Bama Bombs Are Back

GLORY HALLELUJAH! PATRICK MURPHY HAS SEEN THE LIGHT! CAN I GET AN AMEN???

Alabama’s head hocho was one of the last hold-outs to build his teams on the slap and dash - which has its place in small portions. But the future present of college softball is hitting the long balls. And galdarn it if he hasn’t built himself a big-bopper murderball kind of team.

Team26 Crimson Tide blasted TEN round-trippers in four games played out in Tuscon for the Candrea Classic. And the Tide is the talk of the softball world.

GAME 1: ALABAMA 11 SOUTHERN UTAH 0 (5 innings) - BOMBS AWAY!

No drama here. Alabama struck first with eight runs in the first inning. The Tide swiped three bases in that first frame as well. Oddly enough, Player of the Year candidate Kaylee Tow made two outs in that inning including a whiff and again struck out in the third.

True freshman Megan Bloodworth hit a grand slam on her very first collegiate at bat and followed it up with a solo shot in her second at bat. Any doubt regarding Bailey Dowling’s health can be stowed away after her crushing solo homer in the second. New catcher Ally Shipman homered in the 4th to push the score to 11-0 and Patrick Murphy emptied the bench.

Sophomore Jaala Torrence got the start in the circle and rang up nine T-Birds on strikes. She was a bloop single away from perfection over 5 innings.

GAME 2: ALABAMA 5, OREGON STATE 1

Megan Bloodworth was back for more, hitting her third home run of the young season in the second inning. Ally Shipman was 2 for 2, knocking in three Bama runs on a single and a two-run double.

Montana Fouts got the complete game win but gave up a solo shot to All-Pac-12 Beaver Frankie Hammoude. Other than that and a pair of harmless singles, Fouts was Fouts - striking out 14 Beavers and not recording a walk. Outside of the home run, no other OSU player reached second base.

Kaylee Tow (0-3, 2 Ks) and Savannah Woodard (0-2, 2 Ks) struggled at the plate for a second straight game.

GAME 3: ALABAMA 11, ARIZONA 0 (5 innings)

In the marquee game of the weekend, Alabama humiliated the #9 Wildcats on their own field in a dominating mercy-rule defeat. The Bama Bombardment continued with two round-trippers by Ashley Prange, and one each by Dallis Goodnight, Abby Doerr, and starting pitcher Lexi Kilfoyl hitting for herself. Prange added a triple for a 3-for-3, 4 RBI game. For Goodnight, it was the first homer of her fledgling college career. Doerr’s dinger and Prange’s second four-bagger were both of the three-run variety.

In the circle, Kilfoyl pitched with poise and confidence while two-hitting the Wildcats over five innings. The most telling stat might be that of the 15 outs recorded by Zona, only one came by way of a fly ball. 11 were ground outs. She walked one and struck out three. No Wildcat reached second base.

Kaylee Tow (0-2) was hitless once again. Savannah Woodard played right field but was deferred at the plate by Kilfoyl.

GAME 4: ALABAMA 8, NEW MEXICO 3

Guess who? Megan Bloodworth added a first inning RBI triple to her hitting resume. Dallis Goodnight also pushed in a run with a double as the Tide scored four in the opening frame. However, Bama lost a little steam in the second and third, going down in order in the latter inning. Goodnight woke up the troops with a second RBI double in the 4th to give Alabama a 5-0 lead. With two runners on base, Kaylee Tow followed that up with finally tallying her first hit of the year in the form of a two run single. An unearned seventh inning run wrapped up the scoring for Alabama on the day.

Alex Salter got her first first opportunity to step in the circle for Alabama and responded with a fine effort for most of the game. The RS-freshman faced the minimum through 5.1 innings, but a sixth inning solo home run slowed her roll and she ran out of petrol. Salter gave up three singles in the seventh and had to be lifted for Kilfoyl who allowed a sac fly run. On the bright side, Alabama’s fourth option at pitcher struck out six.

Kat Grill got her first start of the season replacing a struggling Savannah Woodard in right. She singled in three at bats but had her hit erased on a caught stealing.

It’s a little disappointing the Crimson Tide did not run-rule UNM.

