TUSCALOOSA, Ala – After collecting a 2-0 shutout victory in game one, No. 13 Alabama was outclassed by No. 12 Texas A&M, losing 17-6 on Saturday. This marked the most runs given up by the Tide pitching staff this season.
Jocelyn Briski got the nod in the circle for the Tide, making just her second career SEC start. Unfortunately for her, the Aggie offense wasn’t too happy about being shut out the night before. In the first inning, Texas A&M picked up three runs on two hits and forced Briski to throw 31 pitches.
“Jocelyn Briski usually gives us a good start and today it just wasn’t a good one. A good start in the circle is the key. The pitcher has to keep us in it for as long as they can until we score some runs,” said Alabama head coach Patrick Murphy.
In the second inning, the Aggies threatened again with a couple of one-out baserunners, putting an end to Briski’s afternoon. The Tide then turned to sophomore Alea Johnson out of the pen and she was greeted with a two-run single followed by a throwing error to plate three more for the Aggies.
In the bottom half of the inning, Bailey Dowling brought the crowd back into it with her third homer of the year, a solo shot to dead center to put Alabama on the board. However, a half inning later, the Aggies got the run right back with a no-doubter off the scoreboard by Allie Enright to push the lead back to six.
The Tide offense started to show some life with a combined four runs in the fourth and fifth innings. Jenna Johnson picked up an RBI single in the fourth and Kendal Clark mashed a three-run homer in the fifth to cut the lead to just two. With that homer, Clark extended her on-base streak to 10 games.
From that point on, it all went downhill for Alabama. Alea Johnson seemed to have found a groove with back-to-back scoreless innings but the Aggies responded with a three-run inning of their own in the sixth. “We cannot play ‘yoyo’ softball. They score, we score, they score, we score,” Murphy said. The Tide were able to get one back with a Kenleigh Cahalan single in the sixth, but that was the last of the scoring for Alabama.
The A&M offense put the nail in the coffin with seven (!!) runs off newly entered Alex Salter in the seventh inning. The typically dominant Tide pitching staff got exposed today, allowing a season-high 17 runs on 13 hits.
NEXT: Alabama falls to 30-9 on the season and an even 7-7 in conference play. The Tide will look to take the rubber match versus the Aggies tomorrow, with the first pitch set for 6 p.m. CT. The game will air live on SEC Network.
