Bama is back home for a three game set following a face-planting in Birmingham.
TUESDAY: SAMFORD 3, ALABAMA 2
Alabama took the early 2-0 lead on solo shots by Audrey Vandagriff and Ana Roman, but very little offense beyond that.
A cold Vic Moten made a relief appearance and blew that two run advantage. The Alabama offense struck out nine times and missed several opportunities to score against the 19-26 Bulldogs. But perhaps the most disturbing factor was the lack of energy in the crimson and white dugout.
We’ve been hearing a lot
of excuses this week, but bottom line is that elite teams don’t lose games like that. Hopefully, they can learn from this unsatisfactory performance and not let it happen again.
ACCOLADES
- Following the sweep of Auburn, Jena Young was named the SEC Player of the Week and Vic Moten is the SEC Freshman of the Week.
- Alexis Pupillo has now reached base in 39 straight games.
- Brooke Wells is up to 18 home runs on the season which ties her with Amanda Locke (2012) for sixth place on Alabama’s single season home run record list. It puts her just eight behind Bailey Hemphill (2019). Her slugging percentage is up to .957. Oh, yeah. Just a sophomore, y’all.
RAT POISON
The rankings came out before the Samford debacle.
- 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
HOW TO WATCH… ALLEGEDLY
Game 1 is on ESPN2. The other two are available on SECN+ Streaming.
WEATHER
It should be beautiful days at the Rhoads House on Friday and Saturday with temperatures in the 80s. But Sunday’s game might be a little chilly with a high of only 71°.
KENTUCKY (25-22, 1-17)
It’s been a rough go for the ‘Cats this spring. UK is in grave danger of missing the post-season for the first time since coach Rachel Lawson’s first season in Lexington in 2008. Kentucky started the season in Southern California playing in a pair of invitationals. They went 6-4 in that stretch but lost to San Diego State and Fullerton. The highlight of the trip was splitting with Stanford. Following that swing, the Meow-Meows went on a 12-game winning streak in Cupcake Season leading up to SEC play. In conference play, UK won Game 1 versus Auburn but have since lost 17 straight SEC games. If things weren’t bad enough, Kentucky lost to Louisville in a 9 inning game in Lexington at the end of March.
THROW THE BALL
Kentucky mainly utilizes four different pitchers and the Wildcats use all their hurlers in a variety of ways. Senior Sarah Haendiges (10-8, 4.00 ERA) gets most of the workload (99.2 innings). McKenzie Oslanzi (4-5, 3.88) appears to be the No. 2 though Hailey Nutter (7-4, 3.48) and Abby Hammond (3-4, 4.70) make plenty of appearances as well.
On Sunday against Tennessee, Hammond pitched well enough to win (6.0 inn, 3 hits allowed, 1 earned run), but was letdown by the limp Wildcats offense that mustered zero runs and an inept bullpen that gave up four 7th inning runs. In Monday’s finale with the Vols, Hammond pitched 3.1 innings of shutout ball in a 10-3 defeat, so she is on a mini-roll here.
TL/DR: Four main pitchers and none of them are very good. Team ERA is 4.17. It’s a sort of pitching-by-committee startegy. The UK coaching staff seems a bit impatient and goes to the bullpen quite often.
HIT THE BALL
Allie Blum (.373, 36 runs, 5 HR, 22 RBI, 11 steals) is a solid leadoff hitter for the ’Cats. Karissa Hamilton (.351 BA, 11 DBL, SEC-leading 6 TRPL, 9 HR, 42 RBI) is always a threat with the bat in her hands. Carly Sleeman (.368, 36 RBI) leads the team in homers with 11. But after that trio, there is a bit of a dropoff.
After leading the team in nearly every offensive category a season ago, Peyton Plotts is having a bit of a setback this year with a .290 batting average, 9 four-baggers, and 26 runner knocked in. Kentucky has four starters who are hitting below .225.
TL/DR: Kentucky scores 4.7 runs per game and 2.1 in SEC games. They are second lowest in the conference in both categories.
CATCH THE BALL
Alabama faces another deficient defense. The Wildcats are fielding at a .963 clip with a whopping 48 errors.
HOT HEAD(S)
As mentioned above, Rachel Lawson has been in charge of the Kentucky softball program since 2008 and participated in 15 straight NCAA Tournaments. However, they have not gotten out of the first round in the last four campaigns. Previous to that span, the Wildcats had made it to the Super Regionals seven of eight seasons with one WCWS appearance. But there has been some decline since 2021. UK went 43–16 in that 2021 season and then dropped to 37 wins followed by three straight seasons of 31 wins. Their SEC records have been down-trending as well.
TEN CENT ANALYSIS
This is the worst team in the league going through a disastrous season. Again I say: there is no excuse for Crimson Tide to not win all three and do so handily.
