Tide Playing St. Patrick's Day Special Against Samford
3/16/2005 12:00:00 AM | Softball
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The ninth-ranked Alabama softball team will celebrate St. Patrick's Day on Thursday in fine fashion, as the Tide will feature green jerseys while hosting in-state rival Samford.
Alabama (27-6) owns a 10-2 all-time record against the Bulldogs (7-12), with their most recent meeting coming in the 2004 season when the Tide claimed an 8-0, six-inning victory. The Bulldogs claimed the first two games of the series back in 1997, but since then Alabama has reeled off 10 straight victories including five run-rule victories. Over the course of the 12 game series, the Tide has outscored the Bulldogs 104-23. Alabama has also not allowed a run to Samford since the 2002 season, a span of 16.1 innings.
The Tide has played eight times before on St. Patrick's Day rolling up a 7-1 record including last season's 10-0, five-inning victory over Alabama State.
Alabama comes into the game on a three-game winning streak including a doubleheader sweep over Middle Tennessee on Tuesday night. Samford is coming in off a doubleheader loss to Southern Illinois Tuesday night as well.
The Tide offense is led by freshman Jordan Praytor who currently leads the team with a .375 average while senior Ashley Courtney leads the team with 22 runs, 31 hits, 17 RBI and 14 stolen bases.
Freshman Chrissy Owens leads the Alabama pitching staff with a 1.18 ERA while junior Stephanie VanBrakle is the staff leader with 123 strikeouts in 87.1 innings of work.
First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Fans can follow all the action on 90.7 FM WVUA where Chad Anderson will call all the balls and strikes. Live stats and audio will also be available at www.rolltide.com.
