“A Georgia peach doesn’t lose to a Georgia team,” is what freshman Skylar Wallace said following the Tide’s dominating 7-1 victory over the Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday. She was right too, as the 5th ranked Alabama Crimson Tide Softball team can now get the brooms out yet again after a strong sweep of an SEC opponent, the 13th ranked Georgia Bulldogs.
The Crimson Tide won the three-game series by scores of 7-1, 4-0, and 4-3.
Saturday, April 13th
The Crimson Tide held a tentative 3-1 lead over the Bulldogs following a Merris Schroder homerun, but a Maddie Morgan double with bases loaded in the bottom of the 4th blew the game open, scoring 3 runs and placing Morgan on second. The scoring for the inning wasn’t over yet, as freshman Skylar Wallace slapped an RBI single that drove Morgan home to stretch the Tide’s lead to 7-1.
Three more innings of solid pitching by Sarah Cornell and the Dawgs were down and out, with a final score of 7-1.
The Bulldogs couldn’t get a stable pitching situation, allowing eight hits and walking ten Tide batters during the game.
“Ten. That’s a lot of walks. We just took advantage of a little bit of their wildness which was uncharacteristic on their part.” Said Coach Murphy following the win, who was happier with his team’s offensive performance but was still disappointed with how many bases the team stole. “We were 9-9 and we missed the school record by 1, so now that I know what it is, we’re gonna go for it.”
Sunday, April 14th
If Saturday was an offensive showcase, then Sunday was defensive dominance as pitcher Krystal Goodman and the defense shutout the Bulldogs. It was Georgia’s first shutout all year.
“It wasn’t just me, the whole defense was just on today, and that’s what I rely on most.”
It was a good thing that the defense was locked down, as the Tide was unable to find the offensive success that it had the day before, and Alabama went into the bottom of the 5th with a 2-0 lead.
After what seemed to be a guaranteed home-run by Kaylee Tow was caught at the wall by Georgia outfielder Ciara Bryan, it seemed like the Tide wouldn’t be able to find a run for the rest of the game. One batter later and Merris Schroder stepped up to the plate and launched a ball against the wind, deep into left field for the home run that brought home pinch-runner Kloyee Anderson, which gave the Tide their final score of 4-0 to put the Bulldogs away.
“It felt pretty great,” Schroder said of the home run. “I was just really hoping it was going to stay fair because it had that lefty opposite field spin to it, so I was just pushing it fair as much as I could.”
Monday, April 15th
Monday marked the return of freshman pitcher Montana Fouts, who showed no signs of rust after 3 weeks of absence. Fouts pitched the first four innings, throwing 7 strikeouts and allowing only one hit.
The Tide took a 3-0 lead into the 5th inning before Georgia capitalized on a Crimson Tide pitching change, scoring three quick runs against Courtney Gettins prompting Alabama to make another pitching change. Sarah Cornell was able to retire the Bulldogs for the inning.
Going into the game, Elissa Brown was 33-34 on stolen bases this season, and riding on a 32 steal streak. The streak ended in the bottom of the 5th, as fast reaction by the Bulldogs defense caught Brown trying to slide into second.
A quick 6th inning set the table for an exciting 7th, with great closeout pitching by Cornell and an incredible dive for an out by KB Sides that shut down the Bulldogs. In the bottom half, Brown was more than able to make up for her out in the 5th, as she capitalized on the fifth error committed by Georgia to advance to third base on a single. Kaylee Tow then rocketed a pitch into left field to send Brown trotting into home, giving the Tide a walk-off win and a series sweep against the Bulldogs.
“If I’m on, Kaylee gets a hit, it’s an easy run, so, I just knew that she would come through because she’s just an awesome player and I’m super proud of her,” said Elissa Brown, who was all smiles following the win.
The Crimson Tide travel to Gainesville, Florida for a series against the Gators over the weekend of April 19-20 before coming back home for a weekend series against the Kentucky Wildcats during April 26-28.
