinal with 18 strikeouts in 7.0 innings of work with just one hit allowed. The 18 strikeouts is the second-highest total in a single game in program history, only trailing the 19 she threw earlier this season in the perfect game against the Chanticleers.

So far this season, Osorio has an NCAA-leading 122 strikeouts, averaging 2.09 per inning with a 7:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. She also leads the SEC in opposing batting average (.085) and is third in hits allowed (16) and fourth in wins (9).

CAREER RECORD WATCH

• A number of Crimson Tide players are moving up the career school records so far in the 2017 season.
• Junior Alexis Osorio moved into first place with a career 10.14 strikeout-per-game average, surpassing previous record-holder Kelsi Dunne (2008-11) at 9.82. Osorio's 640 career strikeouts rank fifth all-time with fourth-place Jaclyn Traina's (2001-14) 976 career strikeouts as the next milestone.
• Senior Sydney Littlejohn is fifth all-time with a 1.75 career ERA and seventh with a .206 opposing batting average. Littlejohn went 35.1 innings to start the season before allowing an earned run. Osorio is right behind Littlejohn in ERA at seventh (1.88) and is second (.169) in opposing batting average.
• Junior Demi Turner is ranked fifth all-time with a .406 career batting average. She has 145 hits in 357 at-bats, making her one of five on the list with a career average over .400. Former teammate Haylie McCleney (2013-16) holds the record at .447.
• Senior Chandler Dare is sixth in stolen base percentage (.882), just nine points behind fifth-place Whitney Larsen (2008-11) at .891. Dare is 8-9 in stolen bases so far this season. She also cracked the top 10 in batting average at .362, just three points shy of ninth-place Ashley Courtney (2002-05) at .365 and six points shy of eighth-place Lauren Parker (2007-09) at .368.
• Senior Marisa Runyon is seventh all-time with a .612 career slugging percentage and is ninth with 35 home runs. Her 149 career RBIs put her 13 shy of cracking the top 10.

UP NEXT

 

[TerryP]

Busy weekend in Tuscaloosa.

 

[RTB X Bot]

 

[UA Press Release]

Alabama Softball Shuts Out Arkansas, 9-0, to Open SEC Play


TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama softball scored early and often in its SEC opener Friday night against Arkansas, tallying nine runs to earn the 9-0 run-rule victory in five innings.

Ninth-ranked Alabama (22-2, 1-0 SEC) extended its current winning streak to 15 games in convincing fashion, holding No. 24 Arkansas (19-2, 0-1 SEC) scoreless on just one hit while the Crimson Tide bats plated nine runs on 10 hits as six different players earned at least one RBI. Bailey Hemphill led the effort with a 3-3 day and four RBIs while Peyton Grantham and Reagan Dykes each had multi-hit games. Merris Schroder hit a sixth-inning RBI single to extend her current hitting streak to 16 games, tied for the eighth-longest in program history, and Demi Turner scored a team-leading three runs batting in the leadoff position with two walks and a bunt single.

"I think everyone was fired up to start SEC play," UA Head Coach Patrick Murphy said. "I saw [Marisa] Runyon before the game today and she was rubbing her hands together like a little kid on Christmas morning.

"Alexis [Osorio] was terrific, but the story was our hitters getting solid contact and not biting on bad pitches. We haven't been great at that consistently this season. Arkansas' starter throws hard and our first few batters made her bring it up a bit and they capitalized. The pitch selection was awesome."

Alexis Osorio (11-1) allowed just one hit in the five-inning shutout, striking out eight, while Razorback starter Grace Moll (7-1) exited after just 1.2 innings with five earned runs allowed in her first loss of the season.

With Turner on second base after a leadoff walk and sacrifice bunt in the bottom of the first, Hemphill hit an RBI double to the wall in right field to drive her home and make it 1-0. A wild pitch moved Hemphill to third and a fly ball to center field allowed her to tag up and score on the sacrifice fly to give Alabama the early 2-0 advantage.

Alabama kept the pressure on in the next inning, loading the bases with two away. A bases-loaded walk to Chandler Dare made it 3-0 and Arkansas made a pitching change, bringing Katie Warrick into the circle. Hemphill then welcomed her to the game with a two-run single up the middle to stretch the Tide's lead to 5-0, though she was thrown out at second base to end the inning.

An RBI single by Dykes in the third made it 6-0 and the Tide added even more distance with a three-run fourth. Back-to-back singles and a sacrifice bunt to lead off the inning set up Hemphill for a hard-hit RBI single and a walk to Marisa Runyon would then load the bases with one out. A single in shallow left field by Grantham moved everyone up a base and another base hit by Schroder up the middle did the same to make it 9-0. After a pitching change for the Razorbacks, a popup and groundout would end the inning. Needing to score two to stay alive in the top of the fifth, Arkansas would get two on base but could not push a run across as the Tide held on to earn the run-rule shutout.

