Tide Softball Splits on Opening Day of Crimson Classic
3/3/2003 12:00:00 AM | Softball
 |
|
» Kansas Game Box Score
» TX-Arlington Game Box Score
The No. 13 ranked (ESPN.com/USA Softball) Crimson Tide softball team found the going rough in the opening day of the 2003 Crimson Classic as they defeated the Kansas Jayhawks 1-0 in eight innings but dropped the nightcap to the Texas-Arlington Lady Mavericks 4-1.
In Alabama's victory over Kansas, the Tide used tough defense in the top of the eighth inning to stop the Jayhawks and then broke the tie in the bottom of the inning for the victory.
With a runner on third and one out, Lindsey Weinstein hit a line drive to Stephanie VanBrakle at third who made the catch and followed with a diving tag to get Dani May for the double play to get Bama out of the inning.
In the bottom of the eighth, Alabama had runners on second and third with no outs when May let a pitch go through her legs allowing Leah White to score from third for the 2-1 victory.
Erin Wright picked up the win pushing her record to 8-3 while allowing no earned runs and striking out eight batters.
In the second game, the Lady Mavericks struck for three runs in the bottom of the third and the Tide was never able to recover.
VanBrakle tripled to right field in the top of the fourth inning and came in to score on a single up the middle from Angela Johnson cutting the UT-Arlington lead to 3-1. The Lady Mavericks added another run in the bottom of the sixth inning for the final 4-1 win.
Jennifer Wright took the loss giving up four runs on nine hits while striking out four batters.
Alabama will take on the Penn State Nittany Lions on Saturday at 1:30 in the final game of pool play before bracket play starts at 4:00 p.m.
