Crimson Tide Softball Wins First Two in BAMA BASH!
2/16/2007 12:00:00 AM | Softball
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. ?? The University of Alabama softball team fought its way through the cold weather for a pair of wins to open up the Hampton Inn BAMA BASH! and extend their tournament winning streak to 19 straight games.
"I thought Charlotte (Morgan) pitched well giving up just three hits against a team that is favored to win their conference," said Alabama head coach Patrick Murphy. "Chrissy (Owens) still isn't as sharp as she could be but still pitched a shutout. (Ashley) Holcombe was awesome and did a great job behind the plate. Mandy Burford made some great plays in left field so defensively we were good."
Lauren Parker hit a two-run home run to right field in the bottom of the fifth inning to give the Crimson Tide an 8-0 victory over Michigan State. The Alabama offense took awhile to get going after a long day and temperatures near freezing. The hero of last weekend, Mandy Burford, continued her hot streak with a bases loaded double to drive in three runs. Charlotte Morgan followed with a successful suicide squeeze to score Burford.
"It was my first career walk-off home run," said Parker. "You go out there with the same attitude every time and that is to make something happen. It gives you a little bit of adrenaline when you have six runs and people on base so you try to make things happen."
In the fifth inning, Brittany Rogers kickstarted the offense with a single and a stolen base. Jordan Praytor was then hit by a pitch and Buford laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners. Both runners would later come in to score on a wild pitch and an error. Kelley Montalvo drew a walk and scored on Parker's home run to end the game at 8-0.
Rogers went 3-for-3 with two runs scored while Praytor also scored twice to set the table as the one-two hitters in the lineup. Chrissy Owens pitched all five innings to earn her fourth victory of the year. She allowed five hits with two walks and three strikeouts. The first strikeout was No. 350 for her career. Ashley Holcombe also did a good job behind the plate throwing out two runners trying to steal and picking off another at second base.
"We give credit to Michigan State because they have a lot of great kids on that roster and a lot of them saw Chrissy growing up," said Murphy. "It is all of a sudden a negative for us because for them it was no big deal to see a kid throwing 66 or 67 because they have seen her forever."
In Alabama's first game of the day, they opened up a tightly contested game going into the seventh inning, with an inside-the-park home run up the middle to score two runs and put the Tide in front 4-1. Morgan, making her second collegiate start on the mound responded by sending Radford down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the seventh to close out the game.
Morgan threw the complete game with three hits allowed, one run, one walk and seven strikeouts.
Praytor knocked in the run that put Alabama ahead for good with an infield single to score Michelle Menningmann in the fifth inning. The Highlanders had tied the score at 1-1 in the bottom half of the fourth with a double to left field by Cassie Rhodes.
Rogers finished the game 2-for-4 with a run scored and two RBI. Praytor also tallied two hits and a RBI.
In the opening game of the tournament, Michigan State looked as though they were going to win handily against Toledo with a 13-1 lead heading into the fifth inning. However, a missed tag on a runner trying to advance on an infield fly kept the Rockets alive and they put six runs on the board to keep the game going. They added two more in the sixth inning but that was as close as they would get, losing to the Spartans, 13-9.
Kara Weigle was the top player for Michigan State as she had a huge day going 4-for-5 with four runs scored and six RBI, including a grand slam in the fourth inning and two triples.
Toledo bounced back to defeat Radford 3-1 in the second game of the day. The Highlanders put a run on the board in the first inning but Leslie Stong answered leading off the game for the Rockets with a solo home run to tie the score. Allison Hess and Valerie Moxim would later drive in runs in the third inning to give them a 3-1 lead.
Sierra Pereira allowed just one run on six hits in seven innings to earn the victory for Toledo.
Day two of the Hampton Inn BAMA BASH! will begin with Radford taking on Michigan State at 11 a.m. Alabama will then host Toledo at 1 p.m. to conclude round robin play. The bracket play will pick up in the after noon with the top seed facing the No. 4 team at 3 p.m. and the two and three seeds matching up against each other at 5 p.m.