Alabama continues its weekend series against Arkansas tomorrow at 5 p.m. CT at Rhoads Stadium. The game will be aired live on SEC Network with Trey Bender and Leigh Ross on the call.

 

[UA Press Release]

Walk-Off and Shutout Complete Weekend Sweep for Alabama Softball Over Arkansas


TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – A rainy Saturday forced Alabama and Arkansas to play a doubleheader on Sunday to decide the weekend series. The Crimson Tide completed the sweep over the Razorbacks with an extra-inning walk-off in game two and a 5-0 shutout in game three.

Alabama (24-2, 3-0 SEC) trailed early in Sunday's first game to Arkansas (19-4, 0-3 SEC) before rallying to tie it in the seventh and eventually win it in the ninth on a walk-off home run by Chandler Dare, celebrating her senior day on Sunday. Facing a 5:15 p.m. CT drop-dead time in the final game of the day due to travel considerations, the teams played 6.0 complete innings as Alabama won, 5-0. The weekend sweep stretches Alabama's current winning streak to 17 games.

Over the weekend, Merris Schroder went 5-8 (.625) at the plate with three RBIs, stretching her current hitting streak to 18 games, the sixth-longest in program history. Dare was close behind, hitting 4-7 (.571) and was a double shy of hitting for the cycle in game two of the series. Alexis Osorio (13-1) earned all three wins this weekend, throwing 12.2 shutout innings with 21 strikeouts and just two hits allowed. This extends her scoreless innings streak to 35.

GAME ONE: ALABAMA 4, ARKANSAS 3 (9 INNINGS)
The Razorbacks scored three unanswered runs to start the game and Alabama only managed to scratch one across before facing a potential loss in the bottom of the seventh. A clutch RBI triple and a sacrifice fly would force extra innings and set Dare up for a senior day walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth as Alabama came back to win, 4-3.

Dare was 3-5 batting second in the order, a double shy of the cycle as she scored three runs and drove in two. Sydney Littlejohn started the game, throwing 7.1 innings, but Osorio would ultimately earn the win in relief after 1.2 shutout innings.

Arkansas scored its first run of the day in the top of the first, as a single loaded the bases and an error on the play allowed the runner at third to come home, making it 1-0. The Razorbacks added two more in the fourth inning on an RBI triple and an RBI single before Schroder cut into the deficit with an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth.

Trailing 3-1 heading to the bottom of the seventh, Demi Turner hit a one-out single and Dare followed with an RBI triple to the right-field corner to make it a one-run game. Back-to-back walks would load the bases before Peyton Grantham smacked a line drive to left field that allowed Dare to score on the sacrifice fly and tie the game. A force-out ended the inning as the teams moved to extra innings tied at 3-3.

With one out in the bottom of the ninth, Dare connected on a full-count pitch to right field as it sailed over the fence for a walk-off home run, her first long ball of the season, clinching the weekend series for Alabama in dramatic fashion with the 4-3 win in game two.

GAME TWO: ALABAMA 5, ARKANSAS 0 (6 INNINGS)
Alabama completed the sweep with a 5-0 shutout in game three, only playing 6.0 innings due to an agreed-upon drop dead time of 5:15 p.m. CT due to travel considerations. Osorio pitched yet another shutout, earning her third win of the weekend allowing one hit with 10 strikeouts. Schroder was 2-3, one of seven Tide players in the starting lineup to get a hit.

After two scoreless innings, the Tide plated the first runs of the day in the bottom of the third. With Elissa Brown in as a pinch-runner at second, a wild pitch moved her to third and a single up the middle by Schroder brought her home for Alabama's first run. Later with two on and two out, Claire Jenkins hit a single into shallow right field just past the glove of the jumping second baseman, scoring one to make it 2-0. A passed ball plated another before a lineout ended the inning with Alabama up, 3-0.

After a leadoff bunt single by Mari Cranek in the bottom of the sixth, Turner followed with another in a sacrifice attempt to move Cranek to scoring position. An errant throw on the play sent the ball well into foul territory, allowing Cranek to score and Turner to make the round trip and score as well, as the two unearned runs extended Alabama's lead to 5-0. This ultimately proved final as the teams reached the drop-dead time before the completion of the seventh inning, reverting the game back to the last complete inning.

Next up, Alabama closes its 12-game home stand with a doubleheader on Wednesday, March 15 at Rhoads Stadium. The Tide will play Winthrop at 3:30 p.m. CT before facing Georgia Southern at 6 p.m. CT.

Walk-Off and Shutout Complete Weekend Sweep for Alabama Softball Over Arkansas