Needing a win to stay alive in Saturday's nightcap, Alabama softball found its offensive spark en route to a 6-2 win over Chattanooga to secure a spot in Sunday's regional final against Stanford.
rolltide.com
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Needing a win to stay alive in Saturday's nightcap, Alabama softball found its offensive spark en route to a 6-2 win over Chattanooga to secure a spot in Sunday's regional final against Stanford.
The six runs were Alabama's (43-12) highest scoring output since April 19, with the win over Chattanooga (30-27) propelling the Crimson Tide to its 19th Regional final in program history.
Jenna Johnson set the tone from the leadoff position with a 2-for-3 day with two RBIs, including a solo home run in the first at-bat of the game.
Ally Shipman also had a two-hit day, her 19th multi-hit game of the season, and
Jenna Lord posted her fourth multi-RBI day with a two-run pinch hit single. In the circle,
Jaala Torrence (7-2) got the win with 6.1 innings pitched.
Johnson wasted no time leading off the game, sending the fourth pitch of her at-bat over the left field fence as the solo home run put Alabama ahead 1-0. In the top of the third with one out and
Savannah Woodard at third base, Johnson laid down a squeeze bunt as everyone was safe and the Tide now led 2-0. With the bases loaded and one out in the top of the fourth, Woodard lifted a fly ball to right field and Shipman tagged up and scored on the sacrifice fly to make it 3-0 before the Mocs scratched a run across in the bottom half of the inning on a wild pitch.
With two in scoring position and two out in the top of the sixth, Lord stepped in to pinch hit and delivered with a two-run single to make it 5-1 and then Shipman added some insurance with an RBI single in the seventh to make it 6-1. Chattanooga didn't go down quietly in the last half-inning, smacking a solo home run to make it 6-2 before
Montana Fouts entered to secure the final two outs and shut the door on the four-run win.
"First of all, it was a great run for Chattanooga. Coach Frank Reed is one of the gentlemen of softball, so congrats to them on their season and we knew it would be a tough game. I was really pleased with Jaala's effort, pitching almost seven innings. Then obviously the other star was Jenna [Johnson] in the leadoff spot. She was awesome tonight."