Bama returned home from a sweep of Auburn for a three game set versus Kentucky. But not before face-planting in Birmingham.
TUESDAY: SAMFORD 3, ALABAMA 2
Patrick Murphy started Abby Duchscherer at first base and Larissa Preuitt in left field. Alexis Pupillo was the catcher in place of Marlie Giles. Kristen White and Lauren Johnson began the game on the bench. Other than that, it was the regular starters for the Tide.
Alabama took the early 2-0 lead on solo shots by Audrey Vandagriff and Ana Roman.
And then the Tide figured that was good enough. Time to start thinking about Kentucky.
Kaitlyn Pallozzi started the game and had a no-hitter through the first three innings. A single and a hit by pitch put two on base with one out for the Bulldogs in the 5th as Vic Moten (15-3) entered to pitch in relief. The newly crowned SEC Freshman of the Week walked the bases loaded and then a wild pitch scored the first Sammy run. A two-run double scored two more.
From that point, the Tide could not get anything much going offensively and there was no life in the dugout. The leadoff batter of the 6th, Ambrey Taylor, singled for the Tide and was left stranding there. In the 7th, Salen Hawkins doubled to lead off and never left that station. Murphy replaced Roman with Kristen White who made the final out of the game. [Why would you not bring in Giles to hit in that spot?]
The Tide managed only six hits. Alabama struck out NINE times including twice by Jena Young, Vandagriff, and Roman, and once each by Alexis Pupillo, Brooke Wells, and Taylor. Duke was 0 for 3. Preuitt was 1 for 3.
Samford had only three hits and whiffed 13 times.
RAT POISON
Earlier in the day, the weekly rankings were announced. Is it too late for a re-count?
- Softball America 13 ↑ 8 ↑ 6 ↑ 4 ↔ 4 ↔ 4 ↔ 4 ↓ 6 ↑ 4 ↑ 1 ↓ 2 – leapfrogged by Okie
- D1Softball 14 ↑ 10 ↑ 9 ↑ 8 ↑ 5 ↔ 5 ↑ 4 ↓ 6 ↑ 4 ↑ 3 ↑ 2
- USAToday/NFCA 16 ↑ 13 ↑ 9 ↑ 7 ↑ 6 ↔ 6 ↔ 6 ↓ 7 ↑ 4 ↑ 3 ↔ 3
- ESPN/USA Softball 15 ↑ 10 ↑ 8 ↑ 5 ↑ 4 ↔ 4 ↔ 4 ↓ 6 ↑ 5 ↑ 3 ↑ 2
SCHEDULE
- Fri, Apr 17 vs Kentucky 5pm/6pm
- Sat, Apr 18 vs Kentucky 1:30/2:30
- Sun, Apr 19 vs Kentucky 1:30/2:30
