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Softball Super Regional Preview: Alabama vs Texas

The tale of the tape between the Crimson Tide and the Longhorns.

Bailey Hemphill does it again.
@AlabamaSB

After clearing the regional hurdle, it is on to the Super Regional for the Crimson Tide and the Longhorns.

Since the Super Regional round was introduced to the NCAA Tournament in 2005, Alabama is the only team in the country to appear in all 15 series.

The format is basic best-of-three. First team to win two games moves on to the Women’s College World Series (WCWS).

RECORDS AGAINST COMMON OPPONENTS

OPP UT UA
LSU 0-1 3-0
Kentucky 1-0 2-2
Arizona State 1-1 2-0
Minnesota 1-2 2-0
Texas A&M 1-0 2-1

RESULTS AGAINST COMMON OPPONENTS

TEXAS ALABAMA
Feb 15 vs LSU L, 1-7 (Clearwater, FL) May 3 at LSU W, 7-0
Feb 16 vs Kentucky W, 4-3 (Clearwater, FL) May 4 at LSU W, 4-3
Mar 1 at Arizona State W, 11-4 May 5 at LSU W, 5-1
Mar 3 at Arizona State L, 6-9 Apr 26 vs Kentucky L, 1-4
Mar 8 vs Minnesota L, 1-4 Apr 27 vs Kentucky W, 3-1
Mar 9 vs Minnesota W, 5-3 Apr 28 vs Kentucky L, 2-3 (13 Inn.)
Mar 10 vs Minnesota L, 1-3 May 10 vs Kentucky W, 6-3
May 18 vs Texas A&M W, 3-2 8 inn. May 18 vs Arizona State W, 7-4
May 19 vs Arizona State W, 9-8
Feb 22 vs Minnesota W, 1-0
Feb 23 vs Minnesota W, 7-2 (5 Inn.)
Mar 22 at Texas A&M W, 13-3 (6 Inn.)
Mar 23 at Texas A&M W, 11-1 (5 Inn.)
Mar 24 at Texas A&M L, 3-4

OTHER SEC GAMES BY TEXAS

Feb 23 vs Ole Miss W, 3-2
Feb 24 vs Ole Miss W, 7-0
Mar 15 at Tennessee L, 5-9
Mar 17 at Tennessee W, 2-0

TEXAS VS BIG XII ELITE

Mar 29 at Oklahoma State L, 0-1
Mar 30 at Oklahoma State L, 0-8 (5 inn.)
Mar 31 at Oklahoma State W, 4-3
Apr 18 vs Oklahoma L, 1-3
Apr 19 vs Oklahoma L, 3-4 (8 inn.)
Apr 20 vs Oklahoma L, 2-9
May 10 vs Oklahoma State L, 2-6

BAD TEXAS LOSSES

May 10 vs Iowa State L, 0-2 (B12 TOURNAMENT)
May 17 vs Sam Houston State L, 1-2 (AUSTIN REGIONAL)

TALE OF THE TAPE

STAT UT UA
AVG 0.305 0.290
OPP AVG 0.184 0.208
HITS/GM 7.8 7.5
RUNS/GM 5.1 6.3
TOTAL 2B 91 60
TOTAL 3B 13 12
TOTAL HR 38 79
SLUG% 0.456 0.490
BB/GM 2.7 5.0
K/GM 2.7 3.3
SB-ATT 60-75 138-151
ERRORS 60 48
FLD% 0.964 0.972
ERA 1.60 2.03
WHIP 0.93 1.12

(WHIP = Walks + Hits per Inning Pitched)

LONGHORNS

Texas does not have one big star but they do have a solid starting nine. Four players have RBIs in the 30s led by Mary Iakopo (eye-uh-KO-po) who leads the team with 38 and also leads in home runs with 10. The sophomore has a .358 batting average and a .462 on base average. That first number is topped by only Janae Jefferson who is hitting .398 but has no home runs in her two seasons in Austin. She has struck out only five times this season and is 10 of 17 in stolen bases. Only a part-time starter/reserve has swiped more bases (14 of 17). [Four Bama players have 17 or more stolen bases.]

Miranda Elish pulls double-duty for the ‘Horns. When she is not pitching, she is often employed as the DP (Designated Player). She is batting .315 with 6 homers and 27 RBI. But her prowess is in the circle where she has a 1.68 ERA and a record of 18-9. The junior has pitched 179.2 innings which is 46% of her team’s innings. Shealyn O’Leary is 13-2 with a 0.54 ERA but has tossed only 91 innings. Texas has two other pitchers with ERAs in the lower twos.

Elish is the pitcher that carries the load for the team. In the Austin Regional, she had four complete game wins, two of which were shutouts.

Date Opponent W/L IP H R ER BB SO 2B 3B HR WP BK HBP IBB NP SCORE
05/18/19 Texas A&M W 8 6 2 0 2 10 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 146 3-2
05/18/19 Sam Houston State W 7 1 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 83 3-0
05/19/19 Houston W 7 9 2 2 0 5 2 0 0 1 0 1 0 106 5-2
05/19/19 Houston W 7 4 0 0 1 6 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 94 7-0


Mike White is in his first year as head coach of the Longhorns after nine seasons guiding Oregon. He led the Ducks to five Women’s College World Series appearances, five Pac-12 Conference titles and nine-straight NCAA Super Regional appearances during his time at Oregon.

SUPER REGIONAL SCHEDULE

All three games are scheduled for ESPN with the first two on in Prime Time.

May 23 (Thu) vs Texas 8pm CT ESPN
May 24 (Fri) vs Texas 6 or 8pm CT ESPN
May 25 (Sat) vs Texas (if necessary) 1pm CT ESPN

All games can be heard on Radio with the superb team at 93.3 FM. (Think Eli vs. Gary)