NOTES

Some interesting developments have arisen from Bama softball. Much the offense came from the newcomers - freshmen and transfers. Some of the holdovers from last season were kinda meh.

GOOD

• Alabama already has 10 home runs after one weekend of games. Consider the fact that the Crimson Tide had all of 41 on the entirety of last season.
• True freshman Bloodworth started all four games at second base and has given no reason to remove her from that spot.
• Fellow freshman Goodnight, played well in her four starts in centerfield.
• Doerr served as designated player (i.e. designated hitter) and produced 4 RBI.
• Johnson was 7 for 14 at the top of the order and scored 5 runs.
• It’s again feast or famine with Kilfoyl. After a solo HR versus Arizona, she struck out swinging on her next at bat. We are just going to have to accept the fact that Murphy is going to continue to employ her as a batter.
• Bama turned a nifty SS to 2B to 1B double play in the finale game.

BAD

*** Lollipop unicorn rainbow chasers, stop reading hear lest ye get your feelings hurt! ***

• Returning starters Tow (1 for 10, 4K, 2 LOB) and Woodard (0-4, 2 K, 2 LOB) had a rough go at the plate. Tow should work her way out of it. Conversely, there is some concern that Woodard has not improved much since last season.
• Despite her big week at the plate, Bloodworth had a few rookie mistakes. She committed an error at second and was also called out on the base paths for leaving first base too soon. Late in two games, freshman Kali Heivilin replaced Bloodworth in the field for defensive reasons. It should not be too concerning.
• Lazy-ass UA Athletics department once again deprived Tide fans of watching two of the games - unless you want to subscribe to Flosports.
• Salter’s ending was not great.
• Kilfoyl gave up a sac fly and a single in her relief appearance against lowly New Mexico.

UGLY

• Further proving that it has become the NCAA’s absolute objective to take the joy out of everything, some dingbat has decided that players can no longer be any more than an arm’s length away from the dugout rail after a teammate hits a home run. So no more awesome spontaneous celebrations at home plate. Thanks, imbecilic NCAA!

WEEKEND MVPs

MVPs:

1. Bloodworth - three HR, 3B, 7 RBI, 4 RUNS, .600 BA
2. Prange - two HR, 2B, 3B, 5 RBI, 0 K, 5 RUNS, .583 BA
3. Johnson - 7 for 15, 3B, 2 SB, 5 RUNS, 2 RBI
4. Goodnight - two 2B, HR, 3 RBI, 7 RUNS, .455 BA
5. Pitching for the most part.

ELSEWHERE

• No. 7 Washington fed No. 8 Arkansas a big slice of humble pie by twice knocking the Hogs off to the tune of 8-0 (6 inn) and 10-5 in a tournament played in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. [For the record, KB Sides has 2 singles and 0 RBI in 14 plate appearances with 5 Ks thus far. That’s a .143 average. #LifeChoices]
• No. 14/15 LSU (3-1) suffered a shocking 3-2 loss to Central Arkansas (1-3) over the weekend. The Tigers face No. 4 Oklahoma State and No. 7 Washington next week. Good luck with all that.
• Top-ranked Oklahoma (5-0) bested third ranked UCLA 4-1. The Bruins’ one run is the only one the Sooners have given up so far.
• Florida Gulf Coast upset No. 8 Texas 6-4 on Friday. Although, the ‘Horns would get revenge the next day.
• Unranked USF took down No. 13 Michigan 4-1.
• Not to be outdone, UCF defeated No. 19 UGA 7-6 in 8 innings.

UPCOMING ALABAMA SCHEDULE

This weekend is the home opener for Alabama in the annual Easton Bama Bash. TV is still TBD until the lazy bums who run rolltide dot com decide to put down their lattes long enough to post it.

• Friday, Feb. 18 vs. Evansville Fightin’ Don Mattinglys (5-0) - 1:30 p.m. CT
• Friday, Feb. 18 vs. #10/11 Virginia Tech (5-0) - 4 p.m. CT
• Saturday, Feb. 19 vs. #10/11 Virginia Tech 1:30 p.m. CT
• Saturday, Feb. 19 vs. Middle Tennessee (1-5) 4 p.m. CT
• Sunday, Feb. 20 vs. Middle Tennessee 1:30 p.m. CT

#Team26 #RollTide