TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – In their home opening game of the 2024 season, Alabama opened play in the Easton Bama Bash with a 7-3 win over St. Thomas. After a rocky first start against Longwood, pitcher Jaala Torrence was perfect in relief in this one—her final line: 3.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BBs, 9 Ks.

This was Alabama’s first-ever meeting against St. Thomas. “It is really exciting to have these new teams in town. They are all led by excellent coaches, and we are excited for the challenge of this weekend,” said Alabama coach Patrick Murphy.

The Crimson Tide offense got the scoring started early with a solo shot off the bat of Riley Valentine in the 2nd, her first long ball of the year. Later in the inning, Kali Heivilin extended her team lead in RBIs with a 2-run inside-the-park homerun.

In the 3rd inning, St. Thomas was able to tie up the game with a 3-run homerun. A walk and an error proved costly to the Tide’s defense in the inning. SP Alea Johnson was having some control issues in this one, walking a batter in each of her 4 frames.

The Crimson Tide offense responded in 4th inning in a loud way. Lauren Esman notched a 2-RBI double, followed by an Abby Duchscherer double, driving in Esman.

Duchscherer finished the game 3-4, extending her team lead in hits. After recording just 9 hits in 2023, she is already up to 11 hits so far in just 6 games this season.

The offense was able to push across another run in the 4th on a St. Thomas throwing error, extending Alabama’s lead to 4.

 

Game Two

After a 7-3 win against St. Thomas earlier in the day, Alabama takes care of Virginia by a score of 3-1 in game 2 on Friday. Despite a late Cavalier rally, starting pitcher Kayla Beaver tossed her 3rd consecutive complete game in just 3 starts this season.

Virginia was able to plate its first run in the 7th, but Beaver navigated through trouble once again.

“Everybody feeds off of Kayla, her energy on the mound is unmatched. That kind of stuff spreads to the whole roster,” said coach Murphy.

Her final line: 7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 6 Ks.

Alabama was able to get on the board early with a 2-run home run off the bat of Lauren Esman. Esman went a combined 3-4 on the day with 4 RBIs.

After recording 7 runs on 10 hits in the first game of the day, the Crimson Tide offense was quiet in this one only notching 3 total runs on 5 hits.

Left fielder Jenna Johnson was able to record her first 2-hit game of the year, going 2-2 with 2 runs scored. Outside of Esman and Duchscherer, the other hit came by way of Marlie Giles.

NEXT: Alabama will take on St. Thomas and Virginia on day 2 of the Easton Bama Bash. First pitch is set for 11 am and 1 pm.