This past weekend, Alabama softball kicked off their 2019 season in Troy, AL at the Trojan Classic and never took their foot off the gas.

For the Tide, the tournament started with Murray State on Friday. After getting out to an early lead, the Tide kept the bats swinging and easily dominated the Racers behind some great hitting performances by LF, Merris Schroeder and SS, Claire Jenkins who wasted no time getting their first homers on the season. The Tide defeated the Racers 12-0 in 5 innings.

Next, the Tide faced off against the tournament hosting Troy Trojans. After not scoring in the first, the Tide ended the drought by rattling off two runs thanks to a two-run homer by Claire Jenkins which got the bats going and led the Tide to another dominant victory, defeating the Trojans 7-2.

On the second day of action in the Trojan Classic, the Tide stayed hot against Maryland behind a great team effort from behind the plate. Bama finished off the Terps easily, notching a 10-0 with Maddie Morgan smashing two doubles to lift the tide to victory.

Afterwards the Tide took on Murray State for the second time, but this game was quite different from the first. This game was a shootout from the beginning. After Alabama got out to the early 1-0 lead in the first, the Racers came back with three runs of their own. Then, after a couple of scoreless innings from Murray State, the Tide took advantage and eventually finished them off with a nine-run inning in the sixth that would seal it. Bailey Hemphill had a tremendous game going 4-5, with two doubles, a home run, and seven RBIs to help the Tide escape.

Lastly, the Tide finished off their perfect tournament run by taking on Troy again on the last day. After a very slow start for the Tide through the first three innings, they exploded for seven runs to help lift them to an 8-0 victory over the Trojans to finish off the Trojan Classic.

The Crimson Tide will travel to Tucson, AZ  for the Hillenbrand Invitational from February 15-17th where they will take on USF, New Mexico, Cal State Fullerton, Arizona, and UIC. The first game of the tournament will be against USF at 12:15 p.m. CT on Friday.

(Photo courtesy of The Crimson White)