After a rough April with four consecutive series losses down the stretch in SEC play, the Alabama softball team limped into the weekend to face a heavily favored Texas A&M squad. For perhaps the first time all season, the Tide were able to put it all together and came away with an unexpected three-game sweep, including a thrilling walk-off win in the finale off the bat of senior leader Demi Turner.
From rolltide.com:
After retiring Texas A&M in order in the top of the eighth, Schroder led off the bottom half with a hard-hit single up the middle. A groundout two batters later moved her into scoring position with two out and Turner came through with the biggest hit of the day, an RBI single to right field to give Alabama the 5-4 walk-off victory.
The sweep pulled the 18th-ranked Tide’s final mark up to .500 in SEC play at 12-12, 32-17 overall.
Turner has been a catalyst for this team her entire career and was on fire in this series, reaching base in 9 of 12 plate appearances. The bats really woke up in a big way, putting up 21 runs on 26 hits and 16 BBs in the three games. Slugger Bailey Hemphill homered in each of the first two games of the series and outfielder Kaylee Tow went 4-for-7 with four walks on the weekend.
The series really didn’t matter much to the Tide in terms of seeding for the upcoming SEC tournament at Mizzou, as they came into the weekend locked into either the #8 or #9 slot and would have drawn Auburn in the first round regardless of the outcome. The three losses really hurt the Aggies, however, as they fell from the #3 seed and corresponding first round bye all the way to #6.
With a senior ace pitcher in Alexis Osorio plus a solid #2 in Courtney Gettins, the team has the potential to play with anyone, even top seeded Florida who the Tide will face should they beat Auburn. The opening game will be played Wednesday at 6:30pm CT and will be televised on SEC Network.
Roll Tide